USS Shenandoah Airship Crash Site 1, Ohio

On September 3, 1925, the USS Shenandoah, the first of three large rigid airships ever built in the USA, broke apart in a storm, and crashed to the ground near Ava, Ohio. Built just two years earlier, in Lakehurst New Jersey, the airship was 680 feet long, and held 2.1 million cubic feet of helium, nearly all that existed in the US at that time. The ship broke apart in pieces, some of which fell slowly, blown around by the storm, sustained aloft because the helium was contained inside in individual cells. The control car fell on the Gamary farm, where there is a memorial at the site, known as Crash Site 1. Four people landed with parts of the central section here, and survived. Others died in the control car, or by falling from the sky, including the Commander, Zachary Landsdowne. The site is marked with a memorial, as are two other locations. The stern section fell about a mile west, at a site now next to Interstate 77, referred to as Crash Site 2. The spot has been marked with a large sign, visible to motorists on the highway. 18 people rode the stern section to the ground and survived. The bow section floated for a while longer, landing several miles away at the Nichols farm, where Ernest Nichols tied its dangling ropes to a tree. Seven people crawled out of the wreckage here, which is also marked with a memorial, and is called Crash Site 3. Of the 43 on board the USS Shenandoah, 14 perished, and 29 survived by riding the pieces to the ground.