The airship that stood on its nose (1927)

A photograph with an explanation

A Navy photograph records Los Angeles rising almost upright while its nose remained attached to the high mast at Lakehurst. The Naval History and Heritage Command dates the incident shortly after 1:30 p.m. on August 25, 1927. Its catalog explains that an arriving cold front lifted the tail before the airship could turn around the mast to align with the changed wind.

The position looks catastrophic, but the same record says the airship suffered only minor damage. It identifies the episode as evidence of the danger of high mooring masts. NHHC photograph NH 84567 and catalog description.

Reading the image carefully

The remarkable feature is that the airship was still moored. This was a ground-handling weather incident, not a photograph of a vertical takeoff. The catalog’s approximate description is preferable to assigning an exact angle from a single view. It also supplies the outcome that the dramatic image alone cannot show.