I hope to make this a regular thing. I was blogging with a friend here Troy J. who has a feature similar to Paul Harvey's "Rest of the Story" and I thought there are so many amazing things in Aviation that no one has heard about. The never built planes, the ones that did fly, but faded into obscurity. Today's tale is one of those.
The USS Macon was the last of the US Navy's 5 big rigid airships. From after World War One, till the 1960's the US Navy had an Airship program. Lighter-than-Air was considered the future of aviation for most since other aircraft at the time lacked the range to perform many of the roles that the airships did. The Macon was one of those and she was the last rigid Airship built for the US Navy.
Commissioned in April of 1933, she was the sister of the USS Akron which had crashed just a month earlier in what at the time was the greatest air tragedy in history till after the war. Designed by a group of German airship designers brought over by the Goodyear company, the Macon and her sister were the largest aircraft in terms of volume ever built. Although the famous German Zeppelin Hindenberg was longer, Macon was larger. Akron and Macon were built in what at the time was the largest buildings in the world, the great Goodyear Airdock in Akron, Ohio. Construction started after the completion of Akron and she was the second of what was planned to be a whole class of scouting airships for the US Navy.
a video of the Macon on her test flights
What was unique about the Akron and Macon was that they were flying Aircraft Carriers. In a compartment aft of the control car, there was a space for 5 small F9C "Sparrowhawk" fighters. The fighters were launched and recovered by a unique "trapeze" set up on the ship. They would fly up to a bar deployed from the hanger, hook on by the use of a large hook on the upper wing of the bi-plane fighter and lock on. The bar would them be raised into the hanger which would then be closed. The fighters were to protect the airship and provide for extending the patrol and scouting capabilities of the Airship. The Akron never received her full complement of aircraft as funding was scarce in the depression era Navy. The Macon went on to prove the doctrines of what patrol and long range scouting were in the Navy, which in the pre-radar days depended upon visual location of whatever ships were out there. But tragedy always seemed to follow the airships and Macon proved to be no exception.
The Navy had a common practice of using the giant airship as a recruiting tool and the overland flights proved hard on the airship which had to clear mountains and so forth on its flights around the country. During a flight in Arizona on one such trip, turbulence snapped several girders. Rapid damage control prevented the airship from crashing, but the die had been cast.
Macon was scheduled for a fleet exercise immediately after this flight. The damage was repaired, but some was put off till the next scheduled overhaul when gas cells could be deflated since helium was very expensive at the time and the Navy frowned on its loss. So with damage to its rear upper fin temporarialy repaired, the Macon went on to participate in exercises off the coast of California. Off Point Sur, she hit a storm which snapped her fin. Being overweight, the airship had too many cells punctured to remain aloft and slowly sank into the water. Unlike her tragic sister which lost all by three of her crew, the Macon lost only two crewman thanks to the warm California seas and the provision of rafts and life jackets aboard, a lesson learned from the crash of the Akron. The hideous Irony was that Macon was commanded by the most senior officer to survive the Akron Disaster, Commander Herbert V. Wiley.
After the loss of the Macon, the US Navy shelved plans for follow-on airships to Macon, instead concentrating on Blimps and its fledgling Aircraft Carriers. The US Navy was still a Battleship Navy and Aircraft were considered secondary. It took the Pearl Harbor Disaster to prove the military utility of aircraft.
The surviving artifacts of this era include a single example of the Sparrowhawk, in the Air ans Space Museum, and the huge Airdock hanger in Akron with a similar one located on Moffet Field in California, named after Admiral Moffett who was among those who died on the Akron. Most of the veterans of that forgotten era have passed away and their achievements have been forgotten save for grainy newsreel footage and fading photographs.
My brother Paul sent this to me, a wonderful faux cruise to a wonderful spot on the globe.....
L u x u r y C r u i s e L i n e s
Now Accepting Reservations! Additional cruise information available below.
To The Point Cruise Lines is excited to offer the ultimate
adventure cruise along the pirate-infested coast of Somalia!
