With the coming of summer 1922, the world’s largest hangar sat empty and unused at Lakehurst, N.J. It had been constructed the year before, anticipating the arrival of the ZR- 2, which had been purchased from England.
Unfortunately, as the hydrogen-filled airship prepared for its transatlantic flight, it exploded, killing all but five of the 49 people on board.
Another foreign-made dirigible, the Roma, burned in February 1922 at Langley, Va., fueling the drive for an American-made airship that…
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