Dates

Event

Constructed as a ZPG-2.

Circa 1953

Taken on Strength/Charge with the United States Navy with BuNo 141561.
Original type was ZP2N-1.

1954

Redesignated as ZPG-2.

From 4 March 1957 to 15 March 1957

Departed South Weymouth, MA on a round-trip crossing of the Atlantic, landing at Key West, FL after 264.2 hrs flight time traveling 9,448 miles without refueling.

By 1987

Assigned to NAS Lakehurst, NJ for storage.
Control car in open storage.

22 June 1987

Photographer: Phillip Dawe
Notes: 141561 - Goodyear ZPG-2 (Gondola only) - NAS Lakehurst Control car in open storage at Lakehurst. On Monday, March 4, 1957, Snow Bird, a ZPG-2 airship (an N-class blimp, sn 141561) took off from NAS South Weymouth (near Boston, Massachusetts) under the command of Commander Jack R. Hunt, along with Commander Ronald W. Hoel and Lieutenant Commander Robert S. Bowser as copilots. At that time, the record for an unrefueled, continuous flight was 200 hours and 26 minutes. The distance record was held by the LZ-127, Graf Zeppelin, which had flown 11,233 km (6,980 mi) from Friedrichshafen to NAS Kasumigaura in Tokyo in 101 hours and 49 minutes during its round-the-world flight in August of 1929. On March 15, 1957, after having flown 15,205 km (9,448 mi) in 264.2 hours (just over 10 days), the Snow Bird landed at Naval Air Station Key West, Florida. The flight had crossed the Atlantic, flown over the western shores of Africa and Europe and then crossed the Atlantic from

July 1996

To National Naval Aviation Museum, NAS Pensacola, Pensacola, FL.
Markings added: Snow Bird
Only the control car cockpit survives here.
View the Location Dossier

8 October 2012

Photographer: Glenn Chatfield