“Despite their contributions to the Allied war effort, blimp crews fought in relative obscurity.”
WHEN AMERICA suddenly found itself at war following the attack on Pearl Harbor, military planners in Washington realized they had neither the warships nor aircraft to defend more than 12,000 miles of U.S. coastline against enemy submarines lurking off shore. Short on options, the U.S. Navy turned to some decidedly outdated technology to bolster the nation’s maritime defences – blimps.
Beginning in 1942 and continuing through to the end of the war, armed naval airships carried out non-stop patrols high above American waters in search of Japanese subs and German U-boats. Military blimps also shepherded vulnerable convoys far out into the Atlantic, while entire squadrons of lighter-than-air flying machines swept foreign sea-lanes of both mines and raiders.
However, despite their contributions to the Allied war effort, blimp crews fought in relative obscurity – instead, warplanes and fighting ships captured headlines as well as the public’s imagination. Yet, more than 10,000 airship pilots, gunners and mechanics took part in an estimated 37,000 combat patrols, chalking up nearly 400,000 flying hours while successfully protecting tens of thousands of friendly vessels from harm. Amazingly, only one U.S. Navy airship was lost in battle. Sadly however, history has largely forgotten the contributions of the wartime airships — other “silent service”.
Blimps at War
At the beginning of the 20th Century, the world’s militaries had high hopes for dirigibles. Before the advent airplanes, hydrogen-filled blimps and airships afforded armies and navies invaluable eyes in the sky, not to mention the unprecedented ability to deliver bombs deep inside enemy territory. While Britain, France and Russia all eagerly experimented with airships in the years leading up to World War One, it was Italy that conducted the first bombing raids using blimps in its war with Turkey in 1912. Germany soon made even greater use of the technology. As early as 1915, the Kaiser’s Zeppelins were striking France and southern England in force. It was a terror campaign that would continue for two years until Gotha bombers took over the job. Increasingly outclassed by newer, faster and higher-flying airplanes, blimps were soon rendered obsolete and largely abandoned by military planners worldwide. Even the public’s brief love affair with trans-Atlantic luxury airship travel went up in flames with the 1937 Hindenburg disaster. By the start of World War Two, airships were considered outmoded at best and at worst, unreliable and even dangerous.
Airships Rise Again
All that changed in December 1941 when the U.S. Navy, short on surface ships and patrol aircraft, quickly ordered its small fleet of just eight helium-filled blimps into action. It positioned four of its K-Class ships at Lakefield, N.J. and four TC and L-Class craft near San Francisco. Both squadrons immediately commenced anti-submarine patrols along the U.S. coasts and conducted inshore convoy escorts. Meanwhile, navy fast tracked an order for even more blimps from Akron, Ohio-based tire manufacturer Goodyear. In anticipation of its expanded fleet of airships, the navy next established a crew training center in California. In the interim, its two squadrons held the line for months. In addition to sub hunting, mission profiles included: search and rescue, reconnaissance, mine laying and sweeping and even cargo transport.
But the blimps were at their best when serving as convoy escorts. Here is a rundown of their war record:
• While the U.S Navy began the war with only blimp squadrons ZP-32 and ZP-12, by 1945 it had ships stationed in Florida, Texas, Louisiana, Jamaica, Trinidad, Suriname, Brazil and Guantanamo Bay, as well as Gibraltar and even French Morocco.
• Goodyear produced more than 150 airships for the U.S. Navy between 1942 and 1945. Eventually, 1,400 pilots were trained, along with thousands more crew.
• The mere presence of airships over a convoy was often enough to keep enemy submarines at bay. In addition to using spotters to visually identify U-boats on or just beneath the surface of the water, airships were also equipped with radar and magnetic anomaly detectors (MADs). Airships could easily direct escort corvettes and destroyers onto submerged contacts from the skies. When blimps did attack, they typically used depth charges.
• During the course of the war, U.S. Navy blimps provided cover to an estimated 89,000 convoy vessels. Only one ship under the protection of navy dirigibles was ever sunk by a U-boat — an oil tanker named the Persephone.
• Similarly, only one U.S. Navy blimp was ever lost in combat. The engagement occurred on the night of July 18, 1943 off the coast of Florida when the blimp K-74 attacked the German U-boat U-134 while surfaced. A malfunction prevented the airship from dropping its depth charges on the sub, which afforded the enemy gunners the chance to fire on the slow-moving target. The damaged craft was forced to crash land on the water. Its crew was picked up at daybreak by a patrol plane, but not before one of them was attacked and killed by a shark. The U-134 was destroyed on its homeward voyage by British bombers off Spain.
