Speaker 1: Welcome to Unexplained Extra with me Richard McClane Smith, where
Speaker 1: for the weeks in between episodes, we look at stories
Speaker 1: and ideas that, for one reason or other, didn't make
Speaker 1: it into the previous show. In last week's episode, Out
Speaker 1: of the Wreckage, we traced a series of ghostly happenings
Speaker 1: that emerged in the aftermath of the nineteen seventy two
Speaker 1: air crash involving Eastern Airlines Flight four O one. These
Speaker 1: strange tales join a litany of peculiar and supernatural aviation
Speaker 1: based stories, involving everything from the apparent sighting of phantom
Speaker 1: planes and pilots to the mysterious disappearances of numerous aircraft
Speaker 1: over the years. There's little wonder that the act of
Speaker 1: flying should provoke so many spectral stories, considering the countless
Speaker 1: number of lives that have been lost in the process
Speaker 1: of doing it, from the death of ballooning pioneers in
Speaker 1: the eighteenth century all the way up to present day
Speaker 1: astronauts in years gone by. Of course, before radio and
Speaker 1: radar as aircraft took off into the skies, it was
Speaker 1: into a wide and vast unknown that they would disappear,
Speaker 1: sometimes never to be seen. Again, even today, despite our
Speaker 1: constant monitoring of the skies through satellite and radar, as
Speaker 1: demonstrated by the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight through seventy
Speaker 1: such mysteries are still possible. Of all the strange aviation
Speaker 1: related disappearances, however, perhaps the spookiest of all are those
Speaker 1: in which the aircraft return but the crew do not,
Speaker 1: stories like that of scouting Blimp L eight, which in
Speaker 1: nineteen forty two became the locusts of one of the
Speaker 1: greatest aviation mysteries of all time. The Japanese military's attack
Speaker 1: on the United States Naval base at Pearl Harbor in
Speaker 1: Honolulu on December seventh, nineteen forty one, is widely regarded
Speaker 1: as the moment that spurred the US to enter the
Speaker 1: Second World War. What is less well known, however, as
Speaker 1: that in the nine months that followed, Japanese submarines carried
Speaker 1: out a series of further attacks on the US, including
Speaker 1: the sinking of six Navy ships and the shelling of
Speaker 1: the largest oil drilling facility in California. As a countermeasure
Speaker 1: to protect North America's Pacific coastline, a series of airship
Speaker 1: patrols were established along the west coast to keep an
Speaker 1: eye out for invading enemy submarines. Of all the aircraft
Speaker 1: to use, it was determined that the humble blimp was
Speaker 1: best equipped to do the job, with its unique capability
Speaker 1: to hang in place in one spot above the water
Speaker 1: for long periods of time without needing to be refueled.
Speaker 1: A blimp, unlike a zeppelin, has no solid internal structure
Speaker 1: and operates more or less like a simple balloon, employing
Speaker 1: helium to generate lift, and so in early nineteen forty two,
Speaker 1: famous blimp manufacturers Goodyear were hired by the US Navy
Speaker 1: to transform their usual model into something more fitting for warfare,
Speaker 1: and so the L class blimp was created. At one
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty feet long, L class blimps were equipped
Speaker 1: with two depth charges to attack submarines below the water,
Speaker 1: as well as a thirty caliber machine gun and a
Speaker 1: cabin large enough for three crew. On any given day,
Speaker 1: blimp reconnaissance crews would typically complete a four hour search
Speaker 1: of the coastline within a fifty mile radius of their
Speaker 1: takeoff point before returning back to base. The mission assigned
Speaker 1: to the crew of Blimp L eight on Sunday, August sixteenth,
Speaker 1: nineteen forty two was no different. On the morning of
Speaker 1: the flight, however, a last minute changed to the flight
Speaker 1: plan was made when it was found that condensation on
Speaker 1: the blimpse out shell also known as its envelope, made
Speaker 1: it too heavy to fly with the crew of three.
Speaker 1: As such, Mate third Class James Riley Hill was relieved
Speaker 1: of duty for the day, leaving Pilot Lieutenant Ernest DeWitt
Speaker 1: Cody and Ensign Charles Adams to complete the mission on
Speaker 1: their own. At thirty eight years old, eleven years older
Speaker 1: than the pilot, Ensign Adams was by far the more
Speaker 1: experienced of the pair, with over two thousand and two
Speaker 1: hundred hours of flight time in what are termed lighter
Speaker 1: than air vehicles or LTA's over the course of a
Speaker 1: twenty year career with the US Navy. By comparison, twenty
Speaker 1: seven year old Lieutenant Cody had only seven hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty six hours of LTA flight time. Regardless, Cody was
Speaker 1: highly thought of as a bright, up and coming operator
Speaker 1: in the field and considered to be one of the
Speaker 1: most capable pilots among his peers. The mission therefore to
Speaker 1: conduct a four hour patrol off the coast of San
Speaker 1: Francisco was to be a fairly mundane and routine one.
