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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 28
USS Macon Airship Explored
Researchers from the NOAA and Monterey Bay Aquarium have explored the submerged wreckage of the airship USS Macon which crashed off the coast of California in 1935. The 785-foot USS Macon was America's largest airship. The dirigible included an internal hanger for four Curtiss F9C-2 Sparrowhawk aircraft which could be launched and retrieved from a "trapeze" mounted underneath the airship. According to the NOAA release, the wreckage site is extensive:
Distinguishable features included the airship's hangar bay containing four Sparrowhawk biplanes and their detached landing gear. Five of the Macon's eight German-built Maybach 12 cylinder gasoline engines also were identified. Objects from the ship's galley were found, including two sections of the aluminum stove, propane tanks that supplied fuel for it, and the enlisted men's dining table and bench. A second debris field contained the Macon's bow section including the mooring mast receptacle assembly. This field also contains aluminum chairs and desks that may have been in a port side officers' or meteorologist's office.

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