View allAll Photos Tagged operator
Operator: Konectbus Ltd
Fleet Number: 607
Registration: SN61CZX
Body/Chassis: Alexander Dennis Enviro400
Chassis No: SFD4DSBRFBGXD6412
Seating: H47/32F
New: January 2012
Ex: --
Livery: konectbus
Date: Saturday 1st July 2017
Location: Castle Meadow, Norwich
Route: 501 (Thickthorn P&R via City Centre)
I decided to remake one of my older builds, but with a greater knowledge of the M14 platform and attempt at camo.
The Desert Operator has been upgraded with a lightweight aluminum chassis featuring a Tapco SAW grip and Milspec buffer tube, mounting a Magpul CTR and cheek rest. The trigger group has also been polished for smoother operation, and a Galil styled enhanced charging handle replaces the old. An Aimpoint red dot, hand stop, and grip-pod occupy the rails, and the rifle has been finished with an eye-pleasing 6 color desert Duracoat.
And in other news, I've been 19 since Tuesday and will probably be buying a Vz. 58 or Saiga-12 within the near future.
Santa Fe train order operator Brian Amerman, Seligman, Arizona, April 3, 1972. Photo by Joe McMillan.
Operator: Direct Rail Services
Location: Prittlewell
Platform: 2
Class: 66
Number: 427
Type: Diesel Locomotive
Origin: Stowmarket
Destination: Stowmarket
Date: 3rd December 2015
Operator: Yorkshire Buses
Vehicle: Dennis Dart MPD
Fleet Number: N/A (Former GNE 511)
Registration: X511 WRG
Entered Service: January 2001
Operator: Crewe Diesel Preservation Group
Livery: ScotRail
No: 47712 'Lady Diana Spencer'
Service: 1Z15 Glasgow Queen Street to Inverness
Tour: The Scottish Push-Pull Tour
Location: Carrbridge
Operator: Denmark Air Force (RDAF)
Aircraft: General Dynamics F-16BM Fighting Falcon
Registration: ET-198
C/n: 6G-14
Time & Location: 16.06.2023, EFTU, Finland
Remarks: Turku Airshow 2023.
Operator: First South West Ltd
Fleet No: 53120
Registration: EO02NFA
Body/Chassis: Optare M920 Solo
Chassis No: SAB19000000000822
Seating: B30F
New: May 2002
Ex: First Essex Buses Ltd
Livery: First (Standard Barbie)
Date: Monday 22nd August 2016
Location: Camborne Bus Station, Union Street
Route: 47 (Troon-Camborne via Redruth)
Operator | Dagupan Bus Co, Inc.
Fleet Number | 1501
Coachbuilder | Yutong Bus Co. Ltd.
Model | Yutong ZK6107H
Engine | Yuchai YC6A260-30
Chassis | Yutong ZK6107CRA
Suspension | Air Suspension
Route | Cubao Q.C-Lingayen
Shot Location | Binmaley Pangasinan, Road
Country: SPAIN
Operator: SFG
Item: STEAM
Class or Maker: Krauss(S)
Wheel Arrangement or Type: 0-6-2T
Number: 2
Place details: Station
Additional notes: Gauge 750mm
Ferrocarril San Feliu de Guixols a Gerona
Original source material: 35mm colour slide
Photographer:
Copyright: Photographer Fred Pugh
Library locator reference: PUGH_0001
30937 Transport Photograph Database
xxxxYYYzzPUGH005cs
Operator: Victory Liner inc.
Fleet Number: 7060
Seating Configuration: 2x1
Seating Capacity: 29+1
Type of Operation: Provincial operation
Fare: First Class Deluxe
Model: AMC Tourist Star RE Deluxe
Coachbuilder: Almazora motor Corps
Chassis: PBMR39.18.350HOCL
Engine: MAN D2066LOH
Suspension: Electronic Controlled Airsuspension
Transmision: M\T 6Speed Forward 1Reverse
Route: Cubao Quezon City - Baguio City
Shot location: Mc Arthur Highway Sison Pangasinan
First time I've seen this ship since October 2017, though captured a few videos and photos of her in brilliant sunshine down at the harbour today Thursday 7th February 2019.
General
Operator:Østensjø Rederi AS
Built:2007
Builder:Astilleros Gondan
Yard no.:432
Call sign:LNVQ3
Flag:Norwegian International
Port of Registry:Haugesund
IMO no.:9356995
Classification:DNV, 1A1, Supply Vessel, SF, E0, ICE C, DYNPOS- AUTR, CLEAN, Comfort-C(3)-V(3), LFL* Registered notations: DK(+) and HL(2.8), PMS, ISM
Safety regulations:NMA, Worldwide within GMDSS A3, Solas 1974/1978, International Convention on Load Lines, Pollution Prevention - MARPOL 1973/1978, NLS Certificate
Dimensions
Length o.a.:85,8 m
Length b.p.:77,4 m
Breadth mld.:19,2 m
Depth mld.:8,0 m
Draft max.:6,5 m
Air draft:36 m
Tonnage - Deadweight
Gross tonnage:3706 MT
Net tonnage:1111 MT
Deadweight max:4100 MT
Lightweight:2920 MT
Deck loading capacities
Deck measurements:57,4 m x 16,2 m . 4 pipe lengths a’ 12,2 m
Outside deck area:910 m2
Deck cargo capacity:2900T, 10T/m2
Deck equipment
Anchor chain:7 shackles SB, 8 shackles PS. Type: 48 mm DNV K3 Stud Link
Anchor Windlass / Mooring Winch:2 x anchor windlass/mooring winches forward
Mooring winch:2 aft
Deck cranes:Hydramarine 1 x 4 T at 10 m. 1 x 1,5 T at 8 m
Tugger winches:2 x 10 T
Propulsion
General:Diesel electric propulsion plant. 2 x Voith Propellers, each 2800 kW. Two AC asynchronous water-cooled motors each 2500 kW (2992 bhp)
