USS Macon ZRS-5 Control Car Interior Photo
Navy Airship Helm Station 8x10
Official Navy Print ... Inside the Flying Aircraft Carrier's HelmDESCRIPTIONAn official U.S. Navy photograph of the forward compartment of the control car aboard the rigid airship USS Macon (ZRS-5), circa 1933-35. The view looks forward through the curved bank of windows at the helm station, with the ship's wheel at center, a stool on either side, and instrument panels curving along the walls. This is the room where the Navy's largest flying machine was steered, and it puts you at the helmsman's own position. Printed 8 x 10 inches and scanned at 600dpi.The verso carries the Naval Photographic Center identification in violet ink: Official U.S. Navy Photograph, Washington, D.C. 20374, number NH82711, the caption reading View in the Forward Compartment of the Control Car, Circa 1933-35, and a RELEASED stamp. This is a Naval Photographic Center print made well after the airship's service (the ZIP code on the verso dates it after 1963), not a print from 1933-35. The Navy's own catalog describes NH 82711 as a halftone reproduction, and the fine dot screen of the printed source is visible in the image. It is offered and priced as exactly that: an official Navy-issued print of an interior view, with no claim of being a period original.USS Macon was one of the two largest airships ever built for the U.S. Navy, 785 feet long, built by Goodyear-Zeppelin and flown by Navy crews out of Lakehurst, New Jersey, and later Naval Air Station Sunnyvale, California. Her first flight was on April 21, 1933, only seventeen days after her sister ship USS Akron crashed at sea with the loss of 73 lives. Macon was built to carry Curtiss F9C Sparrowhawk fighters that launched and recovered on a trapeze beneath the hull, making her a true flying aircraft carrier. The control car was her nerve center, where the officers and the rudder and elevator crews worked the helm, watched the instruments and passed orders to the engine rooms. A backup control station was also built into the lower tail fin.The control car also tells the story of Macon's end. Her commander, Lt. Cmdr. Herbert V. Wiley, was one of only three men to survive the Akron crash. On February 12, 1935, returning from fleet exercises off Point Sur, California, a structural failure at the ring frame supporting the upper tail fin tore the fin away and punctured gas cells in the stern. Despite everything the crew did, including dumping ballast, running the engines at full power and shifting weight forward, the ship could not be held aloft and settled into the Pacific. Because Macon carried life jackets and rafts, all but two of her crew were rescued by Navy cruisers. The Navy's rigid airship program ended with her loss, and the wreck site off the California coast was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2010.Every effort is made for fact checking and provenance, including background research through news and historical archives. If any listing is incorrect in any way and you are unsatisfied with the item, please connect with me and I will make it right. Orders placed before Noon CDT will ship same day via Ground Advantage with tracking, so you know exactly when it will arrive. Returns accepted on all items exceeding $25. Rigid, professional packaging on all shipments, sealed and protected in acid free protectors. Shipping is free and already built into the price, so the BIN price is exactly what you pay, with no surprise shipping costs at checkout.CONDITIONNaval Photographic Center print on photographic paper, approximately 8 x 10 inches. The image is a copy of a printed halftone, so the fine dot pattern of the original reproduction is visible throughout, especially in the windows and the darker areas. Tones are even and clear, with good contrast on the helm wheel, stools and instrument panels. No tears, creases or stains are visible on the front in the 600dpi scan.The verso is clean and bright, with the Naval Photographic Center identification text, number NH82711, caption and RELEASED stamp in violet ink. The ink is light and faint in a few spots, mainly in the address line, but the number and caption are fully legible. Ships flat in a rigid mailer with acid free protection.
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