List of airship accidents

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Lists of aviation accidents and incidents General by year · by death toll · in mid-air Commercial by year · by airline · by location · by cause / in alphabetical order Military by year · Shootdowns · Iraq War · Coalition aircraft losses in Afghanistan · involving C-130 Hercules Other Airships · News aircraft · Spaceflight Deaths by aircraft misadventure · of notables · Sole survivors Related topics Air safety · Aircraft hijacking · Aviation archaeology · Air crash investigators · Accident analysis For more exhaustive lists, see the Aircraft Crashes Record Office (ACRO) and Aviation Safety Network websites.

[edit] Accidents of significant historical importance

• 1919 American Wingfoot Air Express. Caught fire over downtown Chicago, 2 passengers, one crewmember and 10 people on the ground killed, 2 parachuted to safety.^[1]
• 1921 British R38. Built for US, broke in half and burned after suffering structural failure during high-speed trials over Hull. 44 killed, five survivors.
• 1922 American Roma (ex-Italian T34). Hit power lines in Virginia and caught fire. 34 killed, 11 survivors.
• 1923 French Dixmude (ex Zeppelin LZ114). Caught in storm over Mediterranean and presumably burned in the air. All of the crew (more than 50) killed.
• 1925 US Navy USS Shenandoah. Caught in storm over Noble County, Ohio, and broke into several pieces. 14 killed, 29 survivors.
• 1928 Italian semi-rigid Italia. Crashed on return from successful trip to North Pole. 7 killed, 9 survivors.
• 1930 British R101. Rushed to completion, dove into ground during rainstorm in France. 48 killed, 6 survivors.
• 1933 USS Akron. Lost at sea off coast of New Jersey after severe storm. 73 dead, 3 survivors.
• 1934 Soviet Union W-7 bis.
• 1935 USS Macon crashed off coast of Point Sur, Monterey, California after sustaining tail damage due to crosswinds. 2 dead, 81 survivors.
• 1937 German Hindenburg burned on landing at Lakehurst, New Jersey. 35 dead, 62 survivors.
• 1938 Soviet Airship W6 Ossoawiachim 16 out of 19 crew died after crashing into a mountain on an arctic rescue mission.
• 1960 On July 6, a US Navy ZPG-3W, crashed into the sea off New Jersey. 18 of the 21 crew were killed.

[edit] Recent and/or minor accidents

• 1933 US Navy airship J3 lost with two crew killed looking for USS Akron survivors.
• 1942 The disappearance of the two-person crew of the US naval blimp L-8 a.k.a. "The Ghost Blimp." The Ghost Blimp mystery was featured in an episode of Unsolved Mysteries.
• October 8, 1980 The Jordache blimp crashes in New Jersey on its maiden flight.
• July 1, 1986 The experimental Helistat 97-34J crashes at Naval Air Engineering Station Lakehurst in Lakehurst, New Jersey after completing a test flight, killing one.
• July 4, 1993 The airship Bigfoot, which bore the Pizza Hut logo crashed on top of buildings in Manhattan. ^[2].
• The Goodyear blimp named the "Stars and Stripes" crashed shortly after take off on June 13, 2005 in Coral Springs, Florida. No one was injured. Bad weather may have been a factor in the incident.

[edit] References