Main engines:4 x Mitsubishi
Fuel type:MDO / MGO
Auxiliaries / Electrical power
Generators:4 x Mitsubishi, each 1920 kW
Harbour generator:338 kW, 690 V, 60 Hz
Emergency generator:99 kW, 690 V, 60 Hz
Speed / Consumption
Max speed / Consumption:15,5 knots
Economy speed / Consumption:10 knots, 9 m3/day
DP-operations (weather dependent):5 tonnes/day
Stand by offshore:4 tonnes/day
In port:1 tonnes/day
Main propellers
Maker:2 x Voith
Type:VSP 32R5
Thrusters
Bow thrusters:2 x Brunvoll Tunnel thrusters, each 1400 kW. Type: Super silent. 1 x Brunvoll Tunnel thruster, 800 kW. Type: RDT
Bridge / Manoeuvering
Bridge controls:Bosch Rexroth, Brunvoll. 5 complete bridge control stands (forward, 2 x aft, starboard, port)
Loading / Discharging:Wartsila IAS. Remote monitoring of all tanks including loading/discharging operations and start/stop of all pumps
Dynamic positioning system
Type:Kongsberg Simrad Green DP21
Approval / Class:DNV DYNPOS-AUTR. IMO Class 2
Reference systems:DPS 116, DPS 112, Fanbeam, Radascan
Sensors:3 x Gyro, 2 x Motion Reference Unit, 2 x Wind sensor
ERN number:99,99,99
Liquid tank capacities
Marine Gas Oil:1180,8 m3
Drill Water/Ballast:1130 m3
Slop tanks:74 m3
Mud:720 m3
Brine:720 m3
Base oil:230 m3
Methanol:166 m3
Special products LFL/LFL*:429 m3
Drill Cuttings:430 m3
Grey water:28 m3
Sewage tanks:28 m3
Liquid discharge
Fuel Oil pumps:1 x 250 m3/h at 9 bar
Brine pumps:2 x 150 m3/h at 24 bar. 2 systems
Liquid Mud pumps:2 x 100 m3/h at 24 bar. 2 systems
Specal products pumps:2 x 100 m3/h
Drill water pumps:1 x 250 m3/h at 9 bar
Fresh water pumps:1 x 250 m3/h at 9 bar
Methanol pumps:2 x 75 m3/h at 90 mWG
Slop system:1 x 40 m3/h
Tank washing system:1 x 60 m3/h
Discharge piping:5"
Bulk tank capasities
Bulk Cement Tanks:5 tanks, each 69 m3. Total 365 m3
Bulk Discharge:2 compressors, each 30,5 m3/min at 6,0 - 6,5 bar (87 - 90 psi). Designed discharge rate min. 100 tonnes/h each compressor
Navigation equipment
Radar:1 x Furuno FAR-2117 3 cm ARPA. 1 x Furuno FAR-2837S 10 cm ARPA
Electronic Chart System:2 x Telchart 2026 ECDIS
Compass:3 x Simrad Gyro GC 80
Autopilot:1 x Robertson AP9 MK 3
Echo Sounder:1 x Furuno FE 700 with digital depth indicator
Navtex:1 x Furuno NX 700
DGPS:2 x Furuno GP90
AIS:1 x FA 150
Voyage data recorder:1 x Furuno VD 3000
LRIT:1 x Sailor TT-300 LT mini C
Log:1 x Furuno DS 80 with remote displays
Communication equipment
General:GMDSS installation in accordance with IMO regulations for vessels operating within Sea Area A3
GMDSS Radio MF/HF Transceivers & DSC:1 x Furuno FS 2570 C
GMDSS VHF portable:3 x Jotron TR-20
VHF:2 x Sailor RT2048
GMDSS EPIRB:1 x Jotron 40S Mk 2. 1 x Jotron 45 SX
GMDSS SART:2 x Jotron Tron
GMDSS Inmarsat C:2 x Furuno Felcom 15
UHF:2 x fixed Motorola GM 360. 8 x portable Motorola GP340
Sattelitte sytem:1 x Sevsat. 1 x Iridium
Mobile Telephone:GSM Telephones
E-mail:GSM/SAT on ComBox
Sat TV system:SeaTel
Accommodation
Total no. berths:23 x Beds
Total no. of cabins:19 x Cabins
Single cabins:15 x Single cabins
Double cabins:4 x Double cabins
Office:2 x Offices
Hospital:1 x Hospital
Ventilation/A-C for accommodation:High pressure single-pipe fully redundant ventilation system. Full heating/AC throughout the accommodation
Other:2 x Dayroom, Messroom, Gymnasium, Sauna, Laundry, Wardrobe
Lifesaving / rescue
Approved lifesaving appliances for:LSA approved for 23 persons
Liferafts:4 x 25 persons
Rescue/MOB boat:Fast Rescue Craft - Weedo FRB 600, Approved for 10 persons
Fire-fighting/foam:Water/Foam pump/monitor covering cargo deck area
Other
Anti roll system:2 x Passive roll reduction tanks. Active roll reduction with Voit Schneider system
Operator | Pangasinan FiveStar Bus, Co.
Fleet Number | 2215
Classification | Regular-Airconditioned Bus
Coachbuilder | Santarosa Motors Works, Inc.
Model | SR615 exfoh
Chassis | Nissan Diesel JA450SSN
Engine | Nissan Diesel PF6-A
Suspension Type | LeafSpring Suspension
Seat Configuration | 2x2
Maximum Capacity | 49+2
Shot Location | Binmaley Pangasinan, Road.
Operator: GB Railfreight
Location: Leigh-on-Sea
Platform: 2
Class: 66
Number: 727
Type: Diesel Locomotive
Origin: Broxbourne Down Tamper Siding
Destination: Broxbourne Down Tamper Siding
Date: 29th October 2015
Operator: Anglianbus Ltd
Fleet No: 555
Registration: YN55PZR
Body/Chassis: Scania N94UD East Lancs OmniDekka
Chassis No: YS2N4X20001853225
Seating: H45/29F
New: February 2006
Ex: Metrobus
Livery: anglianbus
Date: Saturday 22nd October 2016
Location: Hempnall Road, Woodton
Route: 88 (Bungay)
of all the figures I've put together these are probably the most accurate ones, they came out pretty close to the guys in the movie
Operator: Luzon Cisco Transport Inc.
