List of Airship Accidents and Zeppelin Disasters

Here is the list of famous airship accidents:

  • 2 May 1902 - Semi-rigid airship Pax explodes over Paris (France). Both crewmen killed.
  • 13 October 1902 – Flight of envelope over Paris was ended as disaster because of separation of gondola from envelope which killed two on board of the Bradsky.
  • 30 November 1907 - French Army's Patrie was lost without fatalities.
  • 23 May 1908 - Morrell airship falls over Berkeley in California. There was no fatalities but there were some serious injuries.
  • 4 August 1908 – There was disaster near Echterdingen when Zeppelin LZ 4 caught fire while being landed after it broke loose.
  • 25 September 1909 - French Army's La République crashes near Avrilly, Allier killing four people.
  • 13 July 1910 - Airship Erbslöh explodes over Rhenish Prussia, killing five people.
  • 15 October 1910 - American non-rigid airship America disappeared without a trace off Nova Scotia. Airship America was abandoned by its crew.
  • 24 September 1911 - HMA No. 1, known as the Mayfly was the first rigid airship to be built in the UK. This airship broke in two due to strong winds in Barrow-in-Furness.
  • 2 July 1912 - Akron, private airship explodes on transatlantic attempt off Atlantic City killing five people, including inventor Melvin Vaniman.
  • 4 September 1912 - Military Airship in Budapest, Hungary killed 3 soldiers while engaged in military training maneuvers.
  • 9 September 1913 - Zeppelin LZ 14 or Imperial German Navy L 1 crashed in a storm while 14 people drowned and 6 survived. This was the first fatal Zeppelin accident.
  • 17 October 1913 - Zeppelin LZ 18 - Imperial German Navy L 2 caught fire and was destroyed during a test flight. All 28 participants killed.
  • 20 June 1914 - Militärluftschiff III destroyed by Austro-Hungarian Army in a collision with an army Farman HF.20 over Fischamend. All seven people on airship killed along with the two in the biplane.
  • 3 September 1915 - Zeppelin LZ 4 - Imperial German Navy L 10 destroyed by fire after being struck by lightning near Cuxhaven, killing 19 crew members.
  • 10 November 1915 - Imperial German Navy D.1 (Schütte-Lanz SL6) explodes after take-off over Seddin. 20 crew members were casualties.
  • 17 November 1915 - Zeppelin LZ 52 - Imperial German Navy L 18 destroyed in shed fire at Tondern.
  • 21 February 1916 - In an experiment to launch B.E.2 (The Royal Aircraft Factory) fighter from under a SS-class non-rigid airship, Neville Usborne and another British officer killed.
  • 12 May 1916 - CM-T-1 French airship destroyed by fire near Porto Torres, Sardinia.
  • 16 September 1916 - Zeppelin LZ 31 - Imperial German Navy L 6 and Zeppelin LZ 36 - L 9 caught fire during inflation in hangar at Fuhlsbuttel and destroyed.
  • 7 November 1916 - Zeppelin LZ 60 - Imperial German Army LZ 90 disappeared without a trace after it broke loose in a storm and blown out to sea.
  • 12 December 1917 - North Sea class blimp N.S.5 both engines fail within sight of her destination, and she drifts with the wind for about 10 miles (16 km) before they can be restarted. It is decided to make a "free balloon" landing, but the ship was damaged beyond repair during the attempt.
  • 5 January 1918 - Ahlhorn hangars explode, destroying the LZ 87 (L 47), LZ 94 (L 46), LZ 97 (L 51), LZ 105 (L 58), and SL20. Fifteen people killed, 134 injured.
  • 7 April 1918 - Zeppelin LZ 104 - Imperial German Navy L 59 explodes over Malta for reasons unknown, killing 21 crew memebers.
  • 2 July 1919 - US Navy blimp C-8 explodes while landing at Camp Holabird, Maryland, injuring about 80 people (including children) who were watching it. Windows at homes a mile away are shattered by the blast.
  • 15 July 1919 - N.S.11, Royal Navy North Sea class airship burns over the North Sea off Norfolk, England, killing twelve people. Unknown cause of accident, probably a lightning strike have caused the explosion. There were no survivors.
  • 21 July 1919 - American airship Wingfoot Air Express caught fire over downtown Chicago, killing 2 passengers, one crewmember and 10 people on the ground, 2 parachuted to safety.
  • 19 June 1920 –A4450 US Navy Goodyear airship D-1 at the Goodyear Wingfoot Lake Airship Base, Suffield Township, Portage County, Ohio was destroyed by fire.
  • 7 July 1921 - C-3, US Navy airship burned at Naval Air Station Hampton Roads, Norfolk, Virginia.
  • 23 August 1921 - British R38 burned after suffering structural failure during high-speed trials over Hull. 44 people killed, 5 survived.
  • 31 August 1921 - A5972, US Navy airship D-6, burned in hangar fire at NAS Rockaway along with airships C-10 and H-1 and kite balloon A-P.
  • 21 February 1922 - US Army airship Roma destroyed by fire when hit power lines in Virginia. 34 people killed, 11 survived.
  • 17 October 1922 - After being removed from its hangar at Brooks Field, San Antonio, Texas for a flight U.S. Army's largest blimp, C-2 (A4419), catches fire. 7 of 8 crew aboard are injured, mostly in jumping from the craft.
  • 21 December 1923 - French Navy's Dixmude (Zeppelin LZ114) struck by lightning over Mediterranean near Sicily and explodes in mid-air. All 50 crew members killed.
