Editing Detroit ZMC-2

{{short description|Metal skinned airship}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2022}}
{{Use American English|date=May 2022}}
<!-- This article is a part of [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Aircraft]]. Please see [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Aircraft/page content]] for recommended layout. -->
{{Infobox aircraft
 | name=ZMC-2
 | image= File:Zmc-2 1929.jpg
 | caption=
 | type=Metal-clad [[airship]]
 | national_origin=United States
 | manufacturer=[[Detroit Aircraft Corporation]]
 | designer=
 | first_flight=August 19, 1929
 | introduction=
 | retired= 1941
 | status=Scrapped 
 | primary_user=[[U.S. Navy]]
 | more_users= <!--Limited to three in total; separate using <br /> -->
 | produced=1926–29
 | number_built=1
 | developed_from= 
 | variants=
}}

The '''ZMC-2''' (Zeppelin Metal Clad 200,000 cubic foot capacity)<ref name=Morrow>Morrow, Walker C. and Carl B. Fritsche. ''The Metalclad Airship ZMC-2''. 1967.<!--publisher & place?--></ref> was the only successfully operated metal-skinned [[airship]] ever built.<ref>The 1897 airship of [[David Schwarz (aviation inventor)|David Schwarz]] was the first airship that was metal-skinned, although Schwarz's ship had an internal framework rather than a [[monocoque]] design.</ref> Constructed at [[Naval Air Station Grosse Ile]] by The Aircraft Development Corporation of Detroit,<ref name=Morrow /> the ZMC-2 was operated by the [[United States Navy]] at [[Naval Air Station Lakehurst]], [[New Jersey]], from 1929 until its scrapping in 1941. While at Lakehurst it completed 752 flights, and logged 2265 hours of flight time.<ref name="Outlaw p. 7">Outlaw 2004, p. 7</ref>

==Operations==
The airship was first flown on August 19, 1929, and transferred to [[Naval Air Station Lakehurst]], [[New Jersey]], in October 1929.<ref>Pace, Montgomery, and Zitarosa 2003</ref> The airship was nicknamed "the Tin Blimp". Its first Navy skipper was Red Dugan, who expressed reluctance at operating the airship, believing it unsafe.<ref name="Morrow p. v">Morrow and Fritsche 1967, p. v.</ref> Dugan's concerns were proven wrong, though he later lost his life in the crash of another airship, [[USS Akron|''Akron'']].<ref name="Morrow p. v" />

It was considered very successful as a sub-scale test vehicle, but the company that built it went bankrupt during the [[Great Depression in the United States|Great Depression]], and by the time a successor might have been built, there was little interest in pursuing it. In the year before the Depression, the [[United States Army]] was seeking funding for an airship based on the ZMC-2, that would have been larger than the German ''[[LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin|Graf Zeppelin]]'', and powered by eight engines of {{convert|600|-|800|hp|kW PS|0|lk=on|abbr=on}}. The U.S. Army planned to use it as a tender for air-launched aircraft, similar to plans the U.S. Navy had for future dirigibles. The $4.5 million need for construction was never approved by Congress.<ref>"Metal Covered Airship To Carry Twenty Tons" 1931 <!--source?-->, p. 552.</ref>

The ZMC-2 was operated with a zero internal pressure at speeds up to {{convert|20|mph|km/h}}, sufficient for it to be considered a 'rigid' airship.<ref>Van Treuren 2007, p. 90</ref> With its low [[fineness ratio]] of 2.83, the ZMC-2 was difficult to fly.<ref>Robinson, Douglas H. ''Giants in the Sky: A History of the Rigid Airship'' (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1979), p. 225.</ref> By 1936, the airship had travelled over {{convert|80000|mi|km}}{{clarify|date=August 2014|sm or nm?}} with little sign of corrosion.<!-- Impossible to locate this reference from these vague details: ref>{{cite book|United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Naval Affairs|year=1936}}</ref --> In its lifetime the ZMC-2 logged 752 flights and 2265 hours of flight time.<ref>Vaeth 2005, p. 69</ref> In its final years its use had dropped significantly. Between December 1938 and April 1941 it only logged five hours of flight time.

Considered by the Navy as too small for anti-submarine patrols, the aging ZMC-2 was decommissioned and scrapped in 1941 after nearly 12 years of service.

