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The K-class blimp was a class of blimps (non-rigid airship) built by the Goodyear Aircraft Company of Akron, Ohio, for the United States Navy.These blimps were powered by two Pratt & Whitney Wasp nine-cylinder radial air-cooled engines, each mounted on twin-strut outriggers, one per side of the control car that hung under the envelope.
At the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, which brought the United States into World War II, the US had 10 nonrigid airships: Combat & Patrol Ships 2 TC-class blimps: older patrol ships built in 1933 for the US Army's airship operations. The US Navy had acquired TC-13 and TC-14 from the United States Army in 1938.
The fabric-clad rigid airships were given commissions, the same as warships. [1]USS Shenandoah (ZR-1) - served 1923-25, lost 3 September 1925 due to structural failure while in line squalls, 14 killed
In the meantime, the Navy ordered two more L-Class blimps, the L-2 and L-3, on September 25, 1940. These were delivered in 1941. L-2 was lost in a nighttime mid-air collision with the G-1 on June 8, 1942. When the United States entered World War II, the Navy took over the operation of Goodyear's five commercial blimps.
The endurance time of the airship could extend for days. This model of the N-class blimp was the largest non-rigid airship ever flown. The ZPG-3W Vigilance was the last of the airships built for the U.S. Navy. The July 6, 1960, crash of a Lakehurst-based airship east of Long Beach Island killed 18 sailors, a loss that added pressure on the program.
The most common World War 2 coastal defense blimp used was the US Navy K-class blimp, with 133 built. The start of World War II blimps use bgan on September 23, 1935, when the US Navy purchased the airship Defender from Goodyear. Defender was Goodyear's largest advertising and passenger airships.
L-8, later renamed America and popularly known as the "Ghost Blimp", was a United States Navy L-class airship whose crew disappeared over the Pacific Ocean on August 16, 1942. At 11:15 a.m., several hours after the airship lifted off from Treasure Island , San Francisco , California , L-8 reappeared off the shore of Ocean Beach near Fort Funston .
The Goodyear Aircraft Company of Akron, Ohio built the M-class blimp for the US Navy as the follow-on to the K-class anti-submarine warfare blimp used during World War II. It was a significantly larger airship, 50% larger than its predecessor. Four airships, designated M-1 through M-4, were delivered in early 1944.