WEBVTT - Season 6 Episode 15 Extra: Cloudbusting 0:00:10.440 --> 0:00:14.840 Welcome to Unexplained Extra with me Richard McClane Smith, where 0:00:14.880 --> 0:00:17.239 for the weeks in between episodes, we look at stories 0:00:17.239 --> 0:00:19.920 and ideas that, for one reason or other, didn't make 0:00:19.960 --> 0:00:23.800 it into the previous show. In last week's episode, Out 0:00:23.800 --> 0:00:27.520 of the Wreckage, we traced a series of ghostly happenings 0:00:27.560 --> 0:00:30.520 that emerged in the aftermath of the nineteen seventy two 0:00:30.520 --> 0:00:35.280 air crash involving Eastern Airlines Flight four O one. These 0:00:35.360 --> 0:00:40.080 strange tales join a litany of peculiar and supernatural aviation 0:00:40.159 --> 0:00:44.120 based stories, involving everything from the apparent sighting of phantom 0:00:44.159 --> 0:00:48.640 planes and pilots to the mysterious disappearances of numerous aircraft 0:00:48.720 --> 0:00:52.400 over the years. There's little wonder that the act of 0:00:52.440 --> 0:00:57.160 flying should provoke so many spectral stories, considering the countless 0:00:57.240 --> 0:00:59.760 number of lives that have been lost in the process 0:00:59.800 --> 0:01:03.040 of doing it, from the death of ballooning pioneers in 0:01:03.040 --> 0:01:06.200 the eighteenth century all the way up to present day 0:01:06.240 --> 0:01:11.039 astronauts in years gone by. Of course, before radio and 0:01:11.280 --> 0:01:15.120 radar as aircraft took off into the skies, it was 0:01:15.160 --> 0:01:18.920 into a wide and vast unknown that they would disappear, 0:01:19.520 --> 0:01:24.880 sometimes never to be seen. Again, even today, despite our 0:01:24.959 --> 0:01:28.839 constant monitoring of the skies through satellite and radar, as 0:01:28.880 --> 0:01:33.360 demonstrated by the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight through seventy 0:01:33.680 --> 0:01:38.880 such mysteries are still possible. Of all the strange aviation 0:01:39.000 --> 0:01:43.680 related disappearances, however, perhaps the spookiest of all are those 0:01:43.720 --> 0:01:47.360 in which the aircraft return but the crew do not, 0:01:48.480 --> 0:01:52.160 stories like that of scouting Blimp L eight, which in 0:01:52.240 --> 0:01:55.320 nineteen forty two became the locusts of one of the 0:01:55.360 --> 0:02:07.160 greatest aviation mysteries of all time. The Japanese military's attack 0:02:07.320 --> 0:02:10.400 on the United States Naval base at Pearl Harbor in 0:02:10.520 --> 0:02:15.400 Honolulu on December seventh, nineteen forty one, is widely regarded 0:02:15.440 --> 0:02:18.240 as the moment that spurred the US to enter the 0:02:18.280 --> 0:02:22.520 Second World War. What is less well known, however, as 0:02:22.600 --> 0:02:26.720 that in the nine months that followed, Japanese submarines carried 0:02:26.760 --> 0:02:29.959 out a series of further attacks on the US, including 0:02:30.000 --> 0:02:33.440 the sinking of six Navy ships and the shelling of 0:02:33.480 --> 0:02:38.880 the largest oil drilling facility in California. As a countermeasure 0:02:39.120 --> 0:02:43.360 to protect North America's Pacific coastline, a series of airship 0:02:43.440 --> 0:02:46.840 patrols were established along the west coast to keep an 0:02:46.880 --> 0:02:51.519 eye out for invading enemy submarines. Of all the aircraft 0:02:51.600 --> 0:02:54.760 to use, it was determined that the humble blimp was 0:02:54.840 --> 0:02:58.320 best equipped to do the job, with its unique capability 0:02:58.440 --> 0:03:01.040 to hang in place in one spot above the water 0:03:01.400 --> 0:03:04.760 for long periods of time without needing to be refueled. 