Signal Corps Dirigible No. 1

Signal Corps Dirigible No. 1
Role Dirigible
National origin United States
Designer Thomas Scott Baldwin
Number built 1
Unit cost
$5,737.50 in 1908

Signal Corps Dirigible No. 1 was the first powered aircraft ordered for the Signal Corps by the Aeronautical Division of the United States Army. The purchase of SC-1, a dirigible designed by Thomas Scott Baldwin was the result of urgings by Chief Signal Officer Brigadier General James Allen. After seeing Baldwin demonstrate a dirigible at the St. Louis air meet in 1907, Allen had urged the U.S. Army to buy a dirigible as many European armies had dirigibles by the turn of the century.[1]

On 5 August 1908, the Army tested SC-1 at Fort Myer, Virginia. The craft fell short of a 2-hour, 20 mph objective to meet a $8,000 per unit award. The Army formally accepted the craft as Signal Corps Dirigible No. 1 paying $5,737.50.[2] On 28 Aug. 1908 Lieutenants Frank Lahm, Thomas Selfridge and Benjamin Foulois were taught to fly the craft.[1]

After Second Lieutenant John G Winter Jr of the 6th Cavalry was assigned to duty in the Aeronautical Division, the balloon detachment was transferred to Fort Omaha, Nebraska.[3]

On 26 May, pilot Lieutenant Lahm and Lieutenant Foulois made a flight in SC-1 at Fort Omaha and manoeuvred the craft at will. SC-1 remained there until scrapped in 1912. The Army did not purchase another dirigible until after World War I.[1]

Specifications (Signal Corps Dirigible No. 1)

Data from Smithsonian

General characteristics

Performance

References

  1. 1 2 3 Baldwin Dirigible: U.S. Army\'s First Airship. National Museum of the United States Air Force. 22 May 2010. URL:http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=665. Accessed: 2010-05-22. (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/5pvYz7arq)
  2. Tom D. Crouch. "Aero Club of Washington: Aviation in the Nation's Capital, 1909-1914": 39.
  3. "Army News: Dirigible No 1", Aeronautics; Volume 5, Number 1, July 1909, p. 10
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