==Operators==
;United States
* [[United States Navy]]

==Specifications (ZMC-2)==
{{Aircraft specs
|ref=<!-- reference -->
|prime units?=imp
<!--
        General characteristics
-->
|crew=2
|capacity={{convert|750|lb|kg|abbr=on|0}} payload
|length m=45.4
|length ft=
|length in=
|length note=
|span m=
|span ft=
|span in=
|span note=
|upper span m=
|upper span ft=
|upper span in=
|upper span note=
|mid span m=
|mid span ft=
|mid span in=
|mid span note=
|lower span m=
|lower span ft=
|lower span in=
|lower span note=
|swept m=<!-- swing-wings -->
|swept ft=<!-- swing-wings -->
|swept in=<!-- swing-wings -->
|swept note=
|dia m=16.2
|dia ft=<!-- airships etc -->
|dia in=<!-- airships etc -->
|dia note=
|width m=<!-- if applicable -->
|width ft=<!-- if applicable -->
|width in=<!-- if applicable -->
|width note=
|height m=
|height ft=64
|height in=6
|height note=
|wing area sqm=
|wing area sqft=
|wing area note=
|swept area sqm=<!-- swing-wings -->
|swept area sqft=<!-- swing-wings -->
|swept area note=
|volume m3=5,667
|volume ft3=<!-- lighter-than-air -->
|volume note=
|aspect ratio=<!-- sailplanes -->
|airfoil=
|empty weight kg=
|empty weight lb=
|empty weight note=
|gross weight kg=
|gross weight lb=
|gross weight note=
|max takeoff weight kg=
|max takeoff weight lb=
|max takeoff weight note=
|fuel capacity=
|lift kg=5,837
|lift lb=<!-- lighter-than-air -->
|lift note=
|more general=
<!--
        Powerplant
-->
|eng1 number=2
|eng1 name=[[Wright J-5 Whirlwind]]
|eng1 type=9-cyl. air-cooled radial piston engines
|eng1 kw=<!-- prop engines -->
|eng1 hp=220
|eng1 shp=<!-- prop engines -->
|eng1 kn=<!-- jet/rocket engines -->
|eng1 lbf=<!-- jet/rocket engines -->
|eng1 note=
|power original=
|thrust original=
|eng1 kn-ab=<!-- afterburners -->
|eng1 lbf-ab=<!-- afterburners -->

|eng2 number=
|eng2 name=
|eng2 type=
|eng2 kw=<!-- prop engines -->
|eng2 hp=<!-- prop engines -->
|eng2 shp=<!-- prop engines -->
|eng2 kn=<!-- jet/rocket engines -->
|eng2 lbf=<!-- jet/rocket engines -->
|eng2 note=
|eng2 kn-ab=<!-- afterburners -->
|eng2 lbf-ab=<!-- afterburners -->

|eng3 number=
|eng3 name=
|eng3 type=
|eng3 kw=<!-- prop engines -->
|eng3 hp=<!-- prop engines -->
|eng3 shp=<!-- prop engines -->
|eng3 kn=<!-- jet/rocket engines -->
|eng3 lbf=<!-- jet/rocket engines -->
|eng3 note=
|eng3 kn-ab=<!-- afterburners -->
|eng3 lbf-ab=<!-- afterburners -->
|more power=

|prop blade number=<!-- propeller aircraft -->
|prop name=
|prop dia m=<!-- propeller aircraft -->
|prop dia ft=<!-- propeller aircraft -->
|prop dia in=<!-- propeller aircraft -->
|prop dia note=

|rot number=<!-- helicopters -->
|rot dia m=<!-- helicopters -->
|rot dia ft=<!-- helicopters -->
|rot dia in=<!-- helicopters -->
|rot area sqm=<!-- helicopters -->
|rot area sqft=<!-- helicopters -->
|rot area note=
<!--
        Performance
-->
|max speed kmh=112
|max speed mph=
|max speed kts=
|max speed note=
|max speed mach=<!-- supersonic aircraft -->
|cruise speed kmh=
|cruise speed mph=
|cruise speed kts=
|cruise speed note=
|stall speed kmh=
|stall speed mph=
|stall speed kts=
|stall speed note=
|never exceed speed kmh=
|never exceed speed mph=
|never exceed speed kts=
|never exceed speed note=
|minimum control speed kmh=
|minimum control speed mph=
|minimum control speed kts=
|minimum control speed note=
|range km=1,087
|range miles=
|range nmi=
|range note=
|combat range km=
|combat range miles=
|combat range nmi=
|combat range note=
|ferry range km=
|ferry range miles=
|ferry range nmi=
|ferry range note=
|endurance=<!-- if range unknown -->
|ceiling m=
|ceiling ft=
|ceiling note=
|g limits=<!-- aerobatic -->
|roll rate=<!-- aerobatic -->
|glide ratio=<!-- sailplanes -->
|climb rate ms=
|climb rate ftmin=
|climb rate note=
|time to altitude=
|sink rate ms=<!-- sailplanes -->
|sink rate ftmin=<!-- sailplanes -->
|sink rate note=
|lift to drag=
|wing loading kg/m2=
|wing loading lb/sqft=
|wing loading note=
|disk loading kg/m2=
|disk loading lb/sqft=
|disk loading note=
|fuel consumption kg/km=
|fuel consumption lb/mi=
|power/mass=
|thrust/weight=

