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The ZMC-2 (Zeppelin Metal Clad 200,000 cubic foot capacity) was the only successfully operated metal-skinned airship ever built. Constructed at Naval Air Station Grosse Ile by The Aircraft Development Corporation of Detroit,

Operations

The airship was first flown on August 19, 1929, and transferred to Naval Air Station Lakehurst, New Jersey, in October 1929. The airship was nicknamed "the Tin Blimp". Its first Navy skipper was Red Dugan, who expressed reluctance at operating the airship, believing it unsafe. Dugan's concerns were proven wrong, though he later lost his life in the crash of another airship, Akron.

The ZMC-2 was operated with a zero internal pressure at speeds up to , sufficient for it to be considered a 'rigid' airship. With its low fineness ratio of 2.83, the ZMC-2 was difficult to fly. By 1936, the airship had travelled over with little sign of corrosion.<!-- Impossible to locate this reference from these vague details: ref></ref --> In its lifetime the ZMC-2 logged 752 flights and 2265 hours of flight time. In its final years its use had dropped significantly. Between December 1938 and April 1941 it only logged five hours of flight time.

Considered by the Navy as too small for anti-submarine patrols, the aging ZMC-2 was decommissioned and scrapped in 1941 after nearly 12 years of service.

Operators

;United States

  • United States Navy

Specifications (ZMC-2)

The ZMC-2 plays a key role in the Clive Cussler novel Cyclops (1986) in which it is fictionally saved from scrapping and renamed Prosperteer.

See also

  • List of airships of the United States Navy
  • David Schwarz
  • ZMC (airship)

Notes

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References

  • Lakehurst: International Airport (a picture of the ZMC-2 is near the bottom of the page) At the Internet Archive.
  • ZMC-2 in hangar, under the nose of the Hindenburg At the Internet Archive.
  • This has a short history of the ZMC-2 along with pictures of construction and flights of the ZMC-2 At the Internet Archive.