Blimp Squadron 14
Lighter-Than-Air - Goodyear ZNP-K Airships - K-Class Blimps
Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) - Magnetic Anomaly Detection (MAD)
Patrol - Escort - Minesweeping - Mediterranean Operations
Select a red dot on map to see additional information about that base or location.
From United States Naval Air Operations in WWII:
JUNE 1, 1944 - Airships of ZP-14, assigned to
antisubmarine operations around Gibraltar,
completed the first crossing of the Atlantic
by non-rigid airships. The flight began 29 May
from South Weymouth, Mass., and ended at Port
Lyautey, French Morocco, covering a distance
of 3,145 nautical miles in 58 hours. Including
time for stopovers at Argentia and the Azores,
the airships moved their area of operations
across the Atlantic in 80 hours.
To assist with anti-submarine warfare (ASW) around the Straits of Gibraltar, the Navy decided to send six blimps overseas in 1944. Navy Consolidated PBY-5A Catalinas from VP-63 (Patrol Bombing Squadron 63 or VPB-63), THE MAD CATS, had been searching for and sinking German U-boats but because of the low altitude required (75-100 feet) for effective magnetic anomaly detection (MAD), these aircraft could not search safely at night. The slow-flying blimps were determined to be the perfect solution for night-time MAD patrols.
An advanced detachment of ZP-14 combat flight crews and maintenance crews (hedrons) left Norfolk, VA aboard the USS Rehoboth (AVP-50) on May 17, 1944 to set-up ferry facilities in the Azores and a permanent lighter-than-air (LTA) base at Port Lyautey, French Morocco. Because no blimp (non-rigid airship) had ever made such a long transoceanic flight, the navy sent the blimps across in pairs using different crews for each leg of the flight. The first six blimps (K-ships) traveled the northern route (see map above). The K-123 and K-130 were the first blimps to go across. They left South Weymouth NAS in Massachusetts on May 29, 1944 and flew to Argentia, Newfoundland. The next day they flew to Lagens Field on Terceira Island in the Azores. On June 1st, my uncle, ensign Willy Kaiser, and his crew boarded the K-123 and squadron commander Emmett Sullivan and his crew got on the K-130 to fly the last leg of the trip from the Azores to Port Lyautey, French Morocco. The entire trip covered 3,145 nautical miles and took 80 hours with 58 hours of flying time. The second two blimps, K-109 and K-134, arrived in Port Lyautey on June 15, 1944 and the last two blimps, K-101 and K-112, arrived on July 1, 1944. See the flight details for the northern route. Nearly a year later, on April 28, 1945, K-89 and K-114 left Weeksville NAS in North Carolina and flew the southern route (see map above) to NAS Bermuda, the Azores, and Port Lyautey, arriving on May 1, 1945. The southern route covered 3,532 nautical miles in just 77 hours with 62 hours of flying time. These eight K-ships (K-123, K-130, K-109, K-134, K-101, K-112, K-89, & K-114) from squadron ZP-14 were the only blimps sent across the Atlantic in WWII.
This website attempts to provide an interesting presentation of blimp squadron ZP-14 and its Mediterranean operations as revealed by the five-volume photographic history of "Blimpron 14 Overseas" prepared by the squadron photographic officer R. C. Kline (see below), the official history of ZP-14 from the Naval Historical Center at the Navy Yard in Washington, D. C., and the personal notes, records, photographs, etc. from my uncle, William K. Kaiser and some other squadron personnel.
01
02
03
04
05
06
Major Links on this website:
Map of Mediterranean Bases
Port Lyautey, French Morocco
Cuers, France
Cagliari, Italy
Bizerte, Tunisia
Rome, Italy
Pisa, Italy
Oran, Algeria
Gibraltar
Lt. (jg) John J. Connery
Paul J. Galbreath, ARM2/c
Movies
My uncle, William K. Kaiser, standing third from the left, labeled this photo:
CAC (Combat Air Crew) at Elizabeth City.
Ensign Bill Kaiser was a co-pilot on airship K-123, the second blimp to land at Port Lyautey after the first transattlantic crossing by non-rigid airships. My uncle once told me that due to a last minute waft of favorable winds, the K-123 actually nosed-out the K-130 as they passed over the coast, to the chagrin of squadron commander Emmett Sullivan who piloted the K-130.
Airship Squadron 14 was established on June 2, 1942 at Weeksville, North Carolina NAS but operated from the coast guard station at Elizabeth City, NC until the blimp landing facilities were established at Weeksville on June 8, 1942. the squadron was also known as ZP-14, Blimp Squadron 14, Blimpron-14, Blimp Squadron Fourteen, or The Africa Squadron.
ZP-14 Overseas Timeline and History (~2 mb pdf file)
Contact:: don{dot}kaiser{at}gmail{dot}com