Bus No: 106
Coachbuilder: Pilipinas Hino Bus Body
Model: Hino Grand Echo II
Engine: Hino P11C-TH
Chassis: Hino RM2PSS
Suspension: Air Suspension
Route: Pasay City - Sta. Cruz, Zambales via Camiling/Mangatarem/Socony/Alaminos
Shot Location: Romulo Highway, Mangatarem, Pangasinan
The Magpul Masada, and it's birth child the ACR have been seen as a weapon that was not as versatile as the M4 it was designed to replace. One Sweetwater tech took it in his hands to make the weapon more versatile than any weapon on the market.
A universal lower receiver was designed, retaining many of the features of the ACR, this is the least changed part. The mag well is removable allowing varying mag wells to be attached to one lower. (To come in future)
The hand guard is attached tot he upper with a trademark pin system allowing for rapid removal. The rail system was redesigned, with purchasable rail sections that can be set securely to where ever the user desires.
The weapon still accepts stock ACR butt stocks, and barrels. This weapon features a buffer tube adapter allowing the use of the very popular M4 collapsible stocks, with a left side folding mechanism.
The fire selector supports; semi, 2-round burst, and full auto. It is fully ambidextrous. Other feature on this weapon include a ambidextrous non reciprocating charging handle, Troy Iron sights, and a Sweetwater low profile reddot sight.
______________
This is the base. I want some opinions.
Credit: Shockwave- Charging Handle
Benjoo- Flash hider
Wez- Color and Logo
Miko- Text
Who wants more?
Operator: Go West Travel Ltd
Fleet No: 10055
Registration: SN13EEB
Body/Chassis: Alexander Dennis Enviro400
Chassis No: SFD4DSBRFDGXD7284
Seating: H47/32F
New: April 2013
Ex: --
Livery: Stagecoach
Date: Monday 2nd April 2018
Location: Drayton Road, Norwich
Route: X29 (Fakenham)
Which coincidently is what is pumping out of these dinky but smooth Wharfedale Diamonds.
Also, coincidently Diamond Life is one of Sade’s best albums
Anyhoop, I’m using the Acros LUT on the LUMIX S5 ll … or someone’s interpretation of it. I still had to up the contrast to give it a high key look.
Operator : Rubystar
Aircraft : Antonov An-12BK
Registration : EW-483TI
Airport : Zürich (ZRH / LSZH)
Photo Date : 07.07.2017
Remarks :
Operator | Viron Transit Co, Inc.
Fleet Number | 8220
Area of Operation | Provincial Operation
Seating Configuration | 2×2
Seating Capacity | 49+2
Coachbuilder | (Xiamen) King Long United Automotive Industry Company, Ltd.
Model | King Long XMQ6101Y
Chassis | LA6R1FSF6EB
Engine | Hino J08E-UT
Operator: GV Florida Transport
Fleet Number: GD62
Classification: Air-Conditioned Provincial Operation
Seating Configuration: 2x2 seats
Seating Capacity: 45 Passengers
Coach Builder: Delmonte Motor Works
Model: DM16 Series 1
Chassis: Hino RM2PSS
Engine: Hino P11C-TH
Transmission: Manual Transmission
Gear: 6 speed Forward-1 speed reverse
Euro Compliant:
Facebook page: Philippine Bus Enthusiasts Society
(PhilBES)
Tuguegarao City, Cagayan Valley
This compact assault rifle, often called "Operator" is the best choice for short range combat. Light weight, compact size, 5.56x45 cartridge, 650RPM.
Was kinda doing shits with various parts in 0.6 and I somewhat like AR-15 stock as handguard. Probably best use for it anyway.
Oh, and that little silver thingy in EP area..... that is charging handle, on left side of bolt.
Been screencapped.
Operator: Stagecoach South Wales
Branding: Standard Livery
Depot: Porth
Route: 130 Blaenrhondda via Penygraig, Tonypandy & Treorchy
Manufacturer: TransBus
Model: Dart
Location: Tonypandy Bus Station
Operator: Reading Buses
Make/Model: Scania K270UB/Alexander Dennis Enviro 300-SG (B42F)
Registration Number: YR13 PLO
Fleet Number: 402
Operator | Alps The Bus Co, Inc.
Bus No |
Coachbuilder | Yutong Bus Co. Ltd.
Model | Yutong ZK6122HD
Engine | Yuchai YC6L310-20
Chassis | Yutong ZK6122CRD9
Suspension | Air Suspension
Route |
Date |
Shot Location | Cubao Terminal
Collection:
Images from the History of Medicine (IHM)
Publication:
Produced: [between 1963 and 1969?]
Format:
Still image
Subject(s):
MEDLARS, Librarians,
Computers, Mainframe,
Library Automation,
National Library of Medicine (U.S.). Office of Computer and Communications Systems.
Genre(s):
Photographs
Abstract:
Image caption on page 100 of the book US National Library of Medicine: "Computer operators working with the tape-driven Honeywell 800 mainframe computer, originally acquired by the library in 1963 which ran the Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System (MEDLARS). The Honeywell 800 ran an assembly language called ARGUS (Automatic Routine Generating and Updating System)."
Related Title(s):
US National Library of Medicine
Extent:
1 photograph : 21 x 26 cm
Technique:
black and white
NLM Unique ID:
101648240
NLM Image ID:
A033500
Permanent Link:
Another character .Done with Zbrush.
Have a great time guys.Thank you for comments and faves.
My DeviantART- noro8.deviantart.com/
Operator: Newport Bus
Fleet number: 46
Registration: YN54 AOF
Chassis/Body: Scania Omnicity
Seating: B42F
Date new: October 2004
Route: 21 Newport - Retail Park - Ringland - Underwood
Location: Llanmartin
Date: 22nd July 2014
Photographed on the second day of Newport Bus running out to Underwood, having taken over the 64 from Stagecoach South Wales. Newport have replaced the 64 by extending their existing 21 from Ringland out to Underwood.