Ultimate Adventure Cruise Route
Rates and Availability
Ship Name
Starting Price
Days
Availability
Sun Splendor
$5,200.00
5
Fully Booked
Grand Voyage
$6,150.00
7
Reservations Available
Horizons IV
$7,091.00
10
Reservations Available
Horizons III
$5,200.00
7
Fully Booked
Grand Voyage II
$6,300.00
7
Fully Booked
Grand Voyage III
$5,200.00
5
Reservations Available
Coastal Paradise
$5,200.00
7
Reservations Available
Coastal Paradise II
$8,200.00
10
Reservations Available
Peril Princess
$5,200.00
7
Fully Booked
Peril Princess II
$5,200.00
7
Reservations Available
We board our luxury cruise ships in Djibouti on the Gulf of Aden near the entrance to the Red Sea , and disembark in Mombasa Kenya , seven adrenaline-charged days later. Reservations start at only $5,200 per-person (double occupancy, inside room) and $6,900 (verandah complete with bench rest).
You'll relax like never before!
That's because you are welcome to bring your own arsenal with you. If you don't have your own weapons, you can rent them from our onboard Master Gunsmith.
Enjoy reloading parties every afternoon, with skeet and marksmanship competitions every night!
But the best fun of all, of course, is...
...Pirate Target Practice!
The object of our cruise is to sail up and down the Somali Coast waiting to get hijacked by pirates!
Weapons rentals:
Weapon Selection
Price
Description
AK-47 Light Assault
$12.00 Per Day
On a budget? Rent a full-auto scope-mounted AK-47 for only $9/day with 7.62 ball ammo at $12 per 100 rounds:
M-16 Full Automatic
$25.00 Per Day
Rent a full auto M-16 for only $25/day with ammo attractively priced at $16 per 100 rounds of 5.56 armor-piercing:
Barrett M-107 50 Caliber
$59.00 Per Day
Hello! Nothing gets a pirate's attention like a Barrett M-107 50-cal rifle; only $59/day with 25 rounds of armor-piercing ammo affordably priced at only $29.95.
RPG Launcher
$175.00 Per Day
Want to make a real impact? Rent an RPG for only $175/day with three fragmentation rounds included! A true favorite among pirates, rent one today and show you care!
Customer Testimonials
"Six attacks in 4 days were more than I expected. I bagged three pirates, my wife nailed two, and my 12-year old son sank two boats with the mini-gun. This wonderful cruise was fun for the whole family"-- Fred D., Cincinnati , OH
"Pirates 0, Passengers 32! Well worth the trip! Can't recommend it highly enough!" -- Ben L., Bethesda , MD
BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE! Twin mounted mini-guns are available for rental at only $450.00 per 30 seconds of sustained fire!
Additional Cruise Line Services
Need a spotter? Our professional crew members can double as spotters for only $30/hour. (spotting scope included, but gratuities are not)
Also included: Free complimentary night vision equipment - and throughout the night, coffee, pastries and snacks are always available on the main deck from 7 PM until 6 AM
Our deluxe package comes complete with gourmet meals and all rooms offer a mini-bar
OUR SATISFACTION GUARANTEE!
We guarantee you will experience at least two hijacking attempts by pirates or you'll receive an instant $1,000 refund upon arrival in Mombasa .
How can we make that guarantee? We operate at 5 knots just beyond 12 nautical miles off the coast of Somalia , thus in international waters where pirates have no rights whatever. In fact, we make three passes through the area's most treacherous waters to ensure maximum visibility by Somali mother ships. We repeat this for five days, making three complete passes past the entire Somali Coast . At night, the boat is fully lit and bottle rockets are shot every five minutes with loud disco music directionally beamed shore side to attract maximum attention.
ACT NOW!
Cabin space is limited so you need to respond quickly. Reserve your package before July 31st and get a great bonus - 100 rounds of free tracer ammo in the caliber of your choice! So sign up for the Ultimate Somali Coast Adventure Cruise now!
BUT THERE'S EVEN MORE!
Reserve Now -and be automatically entered to win a 5 minute time slot on the Captain's own Twin Browning 50 Caliber M2HB installation!
