The last airship purpose – designed for and delivered to the US Navy last century was the ZPG-3W, a 1.5 million cubic foot radar-picket ship.
The producer had visited the remains of the only remaining example of that model – in fact, the entire “Nan” series – at her resting place, D-M AFB’s “The Boneyard,” near the Pima Air Museum.
The NAA also scheduled a -3W car tour for a member’s reunion, and several men who flew on ZPG-3Ws (including BuNo -243) visited their old aircraft. The color photo shows Ross Wood, a ZPG-3W pilot and past NAA President. He is pointing out the name of Robert Keiser, the last skipper of Combat Air Crew #102 to have is name stenciled on -243’s car forward. The B & W photo is of Bob Keiser himself using the retractable boarding ladder to ascend into the 3W’s forward section, back in the day.
The producer has prepared a 6-min. video tour of this, the largest blimp ever made. You’ll also see Bob and his family aboard in the second deck mess, as we pop back and forth to her active duty days. (Watch for that boarding ladder lying in the car’s interior today.) Bob passed away in 2017. Unless steps are taken to stabilize its remains, this last Navy airship will eventually cease to exist.
you can read a ZPG-3W pilot’s memoir in: The Airship Experience