Along with the 64, the 74 (Newport -Caldicot - Chepstow) was also taken over from Stagecoach South Wales on Monday 21st July, resulting in Stagecoach withdrawing totally from the Newport to Chepstow corridor.
The town services in Monmouth and Chepstow are already under Newport's jurisdiction, as well as the 62 (Newport - Caldicot - Caerwent); the 63 (Cwmbran - Usk - Chepstow); and the 73 (Newport - Parc Seymour - Caerwent - Chepstow), making Newport Bus the dominant operator in this part of South East Wales.
It's great news for the communities in these areas that their services have been secured, and is great to see Newport expanding outside of the city boundary; however for the enthusiast it means less variety in this part of Wales.
Stagecoach South Wales used to run an eclectic mix of Darts (with a variety of bodywork); Optare Solo's; Volvo Olympians; the occasional MAN 18.220 and Volvo B10M-55/Alexander PS on the routes, whereas now we will have a more standard offering of Newport's Scania Omnicities & Enviro 200's running the services.
No.46 wears the latest version of the Newport livery, with the lighter and more pleasing shade of green.
Seen here departing Winchester Broadway on 18th March 2019. The journey is commercial on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and tendered on Tuesdays and Thursdays
Operator: Coastal Red Ltd
Fleet Number: 147
Registration: H47MJN
Body/Chassis: Leyland Olympian
Chassis No: ON11702
Seating: H47/31F
New: March 1991
Ex: Talisman Coaches Ltd
Livery: Talisman
Date: Thursday 26th April 2018
Location: Lynx Depot, Acer Road, King’s Lynn
Route: --
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Manufacturer Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation, Akron, Ohio
Manufactured 31 October 1929 (commenced)
8 August 1931 (launched)
Serial ZRS-4
First flight 23 September 1931
Owners and operators United States Navy
In service 27 October 1931 (commissioned)
Last flight 4 April 1933
Flights 73
Total hours 1695.8
Aircraft carried 5 x Curtiss F9C 'Sparrowhawk',[1] Consolidated N2Y-1, Waco XJW-1
Fate Crashed off coast of New Jersey, 4 April 1933
USS Akron (ZRS-4) was a helium-filled rigid airship of the U.S. Navy, the lead ship of her class, which operated between September 1931 and April 1933. It was the world's first purpose-built flying aircraft carrier, carrying F9C Sparrowhawk fighter planes, which could be launched and recovered while it was in flight. With an overall length of 785 ft (239 m), Akron and her sister ship Macon were among the largest flying objects ever built. Although LZ 129 Hindenburg and LZ 130 Graf Zeppelin II were some 18 ft (5.5 m) longer and slightly more voluminous, the two German airships were filled with hydrogen, and so the two US Navy craft still hold the world record for the largest helium-filled airships.[2]
Akron was destroyed in a thunderstorm off the coast of New Jersey on the morning of 4 April 1933, killing 73 of the 76 crewmen and passengers. The accident involved the greatest loss of life in any airship crash.
Technical description
The airship's skeleton was built of the new lightweight alloy duralumin 17-SRT.[3] The frame introduced several novel features compared with traditional Zeppelin designs. Rather than being single-girder diamond trusses with radial wire bracing, the main rings of Akron were self-supporting deep frames: triangular Warren trusses 'curled' round to form a ring. Though much heavier than conventional rings, the deep rings promised to be much stronger, a significant attraction to the navy after the in-flight break up of the earlier conventional airships R38/ZR-2 and ZR-1 Shenandoah.[4] The inherent strength of these frames allowed the chief designer, Karl Arnstein, to dispense with the internal cruciform structure used by Zeppelin to support the fins of their ships. Instead, the fins of Akron were cantilevered: mounted entirely externally to the main structure.[5] Graf Zeppelin, Graf Zeppelin II, and Hindenburg used a supplementary axial keel along the hull centerline. However, the Akron used three keels, one running along the top of the hull and one each side, 45 degrees up from the lower centreline. Each keel provided a walkway running almost the entire length of the ship. The electric and telephone wiring, control cables, 110 fuel tanks, 44 water ballast bags, 8 engine rooms, engines, transmissions, and water-recovery devices were placed along the lower keels. The inert gas helium was used instead of flammable hydrogen, which improved streamlining by allowing the engines to be safely placed inside the hull. A generator room, with 2 Westinghouse d.c. generators powered by a 30-h.p. internal combustion engine, was forward of the No. 7 engine room.[6]: 36, 187–197 
The main rings were spaced at 22.5 m (74 ft) and between each pair were three intermediate rings of lighter construction. In keeping with conventional practice, 'station numbers' on the airship were measured in meters from zero at the rudder post, positive forward and negative aft. Thus the tip of the tail was at station −23.75 and the nose mooring spindle was at station 210.75. Each ring frame formed a polygon with 36 corners and these (and their associated longitudinal girders) were numbered from 1 (at the bottom centre) to 18 (at the top centre) port and starboard.[7] Thus a position on the hull could be referred to, for example, as "6 port at station 102.5" (the number 1 engine room).
