C-class blimp

This article is about the United States Navy class of blimps. For the Royal Navy's class of blimps, see Coastal class blimp.

The C-class blimp was a patrol airship developed by the US Navy near the end of World War I, a systematic improvement upon the B-type which was suitable for training, but of limited value for patrol work. Larger than the B-class, the C-class blimps had two motors and a longer endurance. As with the B-class, the envelope production was split between Goodyear and Goodrich, with control cars being built by the Burgess division of Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company. Originally the Navy ordered 30 but reduced the number to 10 after the armistice in November 1918. All ten of the "C" type airships were delivered in late 1918, and examples served at all of the Navy's airship stations from 1918 to 1922. In 1921, the C-7 was the first airship ever to be inflated with helium. The Navy decommissioned its last two remaining C-type blimps, the C-7 and C-9 in 1922.

C class
NAVY C-7
General information
Type	Patrol airship
Manufacturer	Various (Goodyear, Goodrich)
Primary user	US Navy
Number built	10
History
First flight	30 September 1918, at Wingfoot Lake
Retired	1922

Operations

Arriving too late for wartime use, the C-type became more of an experimental airship and was used for a variety of activities besides training. C-1 was the first airship to release an airplane in flight when the C-1 dropped a Curtiss JN-4 over Fort Tilden, New York on 12 December 1918. C-1 also tested a job which Navy blimps would also perform for the rest of their service. It was flown to Key West, Florida where it tracked torpedoes fired in practice from submarines. The most notable C-type was the C-5, which was flown to St. John's, Newfoundland, where it was to attempt a transatlantic flight in competition with the US Navy's heavier-than-air Curtiss NC flying boats. In the race to be the first to cross the Atlantic by air, in addition to the C-5 and NC flying boats, there were two British entrants. This unofficial race drew much public interest on both sides of the Atlantic and was covered extensively by the press in the US and Europe. The attempt ended when a sudden windstorm tore the unmanned C-5 from the hands of the ground crew and it was blown out to sea and never seen again. Two C-type blimps were transferred to the US Army. On 2 July 1919, the C-8 suddenly exploded while landing at Camp Holabird, Maryland, injuring about 80 civilians who were watching it. Windows in homes a mile away were shattered by the blast. The C-3 caught fire while airborne on 7 July 1921 and burned at Naval Air Station Hampton Roads, Norfolk, Virginia.

Fat Man nuclear bomb

The first US nuclear bombs, the Fat Man (Mark III) had remarkably bad ballistics. Los Alamos engineers, in an effort to fit the awkward shape of the weapon into an aerodynamically sound shape, based the Mark IV bomb casing upon the shape of the C-type blimp envelope.

Operators

United States

• United States Navy
• United States Army

Specifications (typical)

General characteristics

• Crew: Four
• Length: 196 ft 0 in (59.76 m)
• Diameter: 42 ft 0 in (12.80 m)
• Height: 54 ft 0 in (16.46 m)
• Volume: 181,000 cu ft (5,125 m³)
• Useful lift: 4,050 lb (1,837 kg)
• Powerplant: 2 × Hispano-Suiza , 150 hp (112 kW) each

Performance

• Maximum speed: 60 mph (97 km/h, 52 kn)
• Cruise speed: 40 mph (64 km/h, 35 kn)
• Range: 1,440 mi (2,320 km, 1,250 nmi)
• Endurance: 31 hours 30 minutes
• Service ceiling: 8,600 ft (2,620 m)

Armament

• 1 × .303 Lewis gun
• 4 × 270 lb (122 kg) bombs

See also

• List of airships of the United States Navy

References

• Althoff, William F. (1990). SkyShips. New York: Orion Books. ISBN 978-0-517-56904-7.
• Shock, James R. (2001). US Navy Airships 1915-1962. Edgewater, Florida: Atlantic Press. pp. 22–27. ISBN 978-0-9639743-8-9.
• Hansen, Chuck (1995). Swords of Armageddon. Sunnyvale, California: Chucelea Publications.