"I haven't had this much fun since flying choppers in ' Nam . Don't worry about getting shot by pirates...they never even got close to the ship with the crap they shoot and their lousy aim... Come on board and bag your own clutch of genuine Somali pirates!" -- Mike W., Savannah , GA
"Holy crap! I mean literally, I crapped myself! This gun shook the deck like thunder and I was laughing so hard I just had to release it. AWESOME!-- Jim W., Tampa , FL
I was reading a blog from my friend, Remixed Phoenix which was a photo essay about what car he would have if he was a billionaire. Now I posted my responses and I thought I would repost them here because I want to be able to share my dreams here. I want a better world for my nephew, better than the one he is growing up in. To do this, we have to live within our means and be cleaner about it. We all can afford to be a lot more green in our dealings with the world. However there are intersts in the world which would perpertuate the damaging effects of our petroleum based economy has on our environment, political systems, and the world in general.
My Garage if I won the lottery:
I am often asked when I tell people my dream cars are CNG powered about fueling. CNG infrastructure isn't what it is in Europe lets say. At one time one could drive across the US on CNG alone. However, the Bush Administration abandoned CNG along with the big 3 US auto makers at around 2006. With that, and the lack of renewal of tax incentives, the fueling infrastructure decreased.
Funny though, all the US manufacturers have CNG vehicles in their fleets in Europe. The Ford Focus apparently has a CNG Version as well as Opal for GM in Europe. However, the Big three keep them over in Europe and not over here. The CNG stations here are depended upon whatever municipality or state is supporting them. California, Utah, Oklahoma and some areas in New England have fairly good fueling infrastructure, some of them even at the stations you get your regular gasoline from. I know of a few Shell stations on the East Coast that sell it. There are some cities that have a single station and that is it. Then you are dependent on if the pump works, which may be half the time. Both vehicles I showed above are CNG.
The Ford Crown Victoria is a V8 monster which is based on the ubiquitous car of the same name which is used as a police cruiser and Taxi in many cities in the US. The Crown Vic CNG is a dedicated fuel CNG (which means it uses CNG exclusively as its means of propulsion) and has a 300 US mile range depending on the tanking options. More range means less trunk (boot) space and vice versa, but the Vic has a HUGE trunk so unless you are a mobster who regularly disposes of bodies or a woman who regularly cleans out the local supermarket with 10 bags of groceries its doubtful you will need all that space. Law enforcement likes big trunk space for tactical items and technical items. (DVR for dash cameras are stored in trunks as well as forensic kits and the like). The one above was produced in 1994-1997 and are referred to by CV enthusiasts as "aero-Vics" because of their more aerodynamic styling with the wrap-around headlights and such. I like the styling on these and own a gasoline powered version. (Reference my blogs about the "Victor-Victoria" as I refer to my lovely car). There is also one for sale in California, however given its age it is likely that in spite of its cheap price, the tanks will likely have to be swapped out soon as they are limited by age. The certification for the CNG tanks, due to their high pressure containment are certified for only 12 years or 100,000 miles. Swapping the tanks is almost as costly as an engine change which would make the vehicle cost a whole lot more than I can afford to spend at the moment. But I digress.
The more contemporary Vics are less aerodynamic but are said to be more robust. They were improved after a spate of crashes involving Crown Victoria Police version which resulted in Gasoline tank explosions which resulted in the deaths several policemen. The vehicles are now certified for tank survivability in a 75 MPH crash.
As of today, the Civic GX is the only domestic US produced CNG vehicle in the US. Sad that a Japanese manufacturer is producing the only US CNG car.
If I could afford it really, I would be a Green car owner exclusively. I'd have a solar powered mansion if I could afford it, with wind power and the like. When you are poor in the US, one really can't afford to be green. You have to take what you can get and what you can get is usually the stuff which isn't the best for the planet or for you.
What I love about CNG is that they can be readily converted to run on Hydrogen gas which we will in all likelihood be using soon given that fossil fuels are running out. I read somewhere that Hydrogen as a vehicle fuel will become economically viable when gasoline reaches $6.00 a gallon in the United States. After that, you will probably see the US finally coming to its senses and getting itself off of Petroleum and going to a Hydrogen economy or despoiling the environment and fighting wars in an ever desperate search for the dwindling supplies of Oil. Care to guess the likely scenario?
If one is interested you can check out my Multiply Group on the subject, which unfortunately has not been updated as of recently or you can check out other organizations listed on the links which I think I have kept updated and if not, please let me know so I can.