Speaker 1: It would prove to be anything but. On the morning
Speaker 1: of August sixteenth, nineteen forty two, the first light of
Speaker 1: dawn revealed a moderately overcast sky above the city of
Speaker 1: San Francisco, with visibility good at a range of roughly
Speaker 1: three to five miles. As members of Airship Patrol Squadron
Speaker 1: thirty two, Lieutenant Cody and Ensign Adams were stationed at
Speaker 1: Moffitt Field near Sunnyvale in California. That morning, however, they
Speaker 1: would be taking off from Treasure Island, an artificial island
Speaker 1: just to the east of San Francisco between the city
Speaker 1: and the mainland. From there, they were to head west
Speaker 1: out over the Gulf of Farrellanus toward the Farallon Islands
Speaker 1: before heading north to Point Rayas, then circling back to
Speaker 1: Moffitt Field. At six o three am, Win Control gave
Speaker 1: Cody the order to take off, and moments later they
Speaker 1: were floating high into the air, heading out over the
Speaker 1: Golden Gate Bridge and into the clouds above. An hour
Speaker 1: and a half later, at seven thirty eight am, Lieutenant
Speaker 1: Cody contacted Wing Control to inform them that they were
Speaker 1: now over the ocean, four miles east of the Farallons.
Speaker 1: At seven forty two am, Cody called through again. Adams
Speaker 1: had spotted at length the oil slick in the water below,
Speaker 1: and they were heading closer to investigate. The crew dropped
Speaker 1: a few smoke flares onto the surface of the water
Speaker 1: to highlight the spot, then proceeded to circle it as
Speaker 1: they hunted for the possible sub on the waves below them.
Speaker 1: The crews of a nearby cargo ship, the SS Albert Gallatin,
Speaker 1: and fishing vessel Daisy Gray, having picked up the transmissions,
Speaker 1: watched on with interest as Cody and Adams's blimp came
Speaker 1: steadily into view. As the Daisy Gray hauled in its
Speaker 1: fishing nets and moved out of the area, its crew
Speaker 1: and that of the Albert Gallatin continued to observe the
Speaker 1: blimp through binoculars, with Cody and Adams clearly visible to
Speaker 1: them inside the cabin. At some point, the blimp steadily
Speaker 1: began to descend from three hundred to only thirty feet
Speaker 1: above the water, where it stayed for the next hour,
Speaker 1: continuing to circle the area until shortly after nine am,
Speaker 1: when it rose up suddenly and disappeared into the clouds above.
Speaker 1: Despite Blimp L eight being observed until nine am by
Speaker 1: the crews of SS Albert Gallatin and the Daisy Gray
Speaker 1: back at wing control. Nothing had been heard from the
Speaker 1: blimp's crew since their last communication at seven forty two am.
Speaker 1: As concerned for their whereabouts grew, two search planes were
Speaker 1: promptly sent out to look for them. It was almost
Speaker 1: two hours later when the blimp was finally spotted again,
Speaker 1: heading east toward the Golden Gate Bridge, appearing to be
Speaker 1: under control, rising to two thousand feet above the clouds
Speaker 1: before descending back into them. A short time later, Richard Quam,
Speaker 1: an off duty sailor, was heading out to Ocean Beach
Speaker 1: on San Francisco's west side when he spotted something completely
Speaker 1: unexpected in the sky heading towards him. It was Cody
Speaker 1: and Adams's late blimp, barely fifty meters above in the air,
Speaker 1: sagging significantly in the middle. Quam watched as it drifted
Speaker 1: silently toward the beach, scuffed the sand, then shot up again,
Speaker 1: smashing into a cliff face with the horrendous sound of
Speaker 1: scraping metal, before edging up and over it as it
Speaker 1: continued to drift in land stunned golfers at the Olympic
Speaker 1: Club's Lakeside golf course on the other side of the
Speaker 1: cliff watched with alarm as one of the blimp's depth
Speaker 1: chargers became dislodged and rolled off down a hill, while
Speaker 1: on another hill nearby, members of the Daily City Fire Department,
Speaker 1: who were burning brush at the time, turned their attention
Speaker 1: to the errand airship and promptly raced off after it.
Speaker 1: As the blimp continued to drift listlessly in land, heading
Speaker 1: over Lake Mercid Park, then later Mission Street, thousands came
Speaker 1: out to track its progress as it scraped across rooftops,
Speaker 1: ripping out wires and aerials in a steady hail of sparks.
