The Navy Built 2 Aircraft Carriers That Flew. The 785-Foot Airships USS Akron and USS Macon Carried Biplane Fighters Inside Their Hulls, and Within 4 Years Both Were on the Ocean Floor

Automatically curated summary from 19FortyFive.

In the early 1930s, the U.S. Navy operated two massive helium-filled rigid airships, the USS Akron and USS Macon, designed as flying aircraft carriers for ocean scouting. Designed by Goodyear-Zeppelin, the ships carried Curtiss F9C-2 Sparrowhawk biplanes, launching and recovering them using a belly trapeze system. While trapeze operations were successful, weather-related disasters destroyed both airships within four years. The Akron crashed off New Jersey in 1933, killing 73, and the Macon sank off California in 1935, prompting the Navy to abandon rigid airships.

Context and limitations

Historical account based on U.S. Navy and Smithsonian records; details regarding specific pilot actions and structural failures reflect retrospective historical reporting.