Baldwin/U.S. Signal Corps #1
I was very happy to find a photo of the Baldwin, "U.S. Signal Corps #1" airship - which I could identify as to its location (see below)! No one goes through Aviation history in the United States and learns about early US aviators Lt. Frank Lahm, Lt. Benjamin Foulois and Lt.Thomas Selfridge - each famous historical figures important to the US Air Force, should come away from that history without knowing about the Baldwin airship which became the U.S. Signal Corps first airship - indeed, the first powered aircraft of the US military!
(Trivia: The very first powered aircraft of the US Army was the Baldwin No 8 airship, designated the "SC-1", for the "Signal Corps No 1". Almost a year later, on 2 August, 1909, the Wright Flyer Model A of the Wright Brothers was accepted after trials as the first fixed-wing aircraft of the US Army and was, curiously, also designated the "SC-1"!)
Baldwin SC-1
Following is a terrific photo of the Baldwin No. 8, presumably during its acceptance trials by the new Air-arm of the US Army, the Aeronautical Division of the Signal Corps. The photo is a delightful, high resolution photo, providing much detail to examine.
Photo credit: National Museum of the Air Force
Thomas Baldwin was appointed to the US Government as superintendent for the acquisition of all spherical, dirigible, and kite balloons, so it is not clear what happened to the "Baldwin Airship Company". The 1917, D'Orcy Airship Manual suggests that the Baldwin Company produced only through No. 10:
Photo credit: d'Orcy Airship Manual, page 175, public domain.
(Right-click and "view" or "save as" for the full sized image.)
Construction
On 1 August, 1907, the "Aeronautical Division" of the US Army Signal Corps was created. The Aeronautical Division was commanded by Captain Charles Chandler, with a staff of two enlisted men! Even though heavier-than-air aircraft, by then (1907), were all the rage, the Army had not yet accepted nor understood the value of aircraft, and since they were decidedly more familiar with balloons for military observation, an order was placed for a 20,000 cubic foot dirigible.
The airship was built by the Baldwin Airship Company in Hammondsport, NY. Built as "Baldwin No. 8", for a cost of $6,750. It was delivered to the US for trials and on 12 August, 1908 the first test flights were made with Thomas Baldwin as pilot, and another aviation pioneer as flight engineer - Glenn Curtiss! After acceptance by the US Government on 28 August, 1908, she was designated "SC-1" and became the first powered aircraft purchased by the US! That's right, the airship was purchased before any fixed-wing airplanes. The SC-1 carried a crew of two, and had a payload of 450 pounds, including 100 pound of ballast. The US Government paid $10,000 for the airship, which amounts to a handsome $3,250 profit for the fledgling Baldwin Airship Company.
The SC-1 was 96 feet long, 19.5 feet in diameter, weighed 1,360-pounds, and was powered by a 20 horsepower Curtiss water-cooled engine which provided a top speed of 20-miles per hour.
Operations
Upon acceptance, pilot training began quickly. The first pilots were: Lt. Frank Lahm, Lt. Benjamin Foulois and Lt. Thomas Selfridge, each of whom had volunteered for this first-ever flight training. (Selfridge, is infamously known as being the first fatality from a heavier-than-air craft aboard a Wright Brothers aircraft (the Wright Flyer) flown by Wilbur Wright on September 17, 1908, less than ONE month after his first training on the SC-1!) Lieutenants Lahm and Foulois became the first "US Army Airship Pilots" on May 26th, 1909 when they became the first "airmen" to ascend in the SC-1 without Baldwin.
Demise
Each of the Airship pages within "Then and Now" contain this section heading because most of the World's airships met with a dismal fate. But the heading is not appropriate here for the first, ever, US Airship because the SC-1 simply "faded away". The history is lost, but at some time after May of 1909, the SC-1 was moved to Fort Omaha, Nebraska, where she continued to serve as the first dirigible in service. The d'Orcy Airship Manual, 1917, says the SC-1 was dismantled in 1910.
Ignominious End
It appears that after the SC-1 was dismantled in 1910, presumably after she became unserviceable and hence, dangerous for pilot training, the Army scrapped the SC-1 in 1912 and did not purchase another dirigible until after World War I.
