Shenandoah Crash Site #1 in Buffalo Township, Ohio, where the control car landed Photo courtesy of Ohio Historic Preservation Office

Historic image of the stern section at Shendandoah Crash Site #2 in Noble Township, Ohio Photo courtesy of Ohio Historic Preservation Office

On September 4, 1923, the Shenandoah successfully completed its maiden voyage. The airship took part in a series of mooring exercises at Lakehurst and to a short mast on the fleet tender the USS Patoka, the only airship tender in naval history. Lieutenant Commander Zachary Lansdowne assumed command of the Shenandoah on February 16, 1924. The Shenandoah's most impressive flight occurred in October 1924 when it made a transcontinental flight from Lakehurst to the West Coast and back. The publicity from this trip, heralded as a forerunner of commercial airship service, caused the Navy to plan a Midwestern tour in the summer of 1925 for 40 city "fly-overs" and state fair visits. As a native of Ohio, Lansdowne realized that at that time of the year the Great Lakes region was subject to violent and dangerous storms.

Shenandoah Crash Site #3 in Sharon Township, Ohio Photo courtesy of Ohio Historic Preservation Office

On the afternoon of September 2, 1925, the Shenandoah departed from its Lakehurst hangar with a crew of 41 and two passengers. Traveling west across the Alleghenies into Ohio, the airship confronted a severe storm by the early morning near Ava in northern Noble County. Initially, the ship changed course slightly to fly around the storm; however, aware of the Navy's tight schedule and fearful of losing too much time, Lansdowne decided against flying south to clearer skies. At about 6:00 am on the morning of September 3, the Shenandoah was suddenly caught in a violent updraft of warm air, rising at the rate of a meter a second. At about 6,200 feet the ascent was checked, but the ship began to fall at a faster rate. When halfway to the ground it was hit by another warm air current and began to rise rapidly once more, but then descended again. On the third ascent the ship was hit by a turbulent side wind, twisting the hull and breaking it. The control car with Lansdowne and six other crewmen broke loose from its position below the bow and dropped to earth near the Andrew Gamary tenant farmhouse, killing all occupants. Seconds later six more crewmen, who were either in the hull at the point of break-up or in the gondolas toward the stern, plunged to their deaths in the fields below. The stern section, over 400 feet long, glided to earth with 18 men aboard and hit the ground near the Gamary farm with the tail in the air, where it dragged along the ground near a treeline until it was momentarily snagged and four men were dumped out. The air then picked it up and lodged the stern against an opposite hillside.

Historic image of the Shendandoah Crash Site #3 Photo courtesy of Ohio Historic Preservation Office

The 200-foot bow section, with seven crewmen, quickly rose to 10,000 feet, but was brought under control by venting helium from the intact gas bags and releasing gasoline from the fuel tanks. Fifty-three minutes later it floated down about six miles to the south of the initial break-up. As it approached the ground it brushed the Ernest Nichols farmhouse west of the crossroads of Sharon, tore out a post and a pole and scraped over the garage roof. Nichols grabbed a line thrown from the bow and secured it to a pair of trees. Finally grounded, the crew jumped out, borrowed a shotgun from Nichols and burst the gasbags before the bow was blown any further. The Lieutenant Commander who had guided the bow to earth, Captain Rosendahl, used the Nichols's telephone to call the telegraph office at Caldwell and inform naval officers of the disaster. Twenty-nine members of the crew survived the break-up, although some received serious injuries.

Bow section at Shenandoah crash site #3 (view larger image). Photo courtesy of Library of Congress LC-USZ62-126765 DLC , photo by R.S. Clements

Although the FBI attempted to guard the crash-site along with 40 Ohio National Guardsmen, wholesale looting of the site had already been accomplished. A court of inquiry was convened at the Gamary farm under Army Major C.W. Cook stationed at Fort Hayes in Columbus, and later naval officers in Washington, D.C., convened a formal court. Study of the disaster led to the conclusion that much stronger construction of future airship hulls was necessary. An improved "fineness ratio" or diameter to length ratio, was required, and control cars in the future were built into the keel instead of being suspended from struts as in the Shenandoah. Engine power was upgraded to allow airships to outmaneuver storms and an improved weather forecasting service was developed for the armed services.

The Shenandoah Crash Sites are located in the hillsides of Noble County, Ohio. Site No.1, in Buffalo Township, surrounding the Gamary farmhouse (beneath the initial break-up). An early fieldstone and a second, recent granite marker identify where Zachary Lansdowne's body was found. Site No. 2 (where the stern came to rest) is a half-mile southeast of Site No. 1 across 1-77 in Noble Township. The rough outline of the stern is marked with a series of concrete blocks and a sign marking the site is visible from the freeway. Site No. 3 is approximately six miles southwest in Sharon Township at the northern edge of SR 78, and the part of the old Nichols farm where the nose of the Shenandoah bow was secured to trees. Although the trees have been cut down, a semi-circular gravel drive surrounds their stumps and a small granite marker commemorates the crash. The Nichols house was later destroyed by fire. Visit the Noble County website for further information and photographs or contact one of two local experts to arrange a tour: Bryan Rayner at 740-732-2624 or John Powell at 740-732-2341.