CLOUD CARS - aka Sub-cloud cars, Spy Baskets and Angel Baskets
A CLOUD CAR
This is a cloud car.
This particular one was made from
duralumin, and was lowered hundreds of feet by cable from the zeppelin.
There was a phone line back up to the zepp,
and the observer in the cloud car would call up and tell the zepp what was on the ground (troops,
bombing targets, etc). The theory was that the zepp could then remain hidden in the clouds
above, and no one on the ground could see it to shoot at it. (picture from Zeppelins of World
War I - Wilbur Cross)
ARTIST'S RENDERING OF A CLOUD CAR IN USE
Here is an artists interpretation of the cloud car in use. As you can
see, the cloud car was lowered several hundred feet, and was totally open to the elements.
The fins would give some stability, but really, it must have been a heck of a ride (and a heck
of a cold ride at that). As it turns out
there were always volunteers to go down in the cloud car, since it was the only place on a hydrogen-filled
zeppelin where you could have a cig.
(illustration from Zeppelins: German Airships 1900-40 - Charles Stephenson, illustrated by Ian Palmer)
LOWERING A SPY-BASKET FROM THE MACON
This is the 'spy basket' being lowered from the Macon with Lieutenant Commander
Jesse Kenworthy along for the ride. The spy basket was lowered 1000 to 1500 feet below the Macon using
a quarter inch cable, with the spy basket trailing up to 500 feet behind the airship.
The spy basket was originally tested on the Akron using sandbags instead of people, and it was
so unstable it would climb vertically to the centerline of the Akron, then dive dramatically to the
full extension of the cable, then climb again to the other side of the Akron. An extensive redesign of
the control fins and cable harness resulted in it being rated as 'safe' for humans.
(picture from The Airships Akron & Macon - Richard K. Smith).
A SURVIVING CLOUD CAR
An actual surviving cloud car in the Imperial War Museum
in London. It looks pretty fragile, and kind of worse for wear. It must have been quite the adventure
to sit in this and be lowered a thousand feet below the zeppelin, trailing silently in the wind.
(picture from The Zeppelin Story - John Christopher).