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Photo # NH 85130: Lieutenant Commander Zachary Lansdowne, USN.  Photographed circa the early 1920s

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- PEOPLE -- UNITED STATES --

Lieutenant Commander Zachary Lansdowne, USN, (1888-1925)

Zachary Lansdowne was born in Greenville, Ohio, on 1 December 1888. He entered the United States Naval Academy in 1905 and graduated in 1909. In June 1911, following two years' service aboard the battleship Virginia, he was commissioned an Ensign in the U.S. Navy. During the next five years Lansdowne served in the destroyer McCall and had recruiting and Naval Militia duty in Ohio. He then received aeronautical instruction at Pensacola, Florida, and Akron, Ohio. In September 1917, Lieutenant Lansdowne was sent to England for training in the operation of dirigibles. He spent the rest of the First World War, and the first months of 1919, at the Navy Department and at air stations in France.

In July 1919, Lieutenant Commander Lansdowne served on board the British rigid airship R-34 during its historic non-stop flight across the Atlantic to the United States. Service followed at the Navy Department, at Akron, Ohio, and as a White House Aide. He was Assistant Naval Attache in Germany in 1922-1923, during which time his duties involved negotiations that resulted in the construction of USS Los Angeles (ZR-3), the Navy's second rigid airship.

Lieutenant Commander Lansdowne took command of USS Shenandoah (ZR-1) early in 1924. Over the next year and a half he carried out an energetic development program with her, including operations at sea and a trans-Continental flight to California. While on a long-distance flight to the Midwest on 3 September 1925, Shenandoah encountered fierce weather conditions and crashed in southern Ohio. Zachary Lansdowne was among those who lost their lives in this accident.

The destroyer USS Lansdowne (DD-486), 1942-1949, was named in honor of Lieutenant Commander Lansdowne.

This page features all the views we have of Lieutenant Commander Zachary Lansdowne (1888-1925).


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the "Online Library's" digital images, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

Photo #: NH 48388

Lieutenant Commander Zachary Lansdowne, USN


Photographed on 7 July 1919, following his arrival at Mineola, New York, on board the British airship R-34, which had flown to the United States from the United Kingdom.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 62KB; 540 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 85130

Lieutenant Commander Zachary Lansdowne, USN


Photographed circa the early 1920s.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 67KB; 570 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 85128

Lieutenant Commander Zachary Lansdowne, USN
,
Commanding Officer, USS Shenandoah (ZR-1)

In the airship's control car, laying out a course. Photographed at Naval Air Station Lakehurst, New Jersey, June 1924
Note the engine order telegraphs and other instruments.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 107KB; 740 x 575 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 85129

Lieutenant Commander Zachary Lansdowne, USN
,
Commanding Officer, USS Shenandoah (ZR-1)

Wearing a fur collar flight suit, 1924

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 49KB; 565 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 53147

British airship R-34


Officers who had crossed the Atlantic aboard the R-34, photographed following her arrival at Mineola, New York, on 7 July 1919. They are identified as (from left to right):
Lieutenant Commander Zachary Lansdowne, USN, Observer;
Lieutenant Wallace Durant, RAF, Wireless Officer (apparently wearing a U.S. Navy uniform);
Lieutenant Guy N. Harris, RAF, Meteorlogical Officer;
Major J.F.M. Pritchard, RAF;
Brigadier General E.M. Maitland, CGM, DWO, British Air Ministry;
Lieutenant H.F. Luck, RN, Second Officer; and
Lieutanant J.D. Shotter, RN, Engineer Chief.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 129KB; 740 x 585 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 52770

USS Shenandoah (ZR-1)


Five of the airship's officers, all of whom were killed when she crashed on 3 September 1925.
Halftone reproduction of a photograph taken at Naval Air Station Lakehurst, New Jersey, some time prior to the tragedy, and published in the "Evening Star", Washington, D.C., Friday, 4 September 1925.
Those present are (left to right);
Lieutenant Commander Zachary Lansdowne, Commanding Officer;
Lieutenant Commander Lewis Hancock, Jr., Executive Officer;
Lieutenant John B. Lawrence;
Lieutenant Arthur R. Houghton; and
Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Edgar W. Sheppard.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 181KB; 740 x 530 pixels

 


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the "Online Library's" digital images, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


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Page made 15 December 2002