Sky Ships: A History of the Airship in the United States Navy

Based on hours of research with primary sources, including dozens of interviews with military personnel and civilian participants, Sky Ships tells the story of the U.S. Navy's 50-year involvement with airships.

After witnessing Germany's modest success with zeppelins during World War I, the U.S. Navy established the Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey. These giant ships, which were longer than a football field but could be controlled by a man's fingertip, amazed and intrigued the public. Althoff, who grew up near Lakehurst, examines how that air station became the setting for the golden age of airships, as well as one of aviation's greatest disasters -- the Hindenburg crash in 1937.

Despite the tremendous impact the Hindenburg explosion had on the world of dirigible aviation, the U.S. Navy made wide use of airships during World War II to protect Allied shipping. Althoff goes on to carefully document the end of the Navy's airship program in the late '50s and early '60s, and reveal new hope for a revitalized lighter-than-air program. The author includes more than 200 remarkable photographs, many of them published here for the first time.