LANSDOWNE-ZACHARY

NAVAL  AVIATOR  NUMBER  105

Lieutenant Commander Zachary Lansdowne was born on December 1, 1888, in Greenville, Ohio.  He entered the U.S. Naval Academy in 1905 and graduated in 1909.  In June 1911, following two years’ service aboard the battleship USS VIRGINIA (BB-13) he was commissioned an Ensign.  During the next five years he served in the destroyer USS MC CALL (DD-28) and then had recruiting and Naval Militia duty in Ohio.  He next received aeronautical instruction at Pensacola, Florida, and Akron, Ohio, becoming Naval Aviator number 105.  In September 1917, he was sent to England to study the operation of dirigibles.  He spent the rest of the First World War and the first months of 1919 at air stations in France.

In July 1919, LCDR Lansdowne was chosen because of his exceptional fitness and ability to be the only American crew member on board the British rigid airship R-34 during its historic non-stop flight across the Atlantic to the United States.  For his service in this flight he was awarded the Navy Cross.  This was followed by service at the Navy Department, at Akron, Ohio, and as a White House Aide.  Next, he served as Assistant Naval Attaché in Germany during 1922-1923 during which time his duties involved negotiations that resulted in the construction in Friedrichshafen, Germany, of USS LOS ANGELES (ZR-3), the Navy’s second rigid airship.

In the early 1920s, LCDR Lansdowne was considered one of the most promising officers in the naval air service and was assigned duty on February 11, 1924, as the Commanding Officer of the Navy dirigible USS SHENANDOAH (ZR-1).  Over the following year and a half he carried out an energetic development with her, including operations at sea and a transcontinental flight to California.  Unfortunately, on September 3, 1925, as SHENANDOAH passed over Ohio, the dirigible was struck by violent thunderstorms and the fierce weather conditions caused SHENANDOAH to be torn apart and crash, killing LCDR Lansdowne and thirteen members of his crew.

LCDR Lansdowne is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

NAVY  CROSS  CITATION

“The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Lieutenant Commander Zachary Lansdowne, United States Navy, for distinguished service in the line of his profession as one of the crew of the British Airship R-34, which in July 1919, made the first successful non-stop passage from England to the United States. The actions of Lieutenant Commander Lansdowne on this occasion were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.”

Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)