L-8: Difference between revisions

| name = L-8 "Ghost Blimp" incident

| caption = The derelictabandoned L-8, floating over San Francisco after the disappearance of its crew and showing the damage it sustained from impacting the ground at Ocean Beach.

After the United States [[United States declaration of war on Japan|declared war]] on Japan in response to the [[Attackattack on Pearl Harbor|Pearl Harbor]], the [[Imperial Japanese Navy]] sank at least half a dozen [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] ships off of the [[American West Coast|West Coast]] over a period of several months.<ref name="Historynet">{{cite web |url=http://www.historynet.com/mystery-of-the-ghost-blimp.htm|title=Mystery of the Ghost Blimp |authorfirst=John J. |last=Geoghegan |workwebsite=History.net |date=April 12, 2016 |accessdateaccess-date=November 20, 2018}}</ref> By August 1942, the Japanese had bombed [[Bombardment of Ellwood|Ellwood Oil Field]] in [[California]] and [[Bombardment of Fort Stevens|Fort Stevens]] in [[Oregon]]. Heightened fears of an invasion had also prompted the fictitious [[Battle of Los Angeles]], in which a false alarm was raised over what later was determined to be a [[weather balloon]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1last=Murphy |first1first=Col. John G. |title=Activities of The Ninth Army AAA - L.A. "Attacked" |journal=Antiaircraft Journal, the United States Coast Artillery Association |date=May–June 1949 |volume=LXXXII |issue=3 |page=5 |url=http://sill-www.army.mil/ada-online/antiaircraft-journal/_docs/1949/5-6/May-June%201949%20Screen.pdf |accessdateaccess-date=November 20, 2018 |archive-date=12 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112013350/https://sill-www.army.mil/ada-online/antiaircraft-journal/_docs/1949/5-6/May-June%201949%20Screen.pdf |url-status=dead}}</ref>

One of the responses by the Navy included a takeover of Goodyear's five-airship fleet, operating them out of the Navy's two major lighter-than-air bases in [[NAS Lakehurst|Lakehurst]], [[New Jersey]] and [[NAS Moffett Field|Moffett Field]] in California.<ref name=Chron>{{cite news |first=Gary |last=Kamiya, [|url=https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Ghost-blimp-s-enduring-mystery-How-did-crew-13267309.php?t=0b980509cd "|title=Ghost blimp's enduring mystery: How did crew vanish before Bay Area crash?"], ''|newspaper=[[San Francisco Chronicle'',]] |date=September 29, 2018.}}</ref> These Goodyear blimps were incorporated into an "L-class" with designations L-4 through L-8. While they were too small for any extensive operational use, the blimps were considered ideal for training missions and coastal [[antisubmarine warfare|antisubmarine patrols]].<ref name="Historynet"/><ref name="InvisibleH">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cb4YAQAAMAAJ&q=l-8+blimp+assigned+patrol |title=Invisible Horizons |authorfirst=Vincent H. |last=Gaddis |author-link=Vincent Gaddis |publisher=[[Ace Books]] |year=1965 |page=185 |isbn=9780801914072 |accessdateaccess-date=November 20, 2018}}</ref>

Sources differ as to whether L-8 had been named '''''Rainbow''''' or '''''Ranger''''' prior to its Navy service.{{refn|group=n|[https://www.check-six.com/Crash_Sites/L-8_crash_site.htm This website] claims that the blimp had previously been named ''Ranger'', while this [https://web.archive.org/web/20140222063743/http://www.warwingsart.com/LTA/zp-32.html online history] of Airship Patrol Squadron 32 claims it had been named ''Rainbow''.}} Several months prior to the incident, in April 1942, L-8 delivered vital [[North American B-25 Mitchell|B-25]] modification parts to the [[aircraft carrier]] [[{{USS Hornet (CV-8)|USS ''Hornet'' (|CV-8)]]}} after she departed California carrying the [[Doolittle Raid|Doolittle Raiders]], ahead of their assault on [[Tokyo]].<ref name=NNAM>{{cite web |title=L-8 Ghost Ship |url=http://www.navalaviationmuseum.org/attractions/aircraft-exhibits/item/?item=l-8 |website=[[National Naval Aviation Museum]] |access-date=23 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180801204557/http://www.navalaviationmuseum.org/attractions/aircraft-exhibits/item/?item=l-8 |archive-date=1 August 2018}}</ref>

At 6:03 a.m., on August 16, 1942, L-8 {{ndash}} having been assigned to Airship Patrol Squadron 32 {{ndash}} lifted off from [[Treasure Island, San Francisco|Treasure Island]], [[San Francisco]], on a coastal antisubmarine patrol. Its scheduled route would have taken the airship over the [[Farallon Islands]], [[Point Reyes]], and the locality of [[Montara, California|Montara]] before circling back towards the [[Golden Gate Bridge]]. Inside the control[[gondola car(airship)|gondola]] were [[Lieutenant (navy)|Lieutenant]] Ernest DeWitt Cody, aged 27, and his co-pilot, [[Ensign (rank)|Ensign]] Charles Adams, aged 35; it was Adams's first flight as a commissioned officer.<ref name=CheckSix>{{Citecite web |url=http://www.check-six.com/Crash_Sites/L-8_crash_site.htm |title=Crash of the L-8 |website=www.check-six.com |access-date=2021-10-10 October 2021}}</ref> L-8 was armed with two [[depth charge]]s and one .30-caliber [[machine gun]]. At the time of the incident, the airship had made 1,092 previous trips without incident and had recently been inspected. Conditions on the morning of the flight were clear.<ref name=Chron/>

