Turning Point: Collision of the G1 and L-2

Parachute jump practice from the G-1

                                               

Before the story turns to the L-8 it takes an interesting and critical turn at Lakehurst, New Jersey that was to lead to the L-8 mystery.

On the evening of June 8, 1942 the blimps L-2 and G-1 lift off from Lakehurst on an experimental mission. The blimps circled over a Coast Guard Cutter while dropping flash bombs into the water. They were testing photo flash bombs developed by Dr. Charles R. Hoover to be used to illuminate enemy submarines under the water so they would be visible from the air. The surface ship stood in as an enemy sub, the flash bombs dropped into the water would illuminate the outline for the observers. Different chemical combinations produced different colors of light and some were more effective than others.

The G-1 was commanded by veteran balloonist Frank Trotter. The L-2 was commanded by Clinton Rounds. Frank Trotter won many awards in ballooning before joining the Navy. One of his previous jobs was delivering mail to the Empire State Building by airship, dropping mail bundles while holding the ship steady over the upper deck.

Rounds invented a number of devices in his naval career.

Among the crew was the flash bombs inventor, Dr. Charles R. Hoover, NDRC/OSRD scientist from Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut. There are other scientists aboard but it is Dr. Hoovers invention that matters in the part of the story.

Both radar and sonar are developed at Bell Labs, Whippany NJ. The Mountain Lakes Testing Station ( Mountain Lakes, New Jersey ) was used to test the flash bomb before the sea trial that led to the accident.

Here is a picture of acoustical testing with a model submarine. Dr. Hoover is wearing the white hat.

Dr. Hoover at Mountain Lakes (NJ) Testing Station

The two blimps containing 13 passengers collided five miles off the New Jersey coast near Manasquan. They fell from about 500 feet into the ocean, killing all but one person. He survived by quickly jumping through a window in the gondola he was riding in, breaking his arm, and swimming until picked up by the Coast Guard some eight hours later.

Witnesses say that the L-2 suddenly veered from it's circular path crashing into the side of the G-1. The gondola of the G-1 detached and was sent crashing to the ocean where it quickly sank with all hands aboard. The balloonets of the L-2 were punctured and it sank quickly into the water. A flash was seen under the water. I have yet to locate the JAG investigation file so I'm taking this as hearsay just now although some secondary reports tend to corroborate the story.

The L-2 balloon bag kept it afloat and it washed up on the shore at Point Pleasant. The gondola of the G-1 settled on the bottom of the ocean.

Among the dead were four civilian scientists, including Dr Hoover.

June 8^th is the birthday of the Clinton Rounds wife. She celebrated with their six year old daughter, Camilla, because she wasn't sure when her husband would be home. Around the time he was dying she blew out the candles on her cake and went to bed not knowing she'd never see her husband alive again.

Rounds had been a survivor of the crash of the airship, Macon, which crashed in California in 1935.

Both these men actually survived the fall. But the gondola settled into the water, half submerged, while the air bag covered the gondola filling the the gondola with helium. The autopsy report for Cmdr Rounds shows that he died along with Dr Hoover from anoxia, suffocating when the air was displaced by the Helium. It also lists that he suffered third degree burns most likely by an accidental explosion of one of the flash bomb flares.

The newspaper account from the Asbury Park Press (New Jersey)

One G-1 L-2 newspaper account

The loss of the crews, Scientists, blimps and experiments aboard the L-2 and G-1 was a set back to the development of radar. Worse yet, it's publicly visible. Newspaper accounts mention the secret mission and potentially hazardous nature of the experimental mission the blimps were. Given the list of the dead, including the civilian scientists, it would be easy for spies to work out what was being done at Lakehurst and infiltrate.

The loss is quickly overshadowed by the war news about the Battle of Midway.

Staff is quickly shipped from Lakehurst to Moffett Field at San Francisco being developed as the West Coast NAS. This included the members of the Rangefinder group including Adams and Cody. Both were given promotions that allowed them to fly. Ensign A. Ulrich, who piloted the L-8 the day before the disappearance, had only been at Moffet for 3 days also coming from Lakehurst. He was the flight director for the mission and one of the first on the scene with the recovery crew.

Charles Adams had been awarded metals for bravery, saving people on the Hindenburg – Herman Goering sent a letter of thanks. He was also present at the loss of the Los Angeles and Macon. He served aboard the USS Henley during the attack on Pearl Harbor.

In Lt Cody's military records folder there is a copy of a telegram dated April 12^th, with the following line;” Request he be ordered to duty NAS Sunnyvale Moffett field services urgently needed.” A note in the file from June 5^th states “the Secretary of the Navy has determined that this employment on shore duty is required by the public interests.” The significance of who and what the rangefinders group was and what they did would be another clue to the solution of the mystery.

