Flight Across North America
In July 1924, the oiler Patoka put in to Norfolk Navy Yard for extensive modifications to become the Navy's first airship tender. An experimental mooring mast some 125 ft (38 m) above the water was constructed; additional accommodations both for the crew of Shenandoah and for the men who would handle and supply the airship were added; facilities for the helium, gasoline, and other supplies necessary for Shenandoah were built; as well as handling and stowage facilities for three seaplanes. Shenandoah engaged in a short series of mooring experiments with Patoka to determine the practicality of mobile fleet support of scouting airships. The first successful mooring was made on 8 August . During October 1924, Shenandoah flew from Lakehurst to California and on to Washington to test newly erected mooring masts. This was the first flight of a rigid airship across North America.
Read more about this topic: USS Shenandoah (ZR-1)
Famous quotes containing the words flight, north and/or america:
“When the flight is not high the fall is not heavy.”
—Chinese proverb.
“A brush had left a crooked stroke
Of what was either cloud or smoke
From north to south across the blue;
A piercing little star was through.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball, the rules and realities of the game.”
—Jacques Barzun (b. 1907)