At 7:38 a.m., L-8's crew radioed to Treasure Island and reported observing an [[oil slick]] four miles{{convert|4|mi}} off the coast of the Farallon Islands. A [[Liberty ship]] and a fishing boat in the area both witnessed L-8 descending to within thirty feet{{convert|30|ft}} of the ocean surface and circling the oil slick. This would constitute the last confirmed sighting of the airship with the crew aboard. Controllers at Treasure Island lost contact with the crew at 8:50 a.m.<ref name=CheckSix/> Shortly after 9:00 a.m., L-8 dumped ballast, ascended, and headed east {{ndash}} contrary to its intended course towards Point Reyes, which was to the northwest.<ref name=Chron/>

At 11:15 a.m., L-8 reappeared off the coast of [[Ocean Beach, San Francisco|Ocean Beach]] and drifted towards the coastline at low elevation. The airship touched down on the beach, where two surf fishermen tried to hold it down by its tie lines. Upon looking inside its controlthe cargondola, the fishermen observed that no crew were inside. As the fishermen were unable to hold the airship down any longer, it rose briefly into the air before running into a hillsloping cliff, causing damage to its [[port and starboard|starboard]] propeller and dislodging one of its depth chargescharge, relieving it of enough weight to gain altitude.<ref name=USNI>{{Citecite web |date=1970-03-01 |title=The Mystery of the L-8 |url=https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1970/march/mystery-l-8 |access-date=2021-10-11 |website=[[U.S. Naval Institute]] |language=en}}</ref> An automatic valve inside L-8 was opened and began releasing [[helium]] gas, causing the airship to take a sagging, ''V''-shaped appearance as it deflated.<ref name=CheckSix/> L-8 drifted inland over the [[Olympic Club]] golf course and [[Mission Street]], attracting the attention of a large crowd of onlookers who followed its journey. Floating over San Francisco's [[Crocker-Amazon, San Francisco|Crocker-Amazon]] neighborhood, the airship lost elevation and began scraping telephone poles and residential houses. L-8 finally crashed in front of a house at 419 Bellevue Avenue, [[Daly City, California|Daly City]].<ref name=Chron/>

Police and military personnel immediately descended upon the crash site. While the control cargondola doors were found hanging open, and the crash had been so gentle that the crewmen would have walked away unharmed, neither Cody nor Adams were found inside. Searches of the coastline from air, land and sea found no trace of the missing pilots, and the search was abandoned on August 18.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist8/blimp.html|title=Navy L-8 Blimp Disappears off San Francisco Coast - 1942|website=www.sfmuseum.org|access-date=2019-08-23}}</ref> Authorities initially theorized that Cody and Adams had bailed out of L-8 over the ocean, but all three [[parachute]]s and a rubber life raft were found aboard the control cargondola. Furthermore, the airship's radio and engines were switched on and no distress transmissions had been sent, indicating that the crewmen's disappearance had been abrupt. A board of investigation convened by the Navy could only determine that L-8 had not been shot down, burned, or made contact with the ocean, and that Cody and Adams had not engaged in misconduct. Cody and Adams were declared [[legally dead]] in 1943.<ref name=Chron/><ref name=CheckSix/>

The official theory was that in order to deploy a smoke marker at the site of the oil slick, one crew member had opened the rear hatch of the gondola. He then slipped and, dangling from the hatch, shouted for assistance. When the other crew member attempted rescue, they both fell. The sudden loss of weight would have caused the derelict airship to rapidly gain altitude.<ref name=USNI/> Outside of official circles, various scenarios were immediately put forward attempting to explain Cody and Adams's disappearances and the circumstances of L-8's mysterious flight. This included speculation that the crewmen had either been captured or [[defection|defected]] to Japan; that their disappearance was the result of a [[Absent without leave|desertion]] scheme gone awry; or other more outlandish scenarios.<ref name=Chron/>

L-8 was quickly repaired and returned to service following the incident. After the war, the airship was sold back to the Goodyear company and renamed ''America'', flying over sporting events as part of Goodyear's blimp fleet until it was retired in 1982.<ref name=Chron/> Its control cargondola was then repainted back to its L-8 markings and given to the [[National Naval Aviation Museum]] in [[Pensacola, Florida|Pensacola]], [[Florida]], where it sits on static display.<ref name=NNAM/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.navalaviationmuseum.org/attractions/aircraft-exhibits/item/?item=l-8|title=L-8 Ghost Ship|work=www.navalaviationmuseum.org|accessdate=November 20, 2018}}</ref>