1933 — Apr 4, Storm, USN dirigible Akron crash/73, 2 from rescue J-3, off Barnegat City, NJ– 75

— 75 Blanchard. [Includes two fatalities in airship J-3 rescue attempt.]
— 73 Cornell, James. The Great International Disaster Book (Third Edition). 1982, p. 368.
— 73 Gero. Military Aviation Disasters: Significant Losses Since 1908. 1999, p. 17.
— 73 Haulman. One Hundred Years of Flight: USAF Chronology…1903-2002. 2003, p. 30.
— 73 History.com. This Day in History, Disaster, April 4, 1933. “Dirigible Crash Kills 73.”
— 73 Nash. Darkest Hours. 1977, p. 631.
— 73 Shock 1992, p. 69.
— 73 US Dept. Navy, Naval Historical Center. “U.S. Navy Ships Lost in Selected Storm…”
— 73 US Dept. Navy. “Casualties: US Navy…Marine Corps Personnel Killed and Injured…”

Narrative Information

Gero: “Date: 4 April 1933 (c.00:30)….(ZRS.4)…

“The helium-filled airship crashed in the Atlantic Ocean 20 miles (30km) east-south-east of the Barnegat lighthouse and approximately 70 miles (110km) south of New York City, killing 73 service¬men aboard….The three survivors, two Navy enlisted men and an officer, were rescued by a ship. Most of the victims’ bodies were lost at sea…Flying in darkness through an area of thunderstorm activity, accompanied by heavy rain and high winds, the dirigible, which measured 785ft (240m) in length, apparently encountered a severe down-draught that could not be overcome by the crew’s use of engine power, elevator controls or ballast release. Ultimately, it ploughed into the sea in a tail-down attitude and broke apart… Considered as contributory to the Akron disaster was an ‘error of judgment’ by its commander in flying into the storm despite the observance of lightning in its path. That no altimeter correction had been made to compensate for the drop in atmospheric pressure, which placed the airship about 600ft (180m) below its indicated height of around 1,000ft (300m), may have been an additional factor. Individual life preservers and rafts were later added to Navy dirigible operations and, perhaps as a result, in the loss of the Akron’s sister ship, the Macon, which crashed in the Pacific Ocean in 1935, all but two of the more than 80 men aboard survived. However, one additional casualty did result from the second accident, the American dirigible programme itself, which was disbanded.” (Gero 1999, 17-18.)

History.com: “On this day in 1933, a dirigible crashes in New Jersey, killing 73 people in one of the first air disasters in history. The Akron was the largest airship built in the United States when it took its first flight in August 1931. In its short life of less than two years, it was involved in two fatal accidents.”

…the U.S. Navy was using the airship to obtain some technical data over New Jersey. It was well-known that dirigibles could experience problems in bad weather, but despite the violent thunderstorms in the area that day, the Akron was not grounded. While in the air over the Atlantic Ocean, a miscommunication over directions by crew members sent the Akron directly into the storm instead of around it. The storm’s winds caused the ship to plunge nearly 1,000 feet in a few seconds.

“The crew then made its second mistake: the blimp’s water ballast was dumped in order to make the flying ship rise. However, the ballast dump thrust the Akron up too far, too fast. Critical devices and cables were destroyed and all control was lost. The Akron plunged into the ocean.

“The rescue airship J-3 was sent to help the Akron crew. It also crashed in of the storm, killing two of the seven crew members on board. Only three of the Akron’s 76 crew members survived the disaster. One of the survivors was the commander who had ordered the fateful ballast dump.

“This was the deadliest air disaster since the crash of the first rigid airship built in the United States, the Shenandoah, which killed 14 people on September 3, 1925.” (History.com. This Day in History April 4, 1933, “Dirigible Crash Kills 73.”)

Shock: “Construction of ZRS-4 was officially started in November, 1929…” Rear Admiral William Moffett was in attendance. “On August 5, 1931, ZRS-4 was christened ‘USS Akron’ by Lou Henry Hoover, wife of President Herbert Hoover. The first flight was made on September 25, 1931….On October 21-22, ZRS-4 was delivered to Lakehurst [NJ] and commissioned on October 27….She made a flight over New York City and joined with the ZR-3 over Washington on November 2, 1931, the only time in history two helium-filled rigid airships would be aloft at once.” (Shock 1992, p. 68.)

“Departing Lakehurst [NJ] for a two or three day cruise along the new England coast to calibrate radio direction finding stations, seventy-six men were aboard, including RADM William A. Moffett, Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics. A unpredicted severe story was encountered. The lower fin struck the sea early on the morning of April 4 off Little Egg Inlet, near the New Jersey coast. Since there were no life jackets and apparently only one raft, most of the 73 victims drowned in the chilly Atlantic. With only three survivors, the exact cause was difficult to determine and several possibilities were presented. (Discussions continue to this date.)” (Shock 1992/2001, 69.)

USN: “Rigid airship USS Akron (ZRS-4) crashed in a storm off New Jersey. 73 killed, 3 injured. 4 Apr. 1933. Blimp J-3 crashed while searching for survivors of USS Akron, fatally injuring LCDR. David Ervin Cummins and Aviation Chief Metalsmith Pasquale Bettio. 4 Apr. 1933.”
(US Navy Dept., Naval Historical Center. “U.S. Navy Ships Lost in Selected Storm…”)

USN: “Blimp J-3 crashed while searching for survivors of USS Akron, fatally injuring Lt. Comdr. David Ervin Cummins and Aviation Chief Metalsmith Pasquale Bettio. 4 Apr. 1933.”
(US Dept. Navy. “Casualties: US Navy…Marine Corps Personnel Killed and Injured…”)

Sources

Cornell, James. The Great International Disaster Book (Third Edition). New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1982.

Gero, David. Military Aviation Disasters: Significant Losses Since 1908. UK and Newbury Park, CA: Patrick Stephens Limited, an imprint of Hayes Publishing, 1999.

Haulman, Daniel L. One Hundred Years of Flight: USAF Chronology of Significant Air and Space Events 1903-2002. Maxwell Air Force Base, AL; AIR University Press, 2003, 170 pages. Accessed at: http://www.au.af.mil/au/afhra/chronologyofflight.pdf

History.com. This Day in History, Disaster, April 4, 1933. “Dirigible Crash Kills 73.” Accessed October 7, 2008 at: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=393

Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours – A Narrative Encyclopedia of Worldwide Disasters from Ancient Times to the Present. New York: Pocket Books, Wallaby, 1977, 792 pages.

Shock, James R. US Navy Airships 1915-1962: A History by Individual Airship. Edgewater, FL: Atlantis Productions, 1992, 2001.

United States Department of the Navy. Casualties: US Navy and Marine Corps Personnel Killed and Injured in Selected Accidents and Other Incidents Not Directly the Result of Enemy Action. Washington, DC: Naval Historical Center. 2008.

United States Department of the Navy, Naval History and Heritage Command. “U.S. Navy Ships Lost in Selected Storm/Weather Related Incidents. 6-3-2005. Accessed 7-1-2020 at: https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/u/us-navy-ships-lost-in-selected-storm-weather-related-incidents.html