C-5 (blimp)

C-5
US Navy Blimp C-5, seen with ground crew in 1919
Role	patrol airship
Manufacturer	Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation, Goodrich
First flight	1918
Status	Lost
Primary user	United States Navy

C-5 was a hydrogen inflated C class blimp operated by the U.S. Navy in 1918 and 1919. It was one of ten C class non-rigid airships built by Goodyear and Goodrich primarily for training and patrol duty for the navy during World War I.

The C-5's engines were built by Hispano-Suiza, and its control car was built by Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company. In early May 1919, the C-5 made a pioneering flight from its home base at Cape May, New Jersey to Montauk Point, New York and St. John's, Newfoundland, becoming the first airship to reach that city and in the process sending the first radio voice transmission from Newfoundland. The C-5's goal was to fly across the Atlantic, paralleling the route used by the U.S. seaplane NC-4. Previous attempts to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a balloon were unsuccessful. The most famous of these attempts was that of the dirigible America in October 1910.

On 14 May 1919, the C-5 departed Montauk Point in clear weather. It made good time, but encountered heavy fog and thunderstorms near Saint Pierre Island, Canada and became lost for several hours. It eventually regained its way, but the extended trip caused the crew to exhaust its food supply and wind and rain continuously buffeted the blimp. The C-5 again became lost, this time over Newfoundland itself, when its radio navigation equipment malfunctioned. The C-5's crew used its voice radio to contact the U.S. Navy cruiser Chicago, which was in St. John's, and the radio signal was used to guide the C-5 to the tracks of the Colonial Railroad, which it followed to St. John's and a safe landing at 11 a.m. on 15 May. The commander of the blimp, Lieutenant Commander Coll, said it was the roughest trip he had ever experienced.

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