  • 10 October 1924 - TC-2, US Army blimp explodes over Newport News when a bomb it was carrying detonates. 2 of 5 crew aboard were killed.
  • 3 September 1925 - US Navy USS Shenandoah (ZR-1) caught in storm over Noble County, Ohio, and broke into several pieces killing 14 of 43 crew members.
  • 25 May 1928 - Italian semi-rigid “Italia” crashed on return from successful trip to North Pole - 7 killed in crash, 1 crash survivor died from exposure, 8 rescued and 6 crew members lost including Roald Amundsen.
  • 5 October 1930 - During rainstorm in France, British experimental design R101 dove into ground, 48 killed, 6 survived. This considered as the deadliest civilian airship accident.
  • 11 May 1932 – During abortive landing of USS Akron ropes pull three members of the mooring crew high into the air while two fall to their deaths, the third was saved.
  • 4 April 1933 - In severe storm USS Akron lost at sea off coast of New Jersey due to instrument error. This considered as one of the deadliest airship accident with 73 dead (many drowned) and 3 survivors.
  • 4 April 1933 - US Navy airship J-3 A7382 lost in surf off New Jersey coast. Two crew members killed while looking for USS Akron survivors.
  • 12 February 1935 –USS Macon crashed off coast of Point Sur, Monterey, California after crosswinds broke already damaged section. 2 dead, 81 survivors.
  • 24 October 1935 - Soviet Union's SSSR-V7 hit a power line near the Finnish border causing a fire. One crew member died during escape.
  • 6 May 1937 - German Hindenburg caught fire on landing at Lakehurst, New Jersey, killing 35 passengers (1 on ground killed), living 62 survivors. This was the end of zeppelin era.
  • 5 February 1938 - Soviet SSSR-V6 OSOAVIAKhIM crashed into a mountain 300 km south of Murmansk on a practice flight for an arctic rescue mission. 13 of 19 crew members died.
  • 6 August 1938 - Soviet Union's SSSR-V10 crashed near Beskudnikovo, killing complete six man crew.
  • 8 June 1942 - U.S. Navy blimps G-1 and L-2 collide mid-air, while twelve people killed including five civilian scientists.
  • 16 August 1942 - During the flight giving it the name "The Ghost Blimp" the two experienced crew of the U.S. Navy blimp L-8 disappeared without explanation. A year after their disappearance the pilots were officially declared dead.
  • 19 April 1944 - U.S. Navy airship K-133, of Airship Patrol Squadron 22 (ZP-22), was caught in a thunderstorm while patrolling over the Gulf of Mexico. 12 of 13 crew were lost, the sole survivor was recovered after spending 21 hours in the water.
  • 2 July 1944 – After accident or machine gun fire from a U-boat, U.S. Navy blimp K-14 crashes off Maine killing six of the ten crewmen
  • 7 July 1944 - U.S. Navy blimp K-53 falls into the Caribbean, killing one of 10 crew members.
  • 17 October 1944 - U.S. Navy blimp K-111 crashes on Santa Catalina Island, California, killing 6 of 10 crewmen.
  • 5 November 1944 - U.S. Navy blimp K-34 crashes off the coast of the State of Georgia, killing 2 of 11 crew members.
  • 3 May 1945 - A Navy blimp's fuel tanks explodes over Santa Ana, California killing 8 of 9 crew members.
  • 29 January 1947 - Soviet airship Pobeda gets caught in a power line and crashes killing all three crew members.
  • 14 May 1959 - US Navy ZPG-2 crashes into hangar roof during a dense fog at Lakehurst, New Jersey killing 1 and injuring 17 people.
  • 6 July 1960 - US Navy ZPG-3W crashed into the sea off New Jersey killing 18 of the 21 crew members.
  • 1 July 1986 - The experimental Helistat 97-34J crashes at Naval Air Engineering Station Lakehurst in Lakehurst, New Jersey during a test flight, killing one crewman.
  • 4 July 1993 - Bigfoot, US LTA 138S airship, which bore the Pizza Hut logo crashed on top of buildings in Manhattan.
  • May 1995 – Incident of the Goodyear blimp GZ-20 Eagle, tail number N10A, when the blimp struck the ground near the Carson, California, mooring site while unmanned. Later, this blimp was repaired and rechristened as the Eagle N2A. No injuries were reported in this incidents.
  • 28 October 1999 - When it suddenly entered an uncontrolled left turn and began descending, the Goodyear blimp GZ-22 "Spirit of Akron", N4A, crashed in Suffield Township, Ohio. When the blimp impacted with trees the pilot and technician on board received only minor injuries.
  • 16 June 2005 - A model GZ-20 Goodyear blimp named Stars and Stripes (N1A), crashed shortly after take-off in Coral Springs, Florida due to bad weather. In this accident no one was injured.
  • 26 September 2006 - The Hood blimp, an American Blimp Corporation A-60, crashed into a wooded area of Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts. The pilot was not injured.
  • 14 June 2011 - A Goodyear Blimp operated by The Lightship Group in Reichelsheim (Wetterau), Germany caught fire and crashed, resulting in the death of an experienced pilot whose last-minute actions saved the lives of his three passengers.
  • 14 August 2011 - Operated by The Lightship Group the Hangar-1 blimp broke free of its mooring in Worthington, Ohio, crash landing in a yard. There were no injuries.
  • 4 May 2012 - An Israeli spy blimp crashed when a crop duster struck its side.

Note: This is not complete list and it is not referenced! You can use it just as info.