The L2 and G1 blimps were part of the fleet used as testing platforms for experiments conducted by the group of scientists who developed the weaponry for the war effort. Solving practical problems and developing advanced weapons. New techniques and efficient use of resources. The technology we take for granted today.

While most people will have images of bombers and atomic bombs as the most valuable weapons, they were really things like radar, sonar, proximity fuses, advances in air craft design, explosives and bombs.

Radar is one of the most guarded secrets rivaling that of the work surrounding the Manhattan Project and had to be guarded at all costs.

The Office of Scientific Research and Development; originally known as the National Defense Research Committee, under Vannevar Bush, was the heart of why the good guys won the war.

With the crash of the L2 and G-1, the newspapers headlines pointed out to every spy in America the secret work being performed at Lakehurst and with that the OSRD had to find a new home for the work.

Moffett Field San Francisco was that place. The replacement for the L-2 – the L-8 was assembled and shipped off. Instructors and equipment shifted westward from Lakehurst to California. Not all but enough to make sure any spies had to work to figure out what was being done where.

While the news had public stories about a western air training site being opened up, the real story was that development was shifting to the west coast. Moffet Field and Treasure Island would be used to continue the vital work of the OSRD.

This is from the cover of the OSRD year book detailing all the work the OSRD was responsible for during it's existance. Of all the things they could have put on the cover this is what they chose.

Graphic from OSRD report cover

Happy New Year.
More details in 2013!

            Otto

All Roads Lead Home

                                          

The next break in figuring out what happened came after I had found the L8 Judge Advocate Generals inquest documents at the National Archives in Washington DC. The boxes were cataloged as part of the collection on Pennsylvania Ave but they couldn’t locate them and insisted for the longest time that, by the nature of the contents, the boxes should have moved to the NARA 2 location in College Park, Maryland. College Park did not have them either but kept pointing back to the DC NARA location.

I spent many days and weekends searching catalogs and talking to the research assistants looking for some way of finding the boxes. I became a regular and was probably engaging enough, or maybe “enraging” is the right word, that the staff huddled to hear about the L8 mystery.

Finally an older gentleman remembered a couple of boxes no one knew anything about sitting in a remote corner. The clouds parted and I had the L-8 inquest records!

From that I had the blueprints for the Enterprise ( sorry Star Trek fans that's the L-5 ), used during the inquest as well as photos and transcripts of the testimony of events. weather maps, radio log transcripts, evidence of what happened.

Not hearsay. Not vague assumptions. Sequence of events and times.

Facts!
Names!
Places!

Names became the crib for the next breakthrough.
I’d gotten the public records for Cody and Adams from the Department of Defense. Another challenge involved getting the people handling the request to find records for the two men. Each time I sent a request with the birth place and date of death and explained the story of how these two men disappeared and were declared dead, I received a polite note saying these two men did not exist.

It was only after I tipped the scales and my persistence was more annoying than looking that I got word that they had found the records for Dewitt Cody. Cody's record came in the form of a two sheet letter listing his date of birth and a synopsis of his military record. Adam’s records were still MIA but after I gave them the service record number for Cody they were able to find Adams since the formers folder mentioned the latter’s. His record came after a long time in a thick envelope.

It contained paper treasure!

Armed with his information I re-requested Cody's record and this time was pleasantly surprised to get the whole set of contents of his public records.
Interesting tidbits came flowing out. Where they were born. Where they served.
Many interesting things about the two men. There careers and and an insight into who they were.
Adams was present at a number of air disasters. He was part of the ground crew present at the crash of the Hindenburg. He was at Pearl harbor on Dec 7th 1941. He was born in Pennsylvania, but married a woman from Boonton, NJ. I’d lived in Boonton for years and now live nearby. So the road for the story brings me close to home and includes a turning point in the story.

I tried to absorb as much of their lives as possible since I couldn’t tell what was important or not.
I ran off looking for more clues, a whirlwind of research, hunting for clues and evidence of what really happened to the crew of the L-8.

One important thing I did was start ordering the DOD records for all of the key people in the testimony.
Imagine my surprise when I find that one by one, everyone involved has come from New Jersey. Some months before but most within a few weeks or days.

It is at this point I realize that there’s more to the story than “they fell out” and it takes me home - quite literally, but more on that later - to New Jersey and Lakehurst..and another accident!

The incident of the L8 is the third and final act in a three act play. It lead me to understand a part of WW2 I never really knew existed.

