American Airship Bases & Facilities
James Shock

THE BOOK

Here is a definitive history of airship housing and handling in and outside the United States from the turn of the century to the present day, brought to you by the author and publisher of the benchmark US NAVY PRESSURE AIRSHIPS (1915-1962).

The enormous hangars constructed to house the great rigid airships were then wonders of the world, and now at last their design and construction are illustrated and explained. How did they manage to shelter a buoyant vehicle nearly three football fields long and fifteen stories high without allowing wind gusts to tear it apart? Technical information on handling the ZR-1 Shenandoah through the German Zeppelin Hindenburg is provided, including their towering masts and secondary facilities.

The first chapters chronicle details of the known but extensive balloon and airship bases built by the Army and Navy to fight the War to End All Wars. Their present whereabouts and conditions are fully explained. The surprising number of private airship facilities, all mapped and illustrated, will delight the enthusiast with esoterica researched for nearly fifty years.

The World War II chapter explains why only two large steel hangars were started before Nazi-U boats began their slaughter of coastal shipping. Fully covered is the construction of the most enormous and unique timber structures ever known, owing to wartime steel demands. Tables show some are still used by airships today.

The most complete record ever compiled, with contributions by leading LTA experts, AMERICAN AIRSHIP BASES AND FACILITIES packs maps, tables, line drawings and over 200 rare photographs into 240 pages with an extensive bibliography, index, and even new hangar proposals.

Many of the structures associated with airships are as interesting as the airships they housed, but a thorough account of American airship hangars has never been published. This was the first known attempt to publish a book on airship hangars world-wide; however, the principal hangars emphasized were the large hangars built for rigid airships. Generally, information on the smaller non-rigid airship hangars were not included.

The idea of presenting the following research has been in the author’s mind for several years. Serious consideration was given to making a record of the subject after the author made a vacation trip to Lakehurst (with a side trip to Akron) in 1974. By the time the vacation was over, ten airship hangars (six at Lakehurst, two at Wingfoot Lake and two at Akron) had been visited. This trip and the encouragement of several airship enthusiasts, particularly David R. Smith of Bloomington, Illinois, induced me to initiate this research. Many people provided information, gave consideration, commented on the manuscript over the intervening years and answered many questions.

THE AUTHOR

James R. Shock has been a researcher, collector and writer on airships and related subjects since his high school days. After a career with General Motors Corporation as manager of Engineering Facilities, he retired to Michigan. Mr. Shock was the author of the American portion of HOUSING THE AIRSHIP and has contributed to other LTA publications. He is also the author of U.S. NAVY PRESSURE AIRSHIPS (1915-1962) and U.S. ARMY AIRSHIPS.

Paperback $36.95