While Germany, France and Britain used goldbeater's skin to gas-proof their gasbags, Akron used Goodyear Tire and Rubber's rubberised cotton, heavier but much cheaper and more durable. Half the gas cells used an experimental cotton-based fabric impregnated with a gelatin-latex compound. This was more expensive than the rubberised cotton but lighter than goldbeater's skin. It was so successful that all the gasbags of Macon were made from it.[8] There were 12 gas cells, numbered 0 to XI, using Roman numerals and starting from the tail.[9] While the 'air volume' of the hull was 7,401,260 cu ft (209,580 m3), the total volume of the gas cells at 100 percent fill was 6,850,000 cu ft (194,000 m3). At a normal 95 percent fill with helium of standard purity, the 6,500,000 cu ft (180,000 m3) of gas would yield a gross lift of 403,000 lb (183,000 kg). Given a structure deadweight of 242,356 lb (109,931 kg),[10] this gives a useful lift of 160,644 lb (72,867 kg) available for fuel, lubricants, ballast, crew, supplies and military load (including the skyhook airplanes)
Eight Maybach VL II 560 hp (420 kW) gasoline engines were mounted inside the hull.[11] Each engine turned a two-bladed, 16 ft 4 in (4.98 m) diameter, fixed pitch, wooden propeller via a driveshaft and bevel gearing which allowed the propeller to swivel from the vertical plane to the horizontal.[12] With the engines' ability to reverse, this allowed thrust to be applied forward, aft, up or down.[13] It appears from photographs that the four propellers on each side were contra-rotating, each one turning the opposite way to the one ahead of it. Thus it would appear that the designers were aware that running the propellers in the air disturbed by the one ahead was not ideal. While the external engine pods of other airships allowed the thrust lines to be staggered, placing all four engine rooms on each side of the ship along the lower keel resulted in Akron's propellers all being in line. This proved problematic in service, as it induced considerable vibration which was especially noticeable in the emergency control position in the lower fin. By 1933, Akron had two of her propellers replaced by more advanced, ground-adjustable, three-bladed, metal propellers.[14] These promised a performance increase and were adopted as standard for Macon.
The outer cover was of cotton cloth, treated with four coats of clear and two coats of aluminum pigmented cellulose dope. The total area of the skin was 330,000 sq ft (31,000 m2) and it weighed, after doping, 113,000 lb (51,000 kg).[15]
The prominent dark vertical bands on the hull were condensers of the system designed to recover water from the engines' exhaust for buoyancy compensation. In-flight fuel consumption continuously reduces an airship's weight and changes in the temperature of the lifting gas can do the same. Normally, expensive helium has to be released to compensate and any way of avoiding this is desirable. In theory, a water recovery system such as this can produce 1 lb of ballast water for every lb of fuel burned, though this is unlikely to be achieved in practice.[13]
Akron could carry up to 20,700 US gal (78,000 L) of gasoline (126,000 lb (57,000 kg)) in 110 separate tanks which were distributed along the lower keels to preserve the ship's trim, giving her a normal range of 5,940 nmi (6,840 mi; 11,000 km) at cruising speed.[16] Theoretical maximum ballast water capacity was 223,000 lb (101,000 kg) in 44 bags, again distributed along her length, though normal ballast load at unmasting was 20,000 lb (9,100 kg).[15] Maximum ballast was never an option, because a full fuel and ballast load would have left only 4,600 lb (2,100 kg) lifting capacity for aircraft, crew, and supplies, and each fully loaded F9C fighter alone weighed 2,800 lb (1,300 kg).
The heart of the ship, and her sole reason for existing, was the airplane hangar and trapeze system. Aft of the control car, in bay VII, between frames 125 and 141.25, was a compartment large enough to accommodate up to five F9C Sparrowhawk airplanes. However, two structural girders partially obstructed Akron's aftmost hangar bays, limiting its capacity to three airplanes (one in each forward corner of the hangar and one on the trapeze). A modification to remove this design flaw was pending at the time of the ship's loss.[17]
The F9C was not the ideal choice, being designed as a 'conventional' carrier-borne fighter. It was heavily built to withstand carrier landings, downward visibility was not very good and it initially lacked an effective radio. But the primary role of Akron's airplanes was long-range naval scouting. What was actually needed was a stable, fast, lightweight scouting airplane with a long range,[18] but none existed capable of fitting between the structural members and into the airship's hangar, as the F9C could.
The trapeze was lowered through the T-shaped door in the bottom of the ship and into the slipstream, with an airplane attached to the crossbar by the 'skyhook' above its top wing, its pilot on board and its engine running. The pilot tripped the hook and the airplane fell away from the ship. On his return, he positioned himself beneath the trapeze and climbed up until he could fly his skyhook onto the crossbar, at which point it automatically latched shut. Now, with the engine idling, the trapeze and airplane were raised into the hangar, the pilot cutting his engine as he passed through the door. Once inside, the airplane was transferred from the trapeze to a trolley, running on an overhead 'monorail' system by which it could be shunted into one of the four corners of the hangar to be refueled and re-armed. Having a single trapeze raised two problems: it limited the rate at which airplanes could be launched and recovered and any fault in the trapeze would leave any airborne scouts with nowhere to land. The solution was a second, fixed trapeze permanently rigged further aft along the bottom of the ship at station 102.5 and known as the 'perch'. By 1933 a perch was fitted and in use. Three more perches were planned (at stations 57.5, 80 and 147.5) but these were never fitted.[17]
Akron revived an idea used, and eventually rejected, by the German Navy zeppelins during World War I: the spähkorb or 'spy basket'.[19] The "angel basket" or "sub-cloud observation car", allowed the airship to remain hidden in a cloud layer, while still observing the enemy below. The small car, rather like an airplane fuselage without wings, could be lowered on a 1000 foot long cable. The observer on board communicated with the ship by telephone. In practice, the device was unstable, almost looping over the airship during its only test flight.[6]
During the design stage, in 1929, the navy requested an alteration to the fins. It was considered desirable for the bottom of the lower fin to be visible from the control car. Charles E. Rosendahl had witnessed, from the control room, Graf Zeppelin almost snagging her fin on high-tension power lines during her heavy take off into an unsuspected but very marked temperature inversion from Mines Field, Los Angeles at the start of the last leg of her round-the-world flight earlier that year.[20] The design change would also allow direct vision between the main control car and the emergency control position in the lower fin. The control car was moved 8 ft (2.4 m) aft and all the fins were shortened and deepened. The leading edge root of the fins no longer coincided with a main (deep) ring and instead the foremost attachment was now to an intermediate ring at frame 28.75. This achieved the required visibility, improved low-speed controllability, due to the increased span of the control surfaces, and simplified stress calculations, by reducing the number of fin attachment points. The designers and the navy's inspectors, led by the very experienced Charles P Burgess, were entirely satisfied with the revised stress calculations. However, this alteration has been the subject of much criticism as an "inherent defect" in the design and is often alleged to have been a major factor in the loss of Akron's sister ship Macon.[21] Construction for both ships amounted to $8,800,000 (in 1931 dollars) with the Akron accounting $5,538,400 of the total.[22]
Construction and commissioning
