HOT OFF THE PRESS

Dirigible Shenandoah crashes near Caldwell, on Sept. 3, 1925

Paul Souhrada

Next time the Goodyear blimp casts a shadow on Ohio Stadium, tip your hat and remember the Shenandoah. h The Shenandoah, a 682-foot-long dirigible built in 1923, was the first dirigible built in the United States. The U.S. Navy planned to use the helium gas-filled vessel as a flying aircraft carrier and for reconnaissance missions at sea. h It was just before 5 a.m. on Sept. 3, 1925, and the Navy airship was on its way from its home dock in Lakehurst,

New Jersey, to Dearborn, Michigan. (Lakehurst was also the site of the more widely known crash in 1937 of the German zeppelin, Hindenburg, which was kept aloft by hydrogen gas.) h The Shenandoah was on a promotional tour of 40 Midwest cities, and a planned flyover above the Ohio State Fair. h It never made it to Columbus. h The Shenandoah was caught in a thunderstorm and turbulence over

Noble County and broke up, killing 14 crew members. h Two other Navy airships built about the same time, the USS Akron and USS Macon met the same fate as the Shenandoah in 1933 and 1935, killing 75 people. h The crashes pretty much spelled the end of the dirigible era, other than Goodyear’s advertising icon. h An historic marker commemorates the Shenandoah outside of the Noble County seat.

DISPATCH FILE PHOTO Columbus Evening Dispatch front page from Sept. 3, 1925. The dirigible Shenandoah crashes near Caldwell in southeastern Ohio, about 100 miles southeast of Columbus. Editor’s note: Each Sunday, The Dispatch features a front page from this week in history to celebrate the newspaper’s 150 years of publication, with a little update on what’s happened since.