- Item
- 1924-10
Part of Richards Studio Photographs
The dirigible "Shenandoah," commissioned by the US Navy, paid a two day visit to Camp Lewis in October of 1924. A special 165 foot tall striped mooring mast was specially constructed for the visit. The giant dirigible, patterned after a German Zeppelin captured by the French in 1917, hovered silently in the air over gawking spectators and their automobiles. On September 3, 1925, a mere nine months later, the airship was caught in a thunderstorm and torn to pieces over Noble County, Ohio. Miraculously, 29 of its 43 crew members survived. The mast stood at Fort Lewis until 1936. (Richards copy negative)
Airships; Mooring masts; Camp Lewis (Wash.); Military camps--Tacoma--1920-1930;