• With the U-boat threat diminishing in 1944, U.S. Navy airships were deployed to the Mediterranean where they swept the Gibraltar Straits of mines, cleared the shallow waters around the vital British outpost of submarines and even helped escort the convoy that carried Prime Minister Churchill and President Roosevelt to the Yalta Conference in the Black Sea.
• U.S. Navy blimps took part in the last sinking of an Axis U-boat in World War Two. On May 6, 1945, two days before Germany surrendered, American airships helped locate U-881, which was subsequently attacked and destroyed off Newfoundland by U.S surface vessels.
I’m ignorant but curious about the blimps’ range of operations in the Atlantic. It is my understanding that they had to be shore-based (for retrieval, hanger storage, crew changes, and replenishment of supplies — including helium), and that there was not therefore any way for them to accompany convoys across the entire ocean. Hence the dreaded mid-Atlantic gap, where convoys had to proceed without any air cover or recon until the Allies developed long range aircraft and escort carriers in the second half of WW2.
Is that correct? Or were attempts made to assign blimps to blimp-carrier type vessels in convoys? And, if such attempts were made or even contemplated, could the pelagic blimp have survived Atlantic gales?
Sorry! A lot of questions!
Good questions. Not sure although the K-class blimps had a range of 2200 miles. An educated guess is that while one could probably ferry from the Caribbean to North Africa, an airship would typically orbit around the perimeter of a convoy scanning for subs, which would consume considerabl fuel. I doubt they operated more than a couple of hundred miles from shore. But I stress the fact that I have no evidence to back this up. Not a whole lot seems to have been written on this… At least not much that I could find on deadline.
I think that you must be correct. K-class blimps certainly did cross the Atlantic to French Morocco, but only in relatively short stages, using islands such as the Azores as way stations. In theory, similar arrangements might have been applied in the North Atlantic, where convoys to-and-from Britain had to cross, perhaps basing blimps at way stations on Newfoundland, Greenland, Iceland, etc. But I suspect that the much more hostile prevailing weather environment that far north would have seriously interfered with blimp operations.
In the context of what was involved in actually operating a K-class blimp, given the sensitivity of helium to temperature changes, etc., I found this short description very informative: –
http://www.lowermerionhistory.org/texts/schmidtd/dudden_flies.html
Interesting history here… I did not know the blimps were actually used in combat during the war. Just amazing. Such old technology yet still a deterrent.
The Southern California blimp hangar is still around (albeit dilapidated) and not far from my office (formerly MCAS Tustin and formerly the Santa Ana Naval Air Station during the war)… but the current Goodyear blimp’s base is about ten minutes from my house. It flies over at times. I had no idea Goodyear was so heavily involved in this aspect during the war.
Thanks, Mustang. I see you’re back (with a vengeance — and I mean that in a good way). How was your trip?
The K-ship control car K-28 is on display at the New England Air Museum in Connecticut.
To the best of my knowledge, this is the only remaining K-ship in military configuration. It has been in restoration for the last 20 years and is in beautiful condition.
Thanks for the comments. I’d love to see it.
Hi Don : Read your comment on the K-28. I agree 100% . A beautiful job done by Russ Magnason with the help of you and John Craiggs. When I was at Lakehurst , she was the latest acquisition to Squadron ZP-12 , coming out of “composite” Squadron . I was fortunate to be Air crew member on at least two hops . Lost all my records in the flood of 1955 and have to rely on memory alone. Old age is what it`s cracked up to be- lousy ! Hope to see you at Lodge breakfast. Dick Trusty ZP-12
U.S. Army Airships of WW 2 any info? My uncle was a rated artillery officer flying between British Guiana and northern Brazil. His copilot was a fixed wing pilot with the additional rating. I don’t have the airship designation but their base was Atkinson Field.
Not sure. Lets see if anyone knows.
After the war the US Army signal corps picked up a number of m ships that had been left unfinished for lack of war materials.They were part of a c0ontract for 20 ships of which only 4 were delivered to the Navy in 1944. One of these Army m ships was based for a time at a former Luftshiffbau Zeppelin facility at lake Thingvallavatn in iceland. This consisted of a 300 foot wooden platform supported by floating iron tanks anchored in an inlet. The facilities had been constructed by the Nazis before the war and included a nice gasthaus for dignitaries. It was intended, after the Graf Zeppelin was replaced by the graf Zeppelin II, the original Graf would be used for junkets. Some of the m ships operated at night in bad weather fairly close to the coast of norway where most of the time, in winter, they were invisible. Their faint radar image was easily lost among the huge waves and they flew only maybe 50 feet above the waves which an airplane couldn’t do.
Hello Everyone,
I am looking for information/pictures of WW2 U.S. Navy blimps as a surprise for my Dad for Fathers Day. It is a hard topic to find anything on Blimps here in United States, (Pacific and Atlantic) as well as Brazil or?
