USS Shenandoah ZR-1 Airship Wreck Crash 1925 Original Navy Photos 8x10 Pair For Sale

USS Shenandoah ZR-1 Airship Wreck Crash 1925
Original Navy Photos 8x10 Pair
Navy-Stamped Prints of the Wreck Site, Crowds & Cars
DESCRIPTIONTwo original period photographs, sold as a pair, documenting the wreck of the USS Shenandoah (ZR-1), the U.S. Navy's first rigid airship and the first in the world inflated with helium, destroyed in a violent squall over Ava, Ohio on September 3, 1925.Known by the traditional nickname "Daughter of the Stars," a name long attached to the Shenandoah Valley she was christened for, the airship broke apart in the storm and fell in pieces across the Ohio hillsides, killing 14 of her 43-man crew, including her commander, Lt. Cmdr. Zachary Lansdowne, who stayed at his post to the end.Thousands of local residents descended on the wreckage in the days that followed, and the disaster became one of the most widely covered aviation stories of the decade.The first photo is a dramatic close-up of the crumpled forward wreckage, its torn fabric skin and twisted girder framework laid open, with two onlookers in straw boater hats studying the ruin in the foreground. Its reverse is stamped with the Navy's original caption, "SHENANDOAH, USS, WRECK OF, SEPT. 1925," alongside a "NOT FOR PUBLICATION UNLESS OFFICIALLY RELEASED" clearance stamp and the negative number NRL(M) 24346.The second photo is the wide establishing view, showing the airship's name lettered directly on the hull as the broken frame stretches across a hillside field, ringed by a crowd of spectators and dozens of period automobiles that had driven in to see the wreck firsthand.Its reverse carries an archive catalog card captioned "A side view of the wreck of the airship Shenandoah, destroyed in a storm," stamped RELEASED, with catalog number 80-MS-11 and a filing date of 1927, two years after the crash, consistent with continued official circulation of a story that stayed newsworthy well past the event itself.Both prints measure 8 x 10 inches on the original photographic paper, scanned at 600dpi. Every effort is made toward fact checking and provenance, including background research through news and historical archives.If any listing is incorrect in any way and you're unsatisfied with the item, please connect with me and I'll make it right. Orders placed before Noon CDT ship same day via Ground Advantage with tracking.Returns accepted on all items exceeding $25 in cost. All shipments receive rigid, professional packaging, sealed and protected in acid free sleeves. Shipping is free and already built into the price, so the BIN price is exactly what you pay, no surprise shipping costs at checkout.CONDITIONBoth photographs are original period prints, each 8 x 10 inches on photographic paper, with the image running to within a narrow white border on all sides. The close wreckage view shows strong contrast and clean detail throughout the torn fabric and framework, with light corner wear and minor handling marks consistent with an official archive print that was pulled and reviewed over the decades; no tears or creases affect the image area. The wide crowd view shows the same overall strength of image with a faint stamp bleed-through and a light diagonal surface scratch visible in the sky area at upper left, along with light edge and corner wear; the image itself remains clear and fully legible. Both reverses carry their original period ink caption stamps and archive markings as described above, adding directly to the provenance of the pair. Sold as a set of two original photographs.