![Atop Empire State- in construction; Chrysler Bldg & [Daily] News in middle foreground. (1931)](../../../img/Atop-Empire-State-in-construction-Chrysler-Bldg-Daily-News-in-middle-foreground.-1931--199x123.jpg "Balancing on the Empire State")
‘USS Macon (ZRS-5) was an airship built and operated by the United States Navy for scouting. She served as a ”flying aircraft carrier”, launching Curtiss F9C Sparrowhawk biplane fighters. In service for less than two years, in 1935 Macon was damaged in a storm and lost off California’s Big Sur coast.’
- Wikipedia
So is that the Moffett Field hangar that you got to fly through in MS FlightSim? It looks like at least the sister aircraft (USS Akron) was based there, although it was called NAS Sunnyvale at that time (Moffett was killed in the loss of the Akron).
According to Wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Macon_(ZRS-5) ), the USS Macon was built in Springfield, OH.
I once had the opportunity to go inside one of the remaining dirigible hangars at the Naval Air Station at Lakehurst, NJ. (That is where the Hindenburg crashed.) At the time it was being used to house large Navy helicopters. Inside the hanger, those large helicopters looked very small.
My Great Uncle Chick (Charles Solar) was on this thing when it went down off the coast of California. He also survived the crash of the Shenandoah over Ohio. I only learned all this from my mom after he died (of old age). I don’t know if he was a jinx or just a minor weather deity.