0:03:05.919 --> 0:03:10.160 A blimp, unlike a zeppelin, has no solid internal structure 0:03:10.480 --> 0:03:13.880 and operates more or less like a simple balloon, employing 0:03:13.960 --> 0:03:18.800 helium to generate lift, and so in early nineteen forty two, 0:03:19.240 --> 0:03:23.639 famous blimp manufacturers Goodyear were hired by the US Navy 0:03:23.880 --> 0:03:28.079 to transform their usual model into something more fitting for warfare, 0:03:29.160 --> 0:03:33.840 and so the L class blimp was created. At one 0:03:33.919 --> 0:03:37.720 hundred and fifty feet long, L class blimps were equipped 0:03:37.720 --> 0:03:41.600 with two depth charges to attack submarines below the water, 0:03:42.240 --> 0:03:44.960 as well as a thirty caliber machine gun and a 0:03:45.080 --> 0:03:49.600 cabin large enough for three crew. On any given day, 0:03:50.040 --> 0:03:53.920 blimp reconnaissance crews would typically complete a four hour search 0:03:54.000 --> 0:03:56.960 of the coastline within a fifty mile radius of their 0:03:57.000 --> 0:04:02.240 takeoff point before returning back to base. The mission assigned 0:04:02.240 --> 0:04:06.240 to the crew of Blimp L eight on Sunday, August sixteenth, 0:04:06.480 --> 0:04:10.880 nineteen forty two was no different. On the morning of 0:04:10.920 --> 0:04:13.920 the flight, however, a last minute changed to the flight 0:04:13.960 --> 0:04:16.960 plan was made when it was found that condensation on 0:04:16.960 --> 0:04:21.000 the blimpse out shell also known as its envelope, made 0:04:21.000 --> 0:04:24.400 it too heavy to fly with the crew of three. 0:04:24.440 --> 0:04:29.200 As such, Mate third Class James Riley Hill was relieved 0:04:29.240 --> 0:04:33.560 of duty for the day, leaving Pilot Lieutenant Ernest DeWitt 0:04:33.680 --> 0:04:37.520 Cody and Ensign Charles Adams to complete the mission on 0:04:37.600 --> 0:04:42.000 their own. At thirty eight years old, eleven years older 0:04:42.040 --> 0:04:46.000 than the pilot, Ensign Adams was by far the more 0:04:46.040 --> 0:04:49.120 experienced of the pair, with over two thousand and two 0:04:49.240 --> 0:04:52.520 hundred hours of flight time in what are termed lighter 0:04:52.520 --> 0:04:56.359 than air vehicles or LTA's over the course of a 0:04:56.440 --> 0:05:01.400 twenty year career with the US Navy. By comparison, twenty 0:05:01.400 --> 0:05:04.760 seven year old Lieutenant Cody had only seven hundred and 0:05:04.760 --> 0:05:09.640 fifty six hours of LTA flight time. Regardless, Cody was 0:05:09.720 --> 0:05:12.800 highly thought of as a bright, up and coming operator 0:05:12.839 --> 0:05:15.280 in the field and considered to be one of the 0:05:15.320 --> 0:05:20.039 most capable pilots among his peers. The mission therefore to 0:05:20.160 --> 0:05:22.640 conduct a four hour patrol off the coast of San 0:05:22.680 --> 0:05:27.040 Francisco was to be a fairly mundane and routine one. 0:05:27.600 --> 0:05:38.200 It would prove to be anything but. On the morning 0:05:38.240 --> 0:05:42.080 of August sixteenth, nineteen forty two, the first light of 0:05:42.160 --> 0:05:46.320 dawn revealed a moderately overcast sky above the city of 0:05:46.320 --> 0:05:50.400 San Francisco, with visibility good at a range of roughly 0:05:50.520 --> 0:05:55.359 three to five miles. As members of Airship Patrol Squadron 0:05:55.440 --> 0:05:59.839 thirty two, Lieutenant Cody and Ensign Adams were stationed at 0:06:00.000 --> 0:06:05.520 Moffitt Field near Sunnyvale in California. That morning, however, they 0:06:05.520 --> 0:06:09.159 would be taking off from Treasure Island, an artificial island 0:06:09.320 --> 0:06:12.279 just to the east of San Francisco between the city 0:06:12.360 --> 0:06:16.080 and the mainland. From there, they were to head west 0:06:16.400 --> 0:06:20.719 out over the Gulf of Farrellanus toward the Farallon Islands 0:06:20.760 --> 0:06:24.200 before heading north to Point Rayas, then circling back to 0:06:24.320 --> 0:06:29.720 Moffitt Field. At six o three am, Win Control gave 0:06:29.800 --> 0:06:33.640 Cody the order to take off, and moments later they 0:06:33.680 --> 0:06:36.800 were floating high into the air, heading out over the 0:06:36.839 --> 0:06:42.440 Golden Gate Bridge and into the clouds above. An hour 0:06:42.520 --> 0:06:46.400 and a half later, at seven thirty eight am, Lieutenant 0:06:46.400 --> 0:06:50.320 Cody contacted Wing Control to inform them that they were 0:06:50.360 --> 0:06:53.520 now over the ocean, four miles east of the Farallons. 0:06:54.440 --> 0:06:59.479 At seven forty two am, Cody called through again. Adams 0:06:59.560 --> 0:07:02.360 had spotted at length the oil slick in the water below, 0:07:02.720 --> 0:07:07.599 and they were heading closer to investigate. The crew dropped 0:07:07.640 --> 0:07:10.080 a few smoke flares onto the surface of the water 0:07:10.440 --> 0:07:13.760 to highlight the spot, then proceeded to circle it as 0:07:13.800 --> 0:07:18.440 they hunted for the possible sub on the waves below them. 0:07:18.600 --> 0:07:22.600 The crews of a nearby cargo ship, the SS Albert Gallatin, 0:07:22.960 --> 0:07:27.520 and fishing vessel Daisy Gray, having picked up the transmissions, 0:07:27.520 --> 0:07:31.400 watched on with interest as Cody and Adams's blimp came 0:07:31.440 --> 0:07:35.760 steadily into view. As the Daisy Gray hauled in its 0:07:35.800 --> 0:07:39.000 fishing nets and moved out of the area, its crew 0:07:39.400 --> 0:07:42.760 and that of the Albert Gallatin continued to observe the 0:07:42.800 --> 0:07:46.800 blimp through binoculars, with Cody and Adams clearly visible to 0:07:46.880 --> 0:07:52.360 them inside the cabin. At some point, the blimp steadily 0:07:52.400 --> 0:07:56.200 began to descend from three hundred to only thirty feet 0:07:56.200 --> 0:07:59.240 above the water, where it stayed for the next hour, 0:07:59.600 --> 0:08:04.160 continuing to circle the area until shortly after nine am, 0:08:04.200 --> 0:08:08.280 when it rose up suddenly and disappeared into the clouds above. 0:08:15.800 --> 0:08:19.720 Despite Blimp L eight being observed until nine am by 0:08:19.760 --> 0:08:22.960 the crews of SS Albert Gallatin and the Daisy Gray 0:08:23.560 --> 0:08:26.720 back at wing control. Nothing had been heard from the 0:08:26.720 --> 0:08:32.120 blimp's crew since their last communication at seven forty two am. 0:08:32.240 --> 0:08:36.080 As concerned for their whereabouts grew, two search planes were 0:08:36.120 --> 0:08:39.559 promptly sent out to look for them. It was almost 0:08:39.559 --> 0:08:43.000 two hours later when the blimp was finally spotted again, 0:08:43.440 --> 0:08:46.880 heading east toward the Golden Gate Bridge, appearing to be 0:08:46.960 --> 0:08:51.120 under control, rising to two thousand feet above the clouds 0:08:51.160 --> 0:08:57.160 before descending back into them. A short time later, Richard Quam, 0:08:57.200 --> 0:09:00.319 an off duty sailor, was heading out to Ocean Beach 0:09:00.400 --> 0:09:04.600 on San Francisco's west side when he spotted something completely 0:09:04.640 --> 0:09:08.959 unexpected in the sky heading towards him. It was Cody 0:09:08.960 --> 0:09:13.200 and Adams's late blimp, barely fifty meters above in the air, 0:09:13.760 --> 0:09:18.559 sagging significantly