USS Los Angeles (ZR-3)
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The USS Los Angeles was an airship, designated ZR-3, that was built in 1923-1924 by the Zeppelin factory in Friedrichshafen, Germany, where it was originally designated LZ-126. The airship was given to the United States by the German Government as war reparations from World War I.
After a Transatlantic flight to Lakehurst, New Jersey, the airship was commissioned in the U.S. Navy on 25 November, 1924. The aircraft logged a total of 4,398 hours of flight, covering a distance of 172,400 nautical miles (319,300 km).
On August 25, 1927, while tethered at the Lakehurst high mast, a gust of wind caught the tail of the Los Angeles and lifted it into colder, denser air that was just above the airship. This caused the lifting of the tail to continue. The crew on board tried to compensate by climbing up the keel toward the rising tail, but could not stop the ship from reaching an angle of 85 degrees, before it finally descended. Amazingly, the ship suffered only slight damage and was able to fly the next day.
It was decommissioned in 1932 as an economy measure. It never flew again, and was dismantled in 1939.
External links
- USS Los Angeles (ZR-3) - Navy Lakehurst Historical Society
- Picture of the August 25, 1927 nose stand
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