I can try to get Dad to answer some of your questions as well?
Thank You for any ideas,
Patricia
Patricia….I was a Navy blimp pilot stationed at the Santa Cruz NAS south of Rio in 1944 during WWII. If your dad is still living (I am 96) I would be happy to share what I know and the photos I took during my eleven months at Santa Cruz. I now live in Indianapolis with my wife of 71 years. My email is “jande45@yahoo.com”” John D and Evelyn Wheeler
Good evening Mr. John!
I am writing in Brazil and after finding your email in https://militaryhistorynow.com/ site, I would like to ask some questions to the Lord.
I am researching the Blimp K-36 patrolling the coast of Brazil in 1944, and fell on the island of Cabo Frio south of Rio, when he was traveling from Bahia to the NAS Santa Cruz.
The Commander of the Blimp was Joe Bartof, were injured H. E. Jones and Richard Wddicombe.
The island of Cabo Frio is a fishing village and has now become the city of Arraial do Cabo. My grandfather was one of the fishermen who helped in the rescue of the American crew and unit redemption.
I wonder if the Lord has some picture of what happened and know more about the accident?
I’m trying to rescue part of the history of my city that has been lost to time londo.
Thanks for listening
Leandro Miranda
i have a bunch of old pictures from my father Charles F Wyckoff ARMC when he was stationed in brazil and key west and new jersey
Could you share your father’s photos in Brazil with me?
follow my e-mail; leo.s.leo@gmail.com
There is another K ship control car on exhibit at the National Naval Aviation Museum. It is the K-47. After WW II K-47 was modified to a ZP2K and later a ZP3K (aka ZSG-3) configuration. K-47 served until 1956. The K-47 control car (Goodyear C-108) was restored using parts from the K-88’s car (Goodyear C-167). The remains of the K-88 control car were shipped to the No. 4 School of Technical Training at RAF St. Athans in 1991 with the intention of restoring it for a proposed museum at Cardington. What has become of it I do not know.
Thanks for the extra details.
My grandfather served on an airship that was based in French Morocco. I will go thru his things and see if I can find some unit details. He had some great stories of crewman walking on top of the airship while underway to fix damage.
We’d love to hear more. Thanks!
If you find something on the K-36 Please send to email leo.s.leo@gmail.com
facebook leo blimp
Thank you
Can MHN help spread the word? What are you looking for?
My father in law Chauncey, “Ray” Porter served as a navigator on the blimps and I am interested in finding more information on his missions. Any recommendations how to research?
You need to contact Naval history heritage command…aviation records. .Airship squadrons…their contact numbers are on the web.I served there and they have great info. Video951@gmail.com
Was there any dirigables during D-day or in the aftermath, that is 6 june 1944 and later?
There were barrage balloons on the Normandy beaches, but I am not sure about naval blimps that late in the war.
The barrage balloons were unmanned, and their cables were to keep ground-attack aircraft away. The airships were used in anti-submarine missions more than anything else.
Was it just wired Blimps used during Afghanistan operation 2003-7?
The term is ‘tethered aerostat’, and yes, we operated there with several systems.
My friend, Charlie Swick, was a blimp radioman in WW2. He passed away in 2012. I was in the Navy at the time (1970s) stationed in Pensacola and Charlie was retired there after serving in the Navy for more than 25 years. I knew him through our mutual interest in ham radio.
He never talked much about his blimp years except where he thought details about the radio operations would interest me. I never got from Charlie that blimps had offensive capabilities.
He did tell me he was involved in two “crashes” (over land) explaining all hands survived and it being quite an affair in slow motion. He had and showed me his big knife all crewman carried strapped to their calf to cut themselves out from under the big rubber bag in the event of a crash.
I miss Charlie, he was a good friend.
Hello, I am researching the K-ships of WW 2, particularly pertaining to those deployed to Trinidad as convoy escorts. Perhaps a weird question, but could anyone tell me what such an approaching blimp might sound like to someone on the ground, if the blimp is low-flying? Such as: Were they loud? Quiet? Silent? What sort of engine sound might be comparable?
Thanks much!
I would suspect that they were quieter than a fixed wing aircraft. The engines wouldn’t have needed to be as powerful.
Here’s a youtube video of 12 hours of airship engines running as “white noise”
North Carolina was left off of the list of locations for U.S. Navy airships in 1945. Airdock One in Elizabeth City (Weeksville), NC was completed in 1941, and Airdock Two was completed of pine, as steel was a ‘war essential item’, and sadly burned down inthe 1990s. Airdock One still stands, and a Lighter Than Air (LTA) company still operates from it today, in 2023.
Thank you! You just confirmed what my 98 year old was staying to me!!