INVESTIGATION BEGINS ON GIANT ARMY DIRIGIBLE FIRE & CRASH
Dayton, Ohio (JFK+50) On June 7, 1923, The Indianapolis Times reports a military board of investigation has begun an "inquiry into the destruction by fire at Wilbur Wright field last night of the giant Army dirigible TC-1*."
An electrical storm triggered a fire on board the ship which came down with two of its crew injured. A civilian, A.C. Maranville of the Goodyear Rubber Company was also injured. The three men jumped from the dirigible 40 feet from the ground.
TC-1's sister ship, TC-2, burned last year in Texas.
*TC-1 was built at a cost of $40,000. Her maiden flight began on April 9, 1923 from Akron, Ohio to St. Louis. The ship had 2 motors mounted on outriggers & carried 200,000 cubic feet of hydrogen in its gas bag. TC-1 measured 195 feet from nose to tail & sported two pontoons suspended beneath for the crew.
SOURCES
"Dirigible Fire Starts Inquiry," The Indianapolis Times, June 7, 1923, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
"U.S. Army Dirigible Cruises Over Indianapolis," The Indianapolis Star, April 10, 1923, MCHS, www.mchsindy.org/
