In the 1920s and 1930s, the Navy experimented with lighter-than-air craft in its fleet. In addition to work with blimps, it built and commissioned two dirigibles – with USS designation – to serve as flying aircraft carriers.
These rigid airships, which could stay in the air for about a week, would launch up to five Curtiss F9C Sparrowhawk biplanes from a “trapeze” that would come down, and the planes would land again by hooking into loops in the trapeze.
The two airships, USS
Akron (ZRS-4) and USS
Macon (ZRS-5), were commissioned into the fleet to serve as early intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance motherships. Sailors lived aboard the airship, complete with a galley and other amenities, and the biplanes would go out on scouting missions as needed.
Though they solved a valid requirement, LTA aircraft proved difficult to handle, and four of five dirigibles the Navy built crashed. Only one – the German-built USS
Los Angeles, given to the United States as part of the World War I reparations – survived, but the Navy dismantled it in 1939.
The following are a collection of images from the National Archives and the U.S. Naval Institute’s photo collection of USS
Macon.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnBtlDw0Y8gTwROg5tHrzVXXjcRlNeCQ2VHZcvh07wtshEIGJZb-zHh-R1EB7PtOMM7N9418RqrkQmc-HUVZSxfLEjSCpy9oVC8uDR0RUKYyugwv-xxQ3DNmgAZuD2C0lhmy5lFDinHew/s640-rw/uss-macon-1930s-1.jpg) |
USS Macon (ZRS-5) preparing to land. |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYRZQXJGQjhNhyVmpKVyXIeLzsZGGu-EYEENogqtp81HGzRJe0pR5CQ0Lgttr_2r-OL8nwoABPTO9_-OWumkCGEiW7mr5hbX0L65Fv2J-Eyhw97vAYjt7IgdzuHxDGovY_7oxzI674uvI/s640-rw/uss-macon-1930s-2.jpg) |
USS Macon (ZRS-5). |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieBnInn1A6IRXMJKNJZNS6T4UbU0LyeImz750ewJFOuiOEu3QPbiewUrB3jRofwzXQX6BHSsSNX5LJH4Gj2aSjYAe1w0gOUEtemElkgWZQMP3cDNqFMRRwIG2gSzgHeCTho_GhklJchx8/s640-rw/uss-macon-1930s-3.jpg) |
USS Macon (ZRS-5). |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPZarG5D5QP7w0HjEEV5Eh4TV1UUa4VfmKVNxjT6RI57a_Yav8l-bzNDt2vjv5SORaPkVRlSUsKC-CGzC4Dg19Zys7gTuZhhzhBvTHhf7RBR5FeaQOx4_jqmpWVyFVJQxhNCfjtcPBfEI/s640-rw/uss-macon-1930s-4.jpg) |
Curtiss F9C-2 Sparrowhawk hangs from USS Macon (ZRS-5). |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjME9MIma2sDYAOJKJu47E8oIYdHor8Vd_Dt8Y4fJS8UyF-LnHkv87opz9UGqdnMvP6vvl4IZxEXhf9cdNImbbD974RA85bbOqyDGps5GxUclm5ikQm1cX04rHFCJb_1ZvsqrHtCrmOgjk/s640-rw/uss-macon-1930s-5.jpg) |
USS Macon (ZRS-5) in 1933 or 1934. |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAA3qn6pWrzdaqCoydvaQaUgSDAJN09vcMlL-vVFbAutxD7ZsHxTupB1tfE7vxs5IA7RbIb9ZJgZ53szcJDoB8HxzzQQuJK6rs1MOGh5h43MFo-4cHciVnpIN_Wtjxh20ujLej0nDNTGo/s640-rw/uss-macon-1930s-6.jpg) |
USS Macon (ZRS-5) over New York City in 1933 or 1934. |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMyTWNJbptsd2nZ-0FDwaqIBdSe4JqUdoWmQhHMdwwMdCqRlBUme-pUwncS49GN3gsFZ9gBf_bgEaRwWBBdPYieugSRcBq9qExKVQIKwjhx5-_Ym-iJvdFIM-gUezN2Qrx3qCCdK_IEZw/s640-rw/uss-macon-1930s-7.jpg) |
USS Macon (ZRS-5) over San Diego Harbor on Feb. 9, 1934. |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNA_aJM64KM1VQikFfjQoKAjM1s2ymneLogJIY_H2xUdC1-5PT_eK89xfXUL5YIJsSM_18nS7rvEuHBhf4AJJtj7-MHSVLrDL5nPdxbnJkBmKXCPqwSvPqnEkTMcsrzWQ6YiGdZT8a4TY/s640-rw/uss-macon-1930s-8.jpg) |
USS Macon (ZRS-5) over San Diego Harbor on Feb. 9, 1934. |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir762M0XBub-ZJoElu2xN6X4dfIW5N172NbkIFS3Hw27mVbUT4g84S5zmM6CV7jv16XWo20jowx10ivmkFHvuVGgEBRSP_Iu8tbwm3vA8Pf_V4DqRwWXHsLsLrXru1Se7sdqfemYXZ_6Q/s640-rw/uss-macon-1930s-9.jpg) |
A Curtiss F9C-2 Sparrowhawk recovery on USS Macon (ZRS-5) in 1934. |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKKrGVt7-ZLaKOTAkxdbZYJI6bvkk-y_pLrlRbSbVmHtz6zViSol9X9xx-l-DiPu0VMawaRIQOY9zK8jabFKUwZzEXvK-u54SPyoWcmIU973E6S7aQFhQgLQMoXNnycdxSIaZDU1A3QFI/s640-rw/uss-macon-1930s-10.jpg) |
Curtiss F9C-2 Sparrowhawk attached to USS Macon (ZRS-5) in 1934. |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNwHH3yP08-wGPCySpWAJ2VfR2FdF8yYdpR0LHewzhjpIstv_4EJsdXDM22zc14y8KoxAACiFMyyODmffFeJhSRmMgZZ9QBtidnMiXItnClVxACeQyMtWwKNTsL0ZTrny7p54xHIFi2LE/s640-rw/uss-macon-1930s-11.jpg) |
Two Curtiss F9C-2 Sparrowhawks drop simultaneously from USS Macon (ZRS-5) over Sunnyvale, Calif. in 1934. |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJDIEjewbRjsaTkudqoEXZZvlh_zev0JPI266qNVfo1nksA7ZY9AlMBApByZBPn6paKQp0V7cYUofUKJDtXOifafe_yc7xb_-HePQ6o_faaHYUnOn2j1nVx6VgeDcdXI2AW98YN5uuHw8/s640-rw/uss-macon-1930s-12.jpg) |
Two Curtiss F9C-2 Sparrowhawks, with landing gear removed, under USS Macon (ZRS-5) in 1934. |
(via
The U.S. Naval Institute)
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