in the middle. Quam watched as it drifted 0:09:18.600 --> 0:09:23.160 silently toward the beach, scuffed the sand, then shot up again, 0:09:23.679 --> 0:09:26.840 smashing into a cliff face with the horrendous sound of 0:09:26.920 --> 0:09:31.280 scraping metal, before edging up and over it as it 0:09:31.320 --> 0:09:35.440 continued to drift in land stunned golfers at the Olympic 0:09:35.480 --> 0:09:38.600 Club's Lakeside golf course on the other side of the 0:09:38.640 --> 0:09:41.880 cliff watched with alarm as one of the blimp's depth 0:09:41.960 --> 0:09:46.559 chargers became dislodged and rolled off down a hill, while 0:09:46.640 --> 0:09:50.640 on another hill nearby, members of the Daily City Fire Department, 0:09:50.960 --> 0:09:54.040 who were burning brush at the time, turned their attention 0:09:54.120 --> 0:09:57.680 to the errand airship and promptly raced off after it. 0:09:58.360 --> 0:10:02.200 As the blimp continued to drift listlessly in land, heading 0:10:02.240 --> 0:10:06.800 over Lake Mercid Park, then later Mission Street, thousands came 0:10:06.840 --> 0:10:10.360 out to track its progress as it scraped across rooftops, 0:10:10.480 --> 0:10:14.160 ripping out wires and aerials in a steady hail of sparks. 0:10:15.440 --> 0:10:19.960 Richard Johnston, resident of four nineteen Bellevue Avenue, who was 0:10:20.000 --> 0:10:22.560 busy cleaning his car in the street at the time, 0:10:23.200 --> 0:10:26.200 was forced to run away in terror as the voluminous 0:10:26.280 --> 0:10:29.960 craft appeared suddenly from over the tops of the nearby houses, 0:10:30.400 --> 0:10:35.720 before it came crashing down right outside his house. Johnston's neighbor, 0:10:36.000 --> 0:10:40.480 William Morris, a volunteer firefighter, watched in shock as the 0:10:40.520 --> 0:10:44.240 blimpse cabin smashed first into the road, then into a 0:10:44.360 --> 0:10:48.600 utility pole, snapping it in two with an electric explosion 0:10:48.720 --> 0:10:54.160 of sparks and splintered wood. With golden sparks still spitting 0:10:54.200 --> 0:10:57.320 and flying from the wires and the deafening hiss of 0:10:57.480 --> 0:11:01.840 escaping helium filling the air, Morris ran to the crew's aid, 0:11:02.600 --> 0:11:05.400 but as he drew nearer to the cabin, he saw 0:11:05.440 --> 0:11:11.200 its door was wide open and nobody was inside. When 0:11:11.200 --> 0:11:15.400 the firefighters arrived soon after, they began quickly slashing at 0:11:15.440 --> 0:11:19.720 the blimps envelope, which by now had smothered Johnston's car 0:11:19.960 --> 0:11:22.840 and much of the street around it, just in case 0:11:22.920 --> 0:11:26.400 the crew had somehow got stuck in there, but there 0:11:26.480 --> 0:11:36.840 was no one there either. An inspection of the Blimpse 0:11:36.920 --> 0:11:40.320 cabin revealed that all three of its parachutes were still 0:11:40.360 --> 0:11:44.760 on board and untouched, along with its single life raft. 0:11:45.760 --> 0:11:49.800 Two life jackets were missing, However, since the crew would 0:11:49.800 --> 0:11:52.600 be expected to wear them for most of the flight anyway, 0:11:52.920 --> 0:11:55.920 it offered no clue as to where they'd gone exactly. 0:11:57.040 --> 0:11:59.760 A check of the engines revealed the blimp to being 0:11:59.800 --> 0:12:03.320 good working order, with no damage to the helium valves 0:12:03.559 --> 0:12:06.559 and at least four hours of gas left in the tanks. 