The story behind the story is about brilliant people and heroes. It's about the tools used to win the war and how those tools were developed and changed the world. It's about the people from all over the planet who made that happen. And accidents happened - the L8 wasn’t the first and it wouldn’t be the last - and still the people who developed the technology to help win the war kept their hearts and minds on what mattered, in silence, thinking of the greater good.

The story isn’t really about an accident it’s about those noble and brilliant people all over the planet who saw or suffered the evil in the world and did something about without regard for gain, accolades, or stopping when death was staring them in the face. It showed me the good and noble in a world gone mad.Somewhere in there, there's a story that is relevant in these troubling times and what's really important.

I believe that you can judge a persons real character when it's dark, cold, wet, alone, under tension. Peoples true spirit  will come out under those conditions and real character will show. 

The story also involves "smoke and mirrors" that comes from the need to keep things secret. There are  the things you can see and the things that are really going on. Everything has a public and secret side. Things are not necessarily what they seem taken at face value.

I’ll leave you with a something to look into before the next post. OSRD - Office of Scientific Research and Development.

Stay tuned and if you came to this blog through a web search engine, be sure to check out www.ghostblimp.com for documents and photos related to the L-8!

                                                            Otto

ps: I’d like to wish everyone a...

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Wesołych Świąt i Szczęśliwego Nowego Roku
Frohe Weihnachten und ein glückliches Neues Jahr
Joyeux Noël et une Bonne Année
메리 크리스마스와 새해 복 많이
Веселого Рождества и Счастливого Нового Года
Prettige Kerstdagen en een Gelukkig Nieuwjaar
Feliz Nadal e un Feliz ano
クリスマスと新年のお喜びを申し上げます。
Buon Natale e un Felice Anno Nuovo
לעבעדיק ניטל און אַ מזל ניו יאָר
Feliz Navidad y un Feliz Año Nuevo
Срећан Божић и Срећна Нова Година
圣诞之际，祝你心中有首快乐的圣诞和新年快乐
  عيد ميلاد سعيد وسنة جديدة سعيدة

Eureka!

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Did Lt Cody Survive?

Ernest Dewitt Cody and Charles Adams vanished without a trace on August 16, 1942.

It's a fundamental "fact" of the mystery surrounding the L8.Two men enter and viola, they disappear without a trace.

That is unless you read their DOD files and then you will have to reconsider whether that really was the case.

Ernest Dewitt Cody's wife, Helen, wrote the Bureau of Naval Personnel on August 22, 1947 to report that her mother had seen Lt. Cody, alive, but dazed and confused.

Gentlemen:

I am the widow ( now remarried ) of the above Naval Officer who was reported missing by your department on 17 August 1942, and officially reported deceased on 17 August 1943.

Lt. Cody was on a routine patrol flight in a lighter-than-air craft off the coast of San Francisco at the time he disappeared. The ship was based at Moffett Field, California, and crashed in Daly City, California, on 16 August 1942 with everything in flying order and intact, but no one aboard. As your department knows, no trace was found of Lt. Cody nor his co-pilot.

I wish to report that my mother says she saw Lt. Cody in Phoenix, Arizona, this past Spring, and that his eyes looked peculiar, as though he were suffering from shock, or a mental illness. To me it is possible that he might be alive, and be suffering from amnesia, or that a head injury may have caused loss of memory.

My mother did nothing to stop him due to the fact that I am remarried and have a child by this marriage, and she didn't want to "stir up" old memories. At the time I was living in New York City, but have since moved to Phoenix. That is her reason for telling me at this time and not at an earlier date. She was afraid I might see him and that it would be too great a shock. (She, herself, suffered a bad case of shock and was ill for a week afterward).

Merely to emphasize my belief in my mother -- she knew Lt. Cody well, loved him, and would not make a mistake any more than I, should I see him. Also, I have never hoped for his return because the Captain of the station told me not to -- that it would be better for me to face facts and start a new life. For that reason, I am asking your help in checking this clue, not for any whim of mine, but because I would like to see Lt. Cody reunited with his family if he is living.

Will you please check this matter?

Thank you very much.

              Very truly yours,

                 Helen H. C. Delamater

If you have read or seen accounts of the L8 mystery, by now you might have a favorite theory about what went on surrounding the disappearance of the men aboard the gondola that morning, and theory in hand, might wonder if this fits the mold.

Did one fall out into the water, the other exiting safely at some other time?

Did both fall and was it possible that a person could survive a fall from the height of between 600 and 900 feet?

Does this mean that the men made land and this was why no bodies were found?

I had considered the idea that either one caused the other to fall to his death, intentionally or accidentally, and then walked off the L-8 when it first rolled into the beach near the Grand Highway, it's first contact with solid earth.

