The USS Shenandoah was the first of the great American airships, it was closely based on the German Zeppelin bomber L-49, built just after WWI and still viewed as one of the most important dirigibles of the era. With a gross weight of 36 tons, a total length of 68ft, a cruising speed of 70mph and a range of over 5000 miles, the Shenandoah was the first airship to cross the continental USA, the first to launch an aircraft and the first to dock with a ship at sea (the USS Patoka, seen above).
Sadly the Shenandoah’s life was cut short when it was caught in a severe storm (a squall line), it was caught in a violent updraft that carried it far higher than the upper pressure limits of its helium bags. It was torn apart in the extreme turbulence and crashed in multiple parts in farmland near Caldwell, Ohio – killing 14 crew members.
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In order to protect the United States from aerial attack during the early stages of the Cold War, construction on the Distant Early Warning Line (or DEW Line) began in 1956. This was a serious engineering project that required tonnes of steel, concrete, and equipment to be delivered high into the Arctic Circle where there…
This formerly classified CIA training film covers techniques used to surveil cars using multiple vehicle-based teams communicating by radio. The quality of the film’s production came as a bit of a surprise, the camera work is excellent but perhaps most surprisingly the soundtrack includes both the Shaft theme song and the Star Trek theme song….
This article was written by Stan Evans, Stan is a highly-respected photographer and a popular figure in the motorcycle and automotive worlds. He’s previously worked for Edmunds, Blacksmith Engineering, Red Bull, HBO, Columbia, and Facebook. Mustang in the Wild A few years ago I traveled to palm springs for a romantic getaway with an old girlfriend….
This is the 1971 Plymouth Road Runner Rapid Transit, it’s the only one ever made and today it stands as a high watermark for American concept muscle cars of the early 1970s. The Road Runner was developed alongside three others – a 440 Cuda, a 340 Duster, and a Hemi Cuda that was built as…
Randy Grubb is a custom car and motorcycle builder perhaps best known for being the man who built Jay Leno’s Tank Car. Grubb’s garage has turned out a remarkable body of work including the B-702, Piss’d Off Pete, the Falconer Dodici, the DecoPods, and the DecoLiner. Randy Grubb’s Magic Bus The Magic Bus is Randy…
The DUKW 6×6 Amphibious Utility Vehicle is typically just referred to as the “Duck” after its official name “DUKW” – a US Military code for its design: “D” means designed in 1942, “U” means utility, “K” means all-wheel drive, and “W” means dual-tandem rear axles. The DUKW 6×6 Amphibious Utility Vehicle The DUKW would become…