|more performance=
<!--
        Armament
-->
|armament=<!-- add bulletted list here or if you want to use the following
specific parameters, remove this parameter-->
|guns= 
|bombs= 
|rockets= 
|missiles= 
|hardpoints=
|hardpoint capacity=
|hardpoint rockets=
|hardpoint missiles=
|hardpoint bombs=
|hardpoint other=
|avionics=
}}

==ZMC-2 in popular culture==
The ZMC-2 plays a key role in the [[Clive Cussler]] novel ''Cyclops'' (1986) in which it is fictionally saved from scrapping and renamed ''Prosperteer''.

==See also==
* [[List of airships of the United States Navy]]
* [[David Schwarz (aviation inventor)|David Schwarz]]

==Notes==
<!-- some refs, e.g. "Morrow and Fritsche 1967", may need page numbers-->
{{reflist|2}}

==References==
* {{cite book |last=Althoff |first=William F. |title=USS Los Angeles: The Navy's Venerable Airship and Aviation Technology |publisher=Potomac Books |location=Dulles, Virginia |year=2003}}
* {{cite journal |title=Metal Covered Airship To Carry Twenty Tons |journal=Popular Mechanics |volume=55 |number=4 |date=April 1931 |pages=552 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y-IDAAAAMBAJ&dq=popular+mechanics+1932&pg=PA552 |access-date=May 4, 2011}}
* {{cite book |last=Melton USNR|first=Lt. Comdr. Dick. |title=The Forty Year Hitch|location=Wyandotte, Michigan|publisher=Publishers Consulting Services|year=1970}}
* {{cite book |last=Morrow |first=Walker C. |author2=Carl B. Fritsche |title=The Metalclad Airship ZMC-2 |publisher=W.C. Morrow |location=Grosse Ile |year=1967}}
* {{cite book |last=Outlaw |first=Stanley |author2=Hal Neubauer |author3=Marcia Neubauer |author4=Dwanda Outlawand |title=A Pictorial History of Naval Air Station Grosse Ile, Michigan 1927 to 1969 Second edition |publisher=University of South Carolina Press |location=Charleston |year=2004}}
* {{cite book |last=Pace |first=Kevin |author2=Ronald Montgomery |author3=Rick Zitarosa |title=Naval Air Station, Lakehurst |publisher=Arcadia |location=Charleston |year=2003}}
* {{cite book |last=Sullivan |first=George |title=Famous Blimps and Airships |publisher=Dodd, Mead & Co |location=New York |year=1988}}
* {{cite book |last=Vaeth |first=Joseph Gordon |title=They Sailed the Skies: U.S. Navy Balloons And the Airship Program |publisher=Naval Institute Press |location=Annapolis |year=2005}}
* {{cite journal |last=Van Treuren |first=Richard G. |title=Making it Happen: Captain C.V.S. Knox and Aeronautical Evolution |journal=Foundation |date=Spring 2007 |volume=28 |number=1 |pages=89–98}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060206174747/http://www.nlhs.com/airport.htm Lakehurst: International Airport (a picture of the ZMC-2 is near the bottom of the page)] At the Internet Archive.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070314050707/http://www.nlhs.com/images/hindenburg/big_hindenburg_and_zmc-2_in_hangar_1.jpg ZMC-2 in hangar, under the nose of the Hindenburg] At the Internet Archive.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120205055956/http://nasgi.net/zmc2.htm This has a short history of the ZMC-2 along with pictures of construction and flights of the ZMC-2] At the Internet Archive.

{{Detroit aircraft}}
{{lone designation|system=[[USN]] metal-clad airships|designation=ZMC-2}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zmc-2}}
[[Category:Airships of the United States Navy]]
[[Category:1920s United States aircraft]]
[[Category:Detroit Aircraft Corporation aircraft|ZMC]]