Restoration of Rare Airship Shines Light on WWII K-Ship Patrols

K-class blimps were deployed to hunt U-boats along the U.S. West Coast.

Friday, February 07, 2025 at 01:49 PM ET

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The 10 crew members of K-Ships served in vital anti-submarine roles during WWII in the Atlantic. Ground crew are shown here preparing a K-ship before a patrol. Photographed October 8-14, 1943. [Courtesy: National Archives and Records Administration]

Key Takeaways:

The Moffett Field Historical Society Museum is undertaking a multi-year restoration of the control car from K-22, a WWII-era Navy blimp vital for West Coast antisubmarine warfare.
The components of K-22's control car were rediscovered inside Hangar One during its renovation, having been salvaged from a 1943 crash and stored for future use.
The complex restoration involves repairing damaged sections, fabricating missing parts, and addressing inconsistencies between original blueprints and the actual recovered components.
Once completed, the K-22 control car will be a central exhibit at the Moffett Field Museum, preserving a significant chapter of the airfield's history.

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The legacy of Moffett Federal Airfield (KNUQ) in Mountain View, California, is most often associated with Hangar One, the giant 1930s structure built to house the Navy airship USS Macon.

The Macon, however, is just one line in the Moffett story. During World War II, the field was home to the Navy K-ships—blimps that patrolled the West Coast of the U.S. as part of antisubmarine warfare.