In the 1920s and 1930s airship mooring masts were built in many countries. At least two were mounted on ships. Without doubt the tallest mooring mast ever designed was the spire of the Empire State Building which was originally constructed to serve as a mooring mast, although soon after converted for use as a television and radio transmitter tower due to the discovered infeasibility of mooring an airship, for any length of time, to a very tall mast in the middle of an urban area.
This style of mast known as the Cardington mast was first completed in 1926. It was an eight sided steel girder structure, 200 feet (61m) high
Four high masts of the Cardington type were built along the proposed British Empire Airship Service routes, at Cardington itself, at Montreal (Canada), Ismailia (Egypt) and Karachi (then India, now in Pakistan). None of these survive.
Incidentally, the R-101 moored here was the largest craft in the world (until the Hindenburg) and crashed on her maiden voyage, killing 48 out of 54 on board. The crash effectively ended the nascent British airship program.
![image showing Loading passengers onto an airship from a mooring mast in the early 1930's [1024x749]](9a5bf804-bab1-560e-accb-450196845ea4.jpg)
malgoya on July 3rd, 2017 at 00:05 UTC »
In the 1920s and 1930s airship mooring masts were built in many countries. At least two were mounted on ships. Without doubt the tallest mooring mast ever designed was the spire of the Empire State Building which was originally constructed to serve as a mooring mast, although soon after converted for use as a television and radio transmitter tower due to the discovered infeasibility of mooring an airship, for any length of time, to a very tall mast in the middle of an urban area.
This style of mast known as the Cardington mast was first completed in 1926. It was an eight sided steel girder structure, 200 feet (61m) high
Four high masts of the Cardington type were built along the proposed British Empire Airship Service routes, at Cardington itself, at Montreal (Canada), Ismailia (Egypt) and Karachi (then India, now in Pakistan). None of these survive.
Here's moor pictures:
https://i.imgur.com/SPyBpug.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/OFKrvyb.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/B51v2Vw.jpg
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I found this old newspaper article showing how this was supposed to work on the Empire State Building. Hope you're not afraid of heights!
Originally from r/evilbuildings
Ayatollah_Bahloni on July 3rd, 2017 at 00:38 UTC »
And this is the main reason these mooring masts would not work. Air currents sweeping up the Empire State Building would make mooring impossible.
WaldenFont on July 3rd, 2017 at 02:49 UTC »
Incidentally, the R-101 moored here was the largest craft in the world (until the Hindenburg) and crashed on her maiden voyage, killing 48 out of 54 on board. The crash effectively ended the nascent British airship program.