"Twin Engine Airship Type C Assembly"
"Twin Engine Airship Type C Assembly"
By R.B. for the U.S. Navy, April 17, 1919
Ink and pencil on tracing linen
32 1/4" x 52 1/2"
National Archives and Records Administration, Records of the Bureau of Aeronautics

World War I Aviation: Type C Airship
Airships attain flight by using contained cells or envelopes of gases, such as helium or hydrogen, to provide lift. The first airships were developed in the mid-19th century, but World War I brought tremendous growth to the field of lighter-than-air craft. They were used for reconnaissance, antisubmarine warfare, and coastal patrol. Plans for the Type C airship were initiated in spring 1918 with the aim of frustrating German submarine and mine attacks on Allied merchant shipping. The airship carried a crew of six and measured 192 feet in length and 42 feet in diameter. It could cruise at 45 miles an hour, with a range of 1,540 miles. While the plans for the C-6 were developed in 1918, it did not take its maiden flight until February 1920.

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