Each day I drive by the Second Baptist Church in St. Louis. This sign held some intriguing prospects and I decided to check out the sermon when it was posted on their website. I wish that people such as Sarah Palin and the like would listen to people of faith that have a realistic idea of what the separation of Church and State really means. This guy has it right.
After reading and listening to it I would add that there are forces afoot in our country that would impose some Christian version of Sharia law on our land. They argue that if we had "God back in our values" we would be a much better nation. The fact of the matter is that even when we did have God on our values, we behaved like morons. We have always been a nation of easy empire even while professing we weren't. Our conquest of the west of our country includes numerous lands stolen from the natives and the Spanish an their successors. We possess islands in the Pacific where we practice the worst forms of capitalism in substandard wages, and several of those islands are uninhabitable due to indiscriminate testing of our nuclear arsenal. We like to think ourselves above the pettiness of Empire and Theocracy as it is practices elsewhere in the world, but the truth of the matter is that we are as guilty of it as any other nation on this planet. If we are not careful, we will soon slide down the slippery slope of theocracy and dictatorship that will make Iran look tame.
This is a review by KBB of the Honda Civic GX. Many of you know one of my passions is for CNG vehicles. This is the only vehicle available to the public that you can buy straight off the lot in many places. Its manufactured in the United States at the Honda Plant in Ohio. I am considering getting one of these. Simply because I want a car that is not giving money to Al Queda. Most Natural Gas used in the US is produced locally here in the US. While those that get it out of the ground are huge multi-national corporations, the gas comes from here and is part of our resources. You have to think that when you fill your tank with Gasoline, eventually that money will find its way back to those who use that money to fund terrorism. One gentleman here in the ethanol debate that said something telling. This is the first war in which we are essentially funding both sides.
Killing is becoming institutionalized in our country. Violence is an accepted way of life in many areas of our country. Guns are predominant on our streets and show no sign of stopping. The shootings are commonplace and are so numerous, they have taken to accounting the number of shootings rather than reporting on each individual shooting on our local news.
I am not sure what we are doing in the City of St. Louis here. We have had a appearance of a surge in violence. One shooting killed a mayor and another killed a former police chief who worked as a investigator for the state. Both of these were people of color. We are killing the leaders who are trying to stop this.
The former police chief was a friend of a friend of mine at work. I was there when he found out his childhood friend had passed. It was a senseless killing by an idiot who lost money gambling and tried to rob an armed man. He killed his attacker as well, and shot the assailants friend, so all will pay. One man, who was a decent and honorable man who did what was best for the neighborhood. Another, well, he was "well known" to law enforcement paid with his life, and his friend will be incarcerated for his participation in this incident.
When will the killing stop? When will the attitude change? As I type this, I watch the local news about how bad the schools are. Our priorities are so messed up about what things are going on. We need more money for the items on our budget that should be our priorities.
The next time some sports team owner asks for money to fix up a stadium I have to ask him where that money is going to come from. I want him to understand that to pay these athletes to throw a ball around and provide a premium facility for them to do it, we are taking money from the kids, our future, to give them what they want. Do we need this elective activity? We have to ask ourselves what the priorities are. I live with this each and every day.
I see people lining up for shoes at stores whenever there is a new release. Shoes that cost $125 made by people in third world countries making fifty or 74 cents an hour while there are people here unemployed.
Where is the outrage? In what is happening here, we are all guilty because we let it happen. It isn't in our neighborhood, so we ignore it. It does touch it through our TV screens every day. In the past 24 hours in St. Louis there was 9 shootings, with one hitting the car sitting in front of a state representatives office. (The State Rep was not targeted, but was the result of two men arguing on the parking lot of his office). One shooting in the downtown area hit an office building where workers were forced to hit the floor terrified.
In this environment, our Supreme Court has, in its infinite wisdom, decided that we all need to arm ourselves to kill and kill and kill again. They have limited the ability for local municipalities to control guns on the streets. What happens next is anyone's guess. What happens next is up to us to vote into office people who want peace on our streets and changing the local attitudes to violence.
I am interested in CNG vehicles because they are good for the environment and aren't powered by dead Marines. I still have a little hope for the world. Read the musings and enjoy.