Construction of ZRS-4 was begun on 31 October 1929 at the Goodyear Airdock in Akron, Ohio by the Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation.[23] Because it was larger than any airship previously built in the US, a special hangar was constructed.[24] Chief Designer Karl Arnstein and a team of experienced German airship engineers instructed and supported design and construction of both U.S. Navy airships USS Akron and USS Macon.[25]
On 7 November 1929, Rear Admiral William A. Moffett, the Chief of the U.S. Navy's Bureau of Aeronautics, drove the "golden rivet" into the main ring of "ZRS4". Erection of the hull sections began in March 1930. Secretary of the Navy Charles Francis Adams chose the name Akron (for the city near where it was being built), and Assistant Secretary of the Navy Ernest Lee Jahncke announced it in May 1930.[6]: 33 
Sample of the duralumin from which the frame of USS Akron was built
On 8 August 1931, Akron was launched (floated free of the hangar floor) and christened by First Lady Lou Henry Hoover, the wife of the President of the United States, Herbert Clark Hoover. The maiden flight of Akron took place around Cleveland on the afternoon of 23 September with Secretary of the Navy Adams and Rear Admiral Moffett on board. The airship made ten trial flights, including a 2000-mile journey, over 48 hours, to St. Louis, Chicago, and Milwaukee. On 21 October Akron left the Goodyear Zeppelin Air Dock for the Lakehurst Naval Air Station (NAS), with Lieutenant Commander Charles E. Rosendahl in command, arriving the next day. On Navy Day, 27 October 1931, the Akron was commissioned as a Navy vessel.[6]: 37–43 
History of service
.
Maiden voyage
On 2 November 1931, Akron departed on her first cruise down the eastern seaboard to Washington, D.C. On 3 November the Akron took to the air with 207 persons on board. This demonstration was to prove that in an emergency airships could provide limited but high speed airlift of troops to outlying possessions. Over the weeks that followed, some 300 hours aloft were logged in a series of flights, including a 46-hour endurance flight to Mobile, Alabama, and back. The return leg of the trip was made via the valleys of the Mississippi River and the Ohio River.[6]: 47–49 
Participation in a search exercise (January 1932)
On the morning of 9 January 1932, Akron departed from Lakehurst to work with the Scouting Fleet on a search exercise. Proceeding to the coast of North Carolina, Akron headed out over the Atlantic where it was assigned to find a group of destroyers bound for Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Once these were located, the airship was to shadow them and report their movements. Leaving the coast of North Carolina at about 7:21 on the morning of 10 January, the airship proceeded south, but bad weather prevented sighting the destroyers (contact with them was missed at 12:40 EST, although their crews had sighted Akron) and eventually shaped a course toward the Bahamas by late afternoon. Heading northwesterly into the night, Akron then changed course shortly before midnight and proceeded to the southeast. Ultimately, at 9:08 am on 11 January, the airship succeeded in spotting the light cruiser USS Raleigh and 12 destroyers, positively identifying them on the eastern horizon two minutes later. Sighting a second group of destroyers shortly thereafter, Akron was released from the evaluation about 10:00 a.m., having achieved a "qualified success" in the initial test with the Scouting Fleet, but the performance could have been better with radio detection finding equipment, and scout planes.[6]: 49–51 
As the historian Richard K Smith wrote in his definitive study, The Airships Akron and Macon, "...consideration given to the weather, duration of flight, a track of more than 3,000 mi (4,800 km) flown, her material deficiencies, and the rudimentary character of aerial navigation at that date, the Akron's performance was remarkable. There was not a military airplane in the world in 1932 which could have given the same performance, operating from the same base."[26]
First accident (February 1932)
Akron was to have taken part in Fleet Problem XIII, but an accident at Lakehurst on 22 February 1932 prevented her participation. While the airship was being taken from her hangar, the tail came loose from her moorings, was caught by the wind, and struck the ground.[27] The heaviest damage was confined to the lower fin area, which required repair. Also, ground handling fittings had been torn from the main frame, necessitating further repairs. Akron was not certified as airworthy again until later in the spring. Her next operation took place on 28 April, when it made a nine-hour flight with Rear Admiral Moffett and Secretary of the Navy Adams aboard.[6]: 53–55 
As a result of this accident, a turntable with a walking beam on tracks powered by electric mine locomotives was developed to secure the tail and turn the ship even in high winds so that it could be pulled into the massive hangar at Lakehurst.[28]
Testing of the "spy basket"
Soon after returning to Lakehurst to disembark her distinguished passengers, Akron took off again to conduct a test of the "spy basket"—something like a small airplane fuselage suspended beneath the airship that would enable an observer to serve as the ship's "eyes" below the clouds while the ship herself remained out of sight above them. The first time the basket was tried (with sandbags aboard instead of a man), it oscillated so violently that it put the whole ship in danger. The basket proved "frighteningly unstable", swooping from one side of the airship to the other before the startled gaze of Akron's officers and men and reaching as high as the ship's equator.[19] Though it was later improved by adding a ventral stabilizing fin, the spybasket was never used again.[29]
Akron and Macon (which was still under construction) were regarded as potential "flying aircraft carriers", carrying parasite fighters for reconnaissance. On 3 May 1932, Akron cruised over the coast of New Jersey with Rear Admiral George C. Day, and the Board of Inspection and Survey, on board, and for the first time tested the "trapeze" installation for in-flight handling of aircraft. The aviators who carried out those historic "landings"—first with a Consolidated N2Y trainer and then with the prototype Curtiss XF9C-1 Sparrowhawk—were Lieutenant D. Ward Harrigan and Lieutenant Howard L. Young. The following day, Akron carried out another demonstration flight, this time with members of the House Committee on Naval Affairs on board; this time, Lieutenants Harrigan and Young gave the lawmakers a demonstration of Akron's aircraft hook-on ability.[6]: 55–56 
Following the conclusion of those trial flights, Akron departed from Lakehurst, New Jersey on 8 May 1932, for the American west coast. The airship proceeded down the eastern seaboard to Georgia and then across the southern gulf states, continuing over Texas and Arizona. En route to Sunnyvale, California, Akron reached Camp Kearny in San Diego on the morning of 11 May and attempted to moor. Since neither trained ground handlers nor specialized mooring equipment were present, the landing at Camp Kearny was fraught with danger. By the time the crew started the evaluation, the helium gas had been warmed by sunlight, increasing lift. Lightened by 40 short tons (36 t), the amount of fuel spent during the transcontinental trip, Akron was now uncontrollably light.[6]: 56–57 
The mooring cable was cut to avert a catastrophic nose-stand by the errant airship which floated upwards. Most of the mooring crew—predominantly "boot" seamen from the Naval Training Station San Diego—released their lines although four did not. One let go at about 15 ft (4.6 m) and suffered a broken arm while the three others were carried further aloft. Of these, Aviation Carpenter's Mate 3rd Class Robert H. Edsall and Apprentice Seaman Nigel M. Henton soon plunged to their deaths while Apprentice Seaman C. M. "Bud" Cowart held on to his line and then secured himself to it[30] before being hoisted on board the airship an hour later.[31] Akron moored at Camp Kearny later that day before proceeding to Sunnyvale, California. Footage from the accident appears in the film Encounters with Disaster, released in 1979 and produced by Sun Classic Pictures.
