[3]
“On rare occasions an aviation book appears that is everything . . . a treatise which is based on original research, on a subject hitherto barely covered in available writing, and that is complete and accurate enough that it will remain for many years as a standard and lasting reference. This book is one of these.”
—American Aviation Historical Society Journal
“. . . technical enough to please even an old airshipman, and in such an easy style that the layman can readily grasp the technical aspects.”
— The San Jose Mercury-Herald
Richard K. Smith was curious about the big rigid airships of the 1920s and 1930s. He wondered why they had disappeared from the scene of aeronautics. Two of them, the Akron and the Macon, had actually hangared airplanes. Why had such an airplane-carrying airship not been accepted? His inability to find answers to his questions in existing airship literature prompted his extensive research on the subject. As a result, this book is primarily an examination of the rigid airship’s place in naval operations in the period 1919–1940, with specific focus on the flying aircraft carrier’s development and performance during 1931–1935.
