Monday, October 16, 1933

Ruth came by and we walked to school together. Had a lot of night work this evening.

USS Macon
Sister of the rigid airship USS Akron

Built in Akron, Ohio, the USS. Macon first flew in April 1933, only a few weeks after
Akron's tragic loss. Following a series of test flights, one of which took her from Ohio to
Wisconsin and back, she was commissioned in June. Macon was based at Lakehurst, New Jersey,
during mid-1933 and made several development and training flights during this time.

In October she flew by way of her name city of Macon, Georgia, and Texas to Moffett Field,
California. She arrived on October 16, 1933, and was housed at Hangar One. The hangar was
designed and built for the Macon and is still in existence today. The RMS Titanic could fit in 
Hangar One with room to spare at each end of the hangar.

The Macon participated in numerous fleet exercises and problems over the next year and a half.
During the early evening of 12 February 1935, while returning to Moffett Field from an operation
over the ocean, USS Macon encountered a storm off Point Sur, California. A violent gust tore
off her upper fin, causing damage that soon brought her down into the sea. Though all but two
of her crew were rescued, the dirigible sank in deep water, effectively ending the Navy's
controversial, and trouble-plagued, program of rigid airship operations.