West Coast flights
Over the weeks that followed, Akron "showed the flag" on the West Coast of the United States, ranging as far north as the Canada–US border before returning south in time to exercise once more with the Scouting Fleet. Serving as part of the "Green Force", the Akron attempted to locate the "White Force". Although opposed by Vought O2U Corsair floatplanes from "enemy" warships, the airship located the opposing forces in just 22 hours, a fact not lost upon some of the participants in the exercise in subsequent critiques.[6]: 58–59 
In need of repairs, Akron departed from Sunnyvale on 11 June 1932 bound for Lakehurst, New Jersey, on a return trip that was sprinkled with difficulties, mostly because of unfavorable weather, and having to fly at pressure height while crossing the mountains. Akron arrived on 15 June after a "long and sometimes harrowing" aerial voyage.[6]: 61–62 
Akron next underwent a period of voyage repairs before taking part in July in a search for Curlew, a yacht which had failed to reach port at the end of a race to the island of Bermuda. The yacht was later discovered safe off Nantucket.[32] It then resumed operations capturing aircraft on the "trapeze" equipment. Admiral Moffett again boarded Akron on 20 July, but the next day left the airship in one of her N2Y-1s which took him back to Lakehurst after a severe storm had delayed the airship's own return to base.[6]: 65–66 
Further tests as "flying aircraft carrier"
Akron entered a new phase of her career that summer of 1932, engaging in intense experimentation with the revolutionary "trapeze" and a full complement of F9C-2s. A key element of the entrance into that new phase was a new commanding officer, Commander Alger Dresel.[6]: 63–65 
Third accident (August 1932)
Another accident hampered training on 22 August when Akron's tail fin became fouled by a beam in Lakehurst's massive Hangar No 1 after a premature order to commence towing the ship out of the mooring circle. Nevertheless, rapid repairs enabled eight more flights over the Atlantic during the last three months of 1932. These operations involved intensive work with the trapeze and the F9C-2s, as well as the drilling of lookouts and gun crews.[6]: 66–67 
Among the tasks undertaken were the maintenance of two aircraft patrolling and scouting on Akron's flanks. During a seven-hour period on 18 November 1932, the airship and a trio of planes searched a sector 100 mi wide.[6]: 67 
Return to the fleet
After local operations out of Lakehurst for the remainder of 1932, Akron was ready to resume operations with the fleet. On the afternoon of 3 January 1933, Commander Frank C. McCord relieved Commander Dresel as commanding officer, the latter becoming the first commanding officer of Akron's sister ship Macon, whose construction was almost complete. Within hours, Akron headed south down the eastern seaboard toward Florida where, after refueling at the Naval Reserve Aviation Base, Opa-locka, Florida, near Miami, the next day proceeded to Guantánamo Bay for an inspection of base sites. At this time the N2Y-1s were used to provide aerial "taxi" service to ferry members of the inspection party back and forth.[6]: 73 
Soon thereafter, Akron returned to Lakehurst for local operations which were interrupted by a two-week overhaul and poor weather. In March, it carried out intensive training with an aviation unit of F9C-2s, honing hook-on skills. During the course of these operations, an overfly of Washington DC was made 4 March 1933, the day Franklin D. Roosevelt first took the oath of office as President of the United States.[6]: 74 
On 11 March, Akron departed Lakehurst bound for Panama stopping briefly en route at Opa-locka before proceeding on to Balboa where an inspection party looked over a potential air base site. While returning northward, the airship paused at Opa-locka again for local operations exercising gun crews, with the N2Y-1s serving as targets, before getting underway for Lakehurst on 22 March.[6]: 74–75 
Loss
Location of crash
On the evening of 3 April 1933, Akron cast off from the mooring mast to operate along the coast of New England, assisting in the calibration of radio direction finder stations. Rear Admiral Moffett was again on board along with his aide, Commander Henry Barton Cecil, Commander Fred T. Berry, the commanding officer of NAS Lakehurst, and Lieutenant Colonel Alfred F. Masury, U.S. Army Reserve, a guest of the admiral, the vice-president of Mack Trucks, and a strong proponent of the potential civilian uses of rigid airships.[6]: 77–78 
After casting off at 19:28, Akron soon encountered fog and then severe weather, which did not improve when the airship passed over Barnegat Light, New Jersey,[33] at 22:00. According to Richard Smith, "Unknown to the men on board the Akron, they were flying ahead of one of the most violent stormfronts to sweep the North Atlantic States in ten years. It would soon envelop them." Enveloped in fog, increased lightning and heavy rain, it became extremely turbulent at 00:15. The Akron began a rapid nose-down descent, reaching 1100 feet while still falling. Ballast was dumped, which stabilized the ship at 700 feet, and climbed back to 1600 feet cruising altitude. Then a second violent descent sent the Akron downwards at 14 feet per second. "Landing stations" alerted the crew, as the ship descended tail-down. The lower fin struck the sea, water entered the fin, and the stern was dragged under. The engines pulled the ship into a nose-high attitude, then the Akron stalled, and crashed into the sea.[6]: 78–80 
