Aviation History

TO CATCH A SHADOW

WHEN THE AIRSHIP USS LOS ANGELES HEADED TOWARD THE ATLANTIC OCEAN FROM ITS BASE AT LAKEHURST, N.J., ON THE FRIGID MORNING OF JANUARY 24, 1925, IT WAS CHASING A SHADOW.

The U.S. Navy airship carried seven scientists and 500 pounds of telescopes and other skywatching gear to observe a total solar eclipse. The plan called for the dirigible to station itself near the center of the moon’s shadow as the shadow raced across New York and Connecticut and out to sea. Astronomers counted on Los Angeles to provide a stable platform for observing the rare spectacle.

Los Angeles wasn’t alone in the shadowy skies of the Northeast. A fleet of 25 airplanes—reportedly the largest military aviation operation since World War I—took off from the Army Air Service’s Mitchel Field on Long Island, carrying astronomers, reporters, radio broadcasters, and still and motion-picture photographers.

The shadow passed directly across New York City just after 9 a.m., making it perhaps the mostviewed solar eclipse in history. Astronomers predicted that the path of totality—the zone where the moon completely covers the sun—would bisect Manhattan Island, covering everything north of about 83rd Street (they were off by 13 blocks).

Despite bitter cold, with temperatures in the single digits, reported. Men and boys hawked bits of exposed film, smoked glass and other eye protection, sternly warning of the “dangers of going blind” for those who went without.

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