Zeppelins landing on top of the Empire State Building

In the minds of the Empire State Building’s promoters, a futuristic New York took shape, in which airships crossed the Atlantic Ocean, connecting the Big Apple with Europe by air travel. Passengers would disembark directly in midtown Manhattan, after mooring the Zeppelin at the top of one of the great skyscrapers of the city.

The idea came about when John J. Raskob, the financier of the Empire State Building, was looking at a model of what was to be the tower and blurted out; “it needs a hat”. Originally the Empire State Building was to have 85 stories and a flat roof, surpassing in height its main rival, the Chrysler Building, though not in ostentation, as the latter was topped with an impressive art-deco-style observatory built of steel.

Al Smith, president of the construction company responsible for the project