Book
When giants ruled the sky : the brief reign and tragic demise of the American rigid airship / John J. Geoghegan.
"Almost everything you know about airships is wrong. Between 1917 and 1935, the US Navy poured tens of millions of dollars into their airship program, building a series of dirigibles each one more enormous than the last. These flying behemoths were to be the future of long-distance transport, competing with trains and ocean liners to carry people, post and cargo from country to country, and even across the sea. But by 1936 all these ambitious plans had been scrapped. What happened? When Giants Ruled the Sky is the story of how the American rigid airship came within a hair's breadth of dominating long-distance transportation. It is also the story of four men whose courage and determination kept the program going despite the obstacles thrown in their way - until the Navy deliberately ignored a fatal design flaw, bringing the program crashing back to earth. The subsequent cover-up prevented the truth from being told for more than eighty years. Now, for the first time, what really happened can be revealed"--Page 2 of cover.
Record details
- ISBN: 9780750987837
- ISBN: 0750987839
- Physical Description: 436 pages : illustrations (black and white) ; 24 cm
- Publisher: Cheltenham : The History Press, 2021.
- Copyright: ©2021
Content descriptions
| Bibliography, etc. Note: | Includes bibliographical references. |
| Formatted Contents Note: | Admiral william A. Moffett : a giant in winter -- Departures -- A night to remember -- Fight for survival -- Spotlight -- Wiley on trial -- Paul W. Litchfield : a giant in spring -- Blimps lead the way -- Dawn of the commercial airship -- Competition -- Cutting a deal -- Pitching commercial airships -- The design competition -- Success within reach -- For want of a nail -- Airship fever -- Consequences -- Building the Macon -- Christening -- Trial flights -- Lakehurst -- Dr Karl Arnstein : a giant displaced -- Doubts -- Fulton -- Sunnyvale -- Up to the task? -- Flying aircraft carriers -- Peril in the sky -- Fleet problem XV -- A giant in waiting -- The houston incident -- Lt CDR Wiley : a giant revealed -- A giant excels -- A giant in danger -- A giant is lost -- A giant is rescued -- A giant on trial -- Assigning blame -- Aftermath -- A giant is found. |
Search for related items by subject
| Subject: | Macon (Airship) > History. Airships > United States > History. Transportation > United States > History. Conspiracies > United States > History. |
Available copies
- 1 of 1 copy available at Missouri Evergreen. (Show)
- 1 of 1 copy available at Trails Regional.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 1 total copy.
Show Only Available Copies
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trails Regional-Lexington | 629.133 GEO (Text) | 2205168400 | Adult Non-Fiction | Available | - |
When Giants Ruled the Sky : The Brief Reign and Tragic Demise of the American Rigid Airship
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Summary
When Giants Ruled the Sky : The Brief Reign and Tragic Demise of the American Rigid Airship
Nearly everything people know about airships is wrong. Few realize that prior to the Hindenburg disaster airships transported passengers without a single casualty for more than 20 years, a record unmatched by any other form of transportation. When Giants Ruled the Sky tells the true but little-known story of the USS Macon (ZRS-5), the world's largest, most expensive and most technologically advanced airship of her day, and the four men responsible for conceiving, designing, building, and flying her. In doing so it reveals how the American airship came within a hair's breadth of replacing planes, trains, and ocean liners as the dominant form of long-distance transportation, and exactly what went wrong, a tale of physical courage, engineering acumen, ugly politicking and two egregious disasters.
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