Akron broke up rapidly and sank in the stormy Atlantic. The crew of the nearby German merchant ship Phoebus saw lights descending toward the ocean at about 00:23 and altered course to starboard to investigate, with her captain believing that he was witnessing an airplane crash. At 00:55, executive officer Lieutenant Commander Herbert V. Wiley was pulled from the water while the ship's boat picked up three more men: Chief Radioman Robert W. Copeland, Boatswain's Mate Second Class Richard E. Deal, and Aviation Metalsmith Second Class Moody E. Erwin. Despite artificial respiration, Copeland never regained consciousness, and he died aboard Phoebus.[6]: 80  Although the German sailors spotted four or five other men in the water, they did not know their ship had chanced upon the crash of Akron until Lt. Commander Wiley regained consciousness half an hour after being rescued. The crew of Phoebus combed the ocean in boats for over five hours in a fruitless search for more survivors. The Navy blimp J-3—sent out to join the search—also crashed, with the loss of two men.[34]
The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Tucker—the first American vessel on the scene—arrived at 06:00, taking the airship's survivors and the body of Copeland on board. Among the other ships combing the area for survivors were the heavy cruiser Portland, the destroyer Cole, the Coast Guard cutter Mojave, and the Coast Guard destroyers McDougal and Hunt, as well as two Coast Guard aircraft. The fishing vessel Grace F from Gloucester, Massachusetts, also assisted in the search, using her seining gear in an effort to recover bodies.[35] Most casualties had been caused by drowning and hypothermia, since the crew had not been issued life jackets, and there had not been time to deploy the single life raft. The accident left 73 dead, and only three survivors. Wiley, standing next to the two other survivors, gave a brief account on 6 April.[36]
Aftermath of loss
See also: Cathedral of the Air
Akron's loss spelled the beginning of the end for the rigid airship in the U.S. Navy, especially since one of her leading proponents, Rear Admiral William A. Moffett, was among the dead. President Roosevelt said, "The loss of the Akron with her crew of gallant officers and men is a national disaster. I grieve with the Nation and especially with the wives and families of the men who were lost. Ships can be replaced, but the Nation can ill afford to lose such men as Rear Admiral William A. Moffett and his shipmates who died with him upholding to the end the finest traditions of the United States Navy." The loss of the Akron was the largest loss of life in any airship crash.[37]
Macon and other airships received life jackets to avert a repetition of this tragedy. When Macon was damaged in a storm in 1935 and subsequently sank after landing in the sea, 70 of the 72 crew were saved.
The songwriter Bob Miller wrote and recorded a song, "The Crash of the Akron", within one day of the disaster.[38]
In 2003, the U.S. submarine NR-1 surveyed the wreck site and performed sonar imaging of the Akron's girders.[39]
Assessment
For numerous reasons, in the opinion of U.S. naval aviation historian Richard K. Smith,[40] Akron never got the chance to show what it was capable of. Initially, the idea had been to use her as a scout for the fleet, just as the German Navy zeppelins had been used during World War I, with her airplanes being simply useful auxiliaries capable of extending her range of vision or of defending her against attacking enemy aircraft.[41] Gradually, in the minds of the more forward-thinking officers familiar with airship and scouting fleet operations, that was reversed, it and Macon came to be regarded as aircraft carriers, whose sole job was to get the scouting airplanes to the search area and then to support them in their flights.[42][43] The mothership herself should stay in the background, out of sight of enemy surface units, and act merely as a mobile advanced base for the airplanes, which should do all of the actual searching.[44] Any aircraft carrier could do that, but only an airship could do it so quickly since her speed was at least twice that of a surface ship, enabling her to get to the scene or be switched from flank to flank quickly. However, it was an experimental ship, a prototype, and it took time for the doctrine and suitable tactics to evolve. It also took time to develop the techniques of navigating, controlling, and coordinating the scouts. At first, developments were hampered by inadequate radio equipment,[45] as well as the difficulties encountered by the scout pilots in navigating, scouting, and communicating from their cramped open cockpits.[46]
Some politicians, some senior officers, and some sections of the press seemed predisposed to judge the airship experiment a failure without regard to the evidence.[47] Even within the Navy's Bureau of Aeronautics, many opposed spending so much on a single asset.[40] Smith also asserts that political pressure inside and outside the navy led to the ship being pushed too early to attempt too much.[48] Little allowance seems to have been made for the fact that this was a prototype, an experimental system, and that tactics for her use were being developed "on the hoof." As a result, the airship's performance in fleet exercises was not all that some had hoped and gave an exaggerated impression of the ship's vulnerability and failed to demonstrate her strengths.[49]
Specifications (as built)
Data based on the book The Story of the Airship by Hugh Allen.[50]
General characteristics
Crew: 60
Length: 785 ft (239 m)
Diameter: 132 ft 11 in (40 m)
Height: 146.5 ft (44.7 m)
Volume: 6,500,000 cu ft (180,000 m3)
Gross weight: 403,000 lb (182,798 kg)
Useful lift: 182,000 lb (83,000 kg)
Powerplant: 8 × Maybach VL II 60 deg. V12 water-cooled engines, 560 hp (420 kW) each
Propellers: 2-bladed fixed-pitch, rotatable wooden propellers
Performance
Maximum speed: 73 kn (84 mph, 135 km/h)
Cruise speed: 43 kn (50 mph, 80 km/h)
Range: 9,190 nmi (10,580 mi, 17,030 km) at 50 miles per hour (80 km/h)
Armament
Guns: 8 x.30-cal machine guns