0:12:07.480 --> 0:12:12.880 The radio two was found to be completely undamaged. Strangely, 0:12:12.920 --> 0:12:15.680 a hat belonging to one of the crew was found 0:12:15.760 --> 0:12:19.520 propped up on the control board, while a briefcase containing 0:12:19.520 --> 0:12:23.200 the missions classified material was found where it was usually 0:12:23.280 --> 0:12:28.320 kept behind the pilot's seat. For three days, search team 0:12:28.440 --> 0:12:31.800 scoured land and sea covering the known course of the 0:12:31.840 --> 0:12:35.360 blimp for any sign of the missing men, but nothing 0:12:35.480 --> 0:12:41.200 was found. The following year, having first been officially declared missing, 0:12:41.600 --> 0:12:46.240 the men were eventually declared to have died. An official 0:12:46.240 --> 0:12:51.800 inquiry concluded that no fire, no submersion, and no missiles 0:12:51.840 --> 0:12:58.160 struck the late. Needless to say, numerous theories have been 0:12:58.200 --> 0:13:02.160 posited as to what happened actly, with the possible capture 0:13:02.200 --> 0:13:04.800 of the men or even a planned affection to the 0:13:04.880 --> 0:13:08.280 Japanese Navy, as well as a potential attack from a 0:13:08.320 --> 0:13:14.320 stowaway being among the more grounded explanations to other things 0:13:14.360 --> 0:13:19.000 identified during the inquiry was that the blimps loudspeaker used 0:13:19.080 --> 0:13:22.760 to contact ships on the waters below, was found hanging 0:13:22.800 --> 0:13:26.360 loose out of its holder, and the cabin's door was unlatched. 0:13:27.480 --> 0:13:32.400 According to John G. O'Hagan, whose history Net article Mystery 0:13:32.440 --> 0:13:36.240 of the Ghost Blimp from April twelfth, twenty sixteen, gives 0:13:36.240 --> 0:13:39.320 one of the most comprehensive accounts of the event. One 0:13:39.400 --> 0:13:44.080 likely possibility was that the door had accidentally unlapsed at 0:13:44.120 --> 0:13:46.800 some point during the journey, with one of the men 0:13:47.200 --> 0:13:51.080 falling out as a result. In the panic of the moment, 0:13:51.480 --> 0:13:54.360 with no time to radio the incident back to base, 0:13:54.920 --> 0:13:58.239 the second crew member had tried to hail his compatriot 0:13:58.280 --> 0:14:02.000 with the loudspeaker, only to then slip out the door himself. 0:14:04.280 --> 0:14:07.840 It's a plausible argument until that is, you consider the 0:14:07.880 --> 0:14:11.880 testimony of the SS Albert Gallatin and the fishing trawler 0:14:12.000 --> 0:14:16.160 Daisy Gray, both of the vessel's crews who'd observed the 0:14:16.160 --> 0:14:20.400 blimp on the Fateful Day, testified that both Lieutenant Cody 0:14:20.560 --> 0:14:24.160 and Ensign Adams were on board when they first saw it, 0:14:24.760 --> 0:14:28.400 and neither had been seen falling from the cabin during 0:14:28.440 --> 0:14:31.240 the time they had eyes on it, from the moment 0:14:31.280 --> 0:14:34.800 it arrived, right up to the point when it lifted 0:14:34.800 --> 0:14:43.880 away and disappeared into the clouds. If you enjoy Unexplained 0:14:43.920 --> 0:14:46.120 and would like to help supporters, you can now do 0:14:46.240 --> 0:14:49.880 so via Patreon to receive access to add three episodes, 0:14:50.320 --> 0:14:53.800 just go to patron dot com Forward Slash Unexplained Pod 0:14:53.920 --> 0:14:58.000 to sign up. Unexplained, the book and audiobook, featuring ten 0:14:58.040 --> 0:15:00.520 stories that have never before been covered on the show, 0:15:00.800 --> 0:15:04.760 is now available to buy worldwide. You can purchase through Amazon, 0:15:05.000 --> 0:15:09.280 Barnes and Noble, and Waterstones, among other bookstores. All elements 0:15:09.280 --> 0:15:12.520 of Unexplained, including the show's music, are produced by me 0:15:12.800 --> 0:15:16.200 Richard McClain smith. 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