Sites of Interest
Fort Meyer, Virginia
So here is the photo which caught my eye, and led to an identification. This is the Baldwin airship, SC-1, over Fort Meyer, Virginia:
Photo credits: The US Air Service in WW I-Vol II-pg 46, public domain
Visible in this photo, which was clearly identified as taken from Fort Meyer, begging to be found, is the brick building in the lower right! And I found it! Here it is:
Photo credits: Google Earth
You can compare the windows and features yourself to validate that this is the very same building as in the 1908 photo of the Baldwin airship in flight. So I estimate the photo was taken when the airship was at about (Lat Lon) 38.879305 -077.082953.
Here is the location in Google Maps (red arrow) The SC-1 was likely slightly north, and west of this spot:
Photo Misidentification Warning!
There is another popular photo on the Web, labeled as the "Baldwin airship, SC-1, over Fort Meyer, Virginia". It is shamefully for sale by "Shorpy.com" and others, though in public domain it is available for free at the Library of Congress & without a brand/watermark. Here it is:
Photo credit: Public Domain
It is a terrific photo of a Baldwin airship, dated May 26th, 1909, produced from a glass plate negative! But this is decidedly NOT the SC-1! This is the Baldwin No. 9 "California Arrow II"! Here's how it can be distinguished:
First, the date of the photograph is May 26, 1909. This date is actually ON the photo. To see it clearly, one needs to flip the photo horizontally, and adjust the photo parameters to enhance the handwriting at the top of the glass plate:
Photo credits: Public Domain
Now the handwriting is clearer. It says "Baldwin Balloon 5/26/09". This is nine months after the SC-1 was accepted by the Army, and the SC-1 was likely already moved to Fort Omaha. Also the SC-1 was designed for a two-man crew; here we see the airship here being handled by a single pilot.
Now let's look at the physical differences between this Airship and the SC-1. Here are the two airship photos compared. The top image is known to be the SC-1 and is from the same photo as at the top of this page. The lower image is the photo being sold by Shorpy.com, et al, and is assumed to be the SC-1:
Notice first the "box girder" Gondola assembly suspended below the balloon on which the pilot(s) operate the craft. (In the Baldwin design, this girder-gondola framework was made of bamboo, Oregon spruce, and metal.) In the photos, one can clearly see that the SC-1 girder-gondola assembly is measurably longer. Indeed, if one counts the "square" frames of the skeleton, (which are themselves 1 meter apart), one finds the SC-1 has 30, while the No 9, has 24. Indeed, measuring these photographs identifies that the girder assembly of the SC-1 was 94 feet long, while the Baldwin No. 9 measures 58 feet long.
Next, notice the cruciform tail surfaces. The SC-1 vertical fin (rudder) is divided into 6 panels while the No. 9 has 4.
Next, notice the control surface, "biplane" forward of the engine. The SC-1 "biplane" is clearly only about 1.5 meters from the engine, while the "biplane" of the No. 9 is 4-5 meters from the engine.
And as a final observation, notice a variety of other differences between the two airships. The SC-1 has some tubes near the pilot used for pressure control of the inflated balloon, while this same control mechanism is missing in the No. 9. The construction and appearance of the inflated balloon itself is different. The distance from the engine to the propeller is decidedly greater in the No.9, owing to the fact that the engine placement of the No. 9 is nearer the center of gravity below the balloon.
Lastly, refer back to the image above, the extract from d'Orcy's Airship Manual, to see that the Baldwin No. 8 became the "No. 1" (i.e., the SC-1), and that No. 9, the "Baldwin-9" followed in 1909. Number 9, was an "Exhibition airship", and was 26.2 meters in length, 6.1 meters in diameter, compared to the SC-1 36 meters in length, 6 meters in diameter. Indeed, if you make careful measurements of the two photos above, you will verify these dimensions. Thus, I believe the proof is conclusive, the "Shorpy" photo is the Baldwin-9, and not the SC-1!
(Footnote: In the same year, likely at the same time, Baldwin built the No. 10 for George L. Tomlinson, a wealthy industrialist and aviator. The d'Orcy Airship Manual says the Tomlinson airship was a "Baldwin-9 type." According to the d'Orcy Airship Manual, the major difference between the Baldwin-9 and the Tomlinson (Baldwin 10) was a barely perceptible "0.6 m" difference in gas-bag diameter! So there is a possibility the photo in question is the Baldwin 10, and not the 9. However, it is most definitely NOT the SC-1!)