There were multiple witnesses that make this impossible. In fact, two witnesses were seen by another passerby who reported that the L-8 pilots were safe but had fallen into the water. It turns out that a passing librarian saw two men struggling with the deflating L-8 in the ocean surf. She assumed that the two men were the Navy officers trying to wrangle the L-8. She was the mysterious caller who said that the L-8 had crashed but the pilots were safe. A short time later a second call reported that the pilots were not present at the crash scene.

Had one or more people been aboard the L-8 at landfall these two men would have seen them.

So we can only conclude that the two men "left" before rolling over the beach and into the golf course where it would temporally sit.

So we come to the next question to consider. Can someone falling from a height of 600 to 900 feet survive the fall?

One established fact is that both parachutes were still aboard the L-8.

I found documents from that period that were used for training soldiers to jump. The minimum height to land was determined by the amount of time it took to open the parachute fully and decelerate to a rate where the person would survive. The minimum was roughly 575 feet. German soldiers were told that the minimum was about 100 feet lower.

My first thought was about human psychology. People will grasp at straws in the odd hope they'll survive even if the numbers don't add up. People will jump from a high building to get away from a fire. So I can't imagine if the blimp were going down or in distress that these two men -if they had time to think - would decide to jump without parachutes even if they were obviously too low. They were most likely high enough. So why not use the parachutes.

The obvious solution is that they didn't have time or they didn't chose to leave of their own accord.

They left too quickly or were unconscious to step into a parachute no matter how futile if they were that low.

That made me start wondering what height a person could fall from and survive. I found a fantastic paper on just that subject that described real instances of people who fell from planes, had parachutes that didn't open and other falls from heights that I would have assumed meant an automatic death sentence.

To my surprise people have fallen from planes flying at tens of thousands of feet and lived!

I'm not being flip when I say it's not the fall but the sudden stop that kills you!

It's the rate of deceleration that determines whether a person lives or dies.

It all comes down to physics and fate but it is possible that someone could fall from a blimp into the water and live. You'll recall that the two parachutes were still on board the L-8 when it was recovered. So if they fell it was sans parachute they could have survived.

I found a paper on incidents involving survivors of falls from great heights and one thing that they had in common was brain damage similar to what Cody's mother-in-law reported as his state of mind. Survivors suffered from similar symptoms.

This new piece of evidence gives us new avenues of speculation on what happened and the fate of the pilots.

This started out as such a simple mystery but I keep finding the trail leads in the most interesting directions.

                                                   Otto

L-8 blueprints - actually the Enterprise...

I realized I hadn't posted the L-8 blueprints I found at the national Archives.
With the 70th anniversary coming up I thought it a nice memento. I had a digital copy made by the NARA staff. The original is too big to unfold and showing its age.

Be aware that the file is big.

https://14023b33-a-62cb3a1a-s-sites.googlegroups.com/site/ottolandproject/Home/21174_20.JPG?attachauth=ANoY7crznqGa2Onkh7yGDrNuI5MfExsDzT1xS_kO0FIAx7ueB8bX0Ha-LbSInD1-3Ak6PTRNh8U5QKEBSYMrGHH0SMWg-K8Hjt1B4killZL6p0NkV1LS3GZ6sJNngsm0GE1ik-hMye2CWCsO41lOEr4cXxG6GO_uUU2iO1-GYLvOYt2ryGH5iOa7g0mj_dWW-59RBKTxZul8dwRrhszsutp94etvd6fnz-aAx-bW6g1k_QGLuJzbQWw%3D&attredirects=0


See NARA site for rules surrounding proper citation. Otherwise gratis.


As far as the story goes, I'm working on it and it never fails to add twists and turns.
There are two solutions possible, one simple - one man fell out of the bouncing balloon when the door was left unsecured when the mechanic, Riley Hill, was ordered off. His testimony says he did not secure the door. A simple mistake.
 The second man fell when, suddenly one person lighter, the balloon jutted at and odd angle and springing up tossed the second man out of the open door.

But let me just say that Occam's Razor aside, the simple surface story often covers deeper secrets.
The L-8 is one of those stories. Nothing is quite what it seems.


I was hoping to hear from the many lurkers out there. Any responses would be greatly appreciated.

One update. I just was looking at the blueprints and saw that they used the Enterprise blueprints for the inquest. A copy of this sits on the wall of my writing desk and I can't tell you how many times I've sat and stared at them and never noticed.

The lightened blimp without the weight of the crew had a valve that automatically opened at 2500 feet to prevent a fatal failure of the balloonets. This is what caused the air bag to defalte and finally fall into Daly City.


               Otto