Testing of The "spy Basket"
Soon after returning to Lakehurst to disembark its distinguished passengers, Akron took off again to conduct a test of the "spy basket"—something like a small airplane fuselage suspended beneath the airship that would enable an observer to serve as the ship's "eyes" below the clouds while the ship herself remained out of sight above them. Fortunately the basket was "manned" only by a sandbag as the contraption proved "frighteningly unstable", swooping from one side of the airship to the other before the startled gazes of Akron's officers and men. It was never tried again.
Read more about this topic: USS Akron (ZRS-4)
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