Speaker 1: Richard Johnston, resident of four nineteen Bellevue Avenue, who was
Speaker 1: busy cleaning his car in the street at the time,
Speaker 1: was forced to run away in terror as the voluminous
Speaker 1: craft appeared suddenly from over the tops of the nearby houses,
Speaker 1: before it came crashing down right outside his house. Johnston's neighbor,
Speaker 1: William Morris, a volunteer firefighter, watched in shock as the
Speaker 1: blimpse cabin smashed first into the road, then into a
Speaker 1: utility pole, snapping it in two with an electric explosion
Speaker 1: of sparks and splintered wood. With golden sparks still spitting
Speaker 1: and flying from the wires and the deafening hiss of
Speaker 1: escaping helium filling the air, Morris ran to the crew's aid,
Speaker 1: but as he drew nearer to the cabin, he saw
Speaker 1: its door was wide open and nobody was inside. When
Speaker 1: the firefighters arrived soon after, they began quickly slashing at
Speaker 1: the blimps envelope, which by now had smothered Johnston's car
Speaker 1: and much of the street around it, just in case
Speaker 1: the crew had somehow got stuck in there, but there
Speaker 1: was no one there either. An inspection of the Blimpse
Speaker 1: cabin revealed that all three of its parachutes were still
Speaker 1: on board and untouched, along with its single life raft.
Speaker 1: Two life jackets were missing, However, since the crew would
Speaker 1: be expected to wear them for most of the flight anyway,
Speaker 1: it offered no clue as to where they'd gone exactly.
Speaker 1: A check of the engines revealed the blimp to being
Speaker 1: good working order, with no damage to the helium valves
Speaker 1: and at least four hours of gas left in the tanks.
Speaker 1: The radio two was found to be completely undamaged. Strangely,
Speaker 1: a hat belonging to one of the crew was found
Speaker 1: propped up on the control board, while a briefcase containing
Speaker 1: the missions classified material was found where it was usually
Speaker 1: kept behind the pilot's seat. For three days, search team
Speaker 1: scoured land and sea covering the known course of the
Speaker 1: blimp for any sign of the missing men, but nothing
Speaker 1: was found. The following year, having first been officially declared missing,
Speaker 1: the men were eventually declared to have died. An official
Speaker 1: inquiry concluded that no fire, no submersion, and no missiles
Speaker 1: struck the late. Needless to say, numerous theories have been
Speaker 1: posited as to what happened actly, with the possible capture
Speaker 1: of the men or even a planned affection to the
Speaker 1: Japanese Navy, as well as a potential attack from a
Speaker 1: stowaway being among the more grounded explanations to other things
Speaker 1: identified during the inquiry was that the blimps loudspeaker used
Speaker 1: to contact ships on the waters below, was found hanging
Speaker 1: loose out of its holder, and the cabin's door was unlatched.
Speaker 1: According to John G. O'Hagan, whose history Net article Mystery
Speaker 1: of the Ghost Blimp from April twelfth, twenty sixteen, gives
Speaker 1: one of the most comprehensive accounts of the event. One
Speaker 1: likely possibility was that the door had accidentally unlapsed at
Speaker 1: some point during the journey, with one of the men
Speaker 1: falling out as a result. In the panic of the moment,
Speaker 1: with no time to radio the incident back to base,
Speaker 1: the second crew member had tried to hail his compatriot
Speaker 1: with the loudspeaker, only to then slip out the door himself.
Speaker 1: It's a plausible argument until that is, you consider the
Speaker 1: testimony of the SS Albert Gallatin and the fishing trawler
Speaker 1: Daisy Gray, both of the vessel's crews who'd observed the
Speaker 1: blimp on the Fateful Day, testified that both Lieutenant Cody
Speaker 1: and Ensign Adams were on board when they first saw it,
Speaker 1: and neither had been seen falling from the cabin during
Speaker 1: the time they had eyes on it, from the moment
Speaker 1: it arrived, right up to the point when it lifted
Speaker 1: away and disappeared into the clouds. If you enjoy Unexplained
Speaker 1: and would like to help supporters, you can now do
Speaker 1: so via Patreon to receive access to add three episodes,
Speaker 1: just go to patron dot com Forward Slash Unexplained Pod
Speaker 1: to sign up. Unexplained, the book and audiobook, featuring ten
Speaker 1: stories that have never before been covered on the show,
Speaker 1: is now available to buy worldwide. You can purchase through Amazon,
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Speaker 1: of Unexplained, including the show's music, are produced by me
Speaker 1: Richard McClain smith. Please subscribe and rate the show wherever
Speaker 1: you listen to podcasts, and feel free to get in
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Speaker 1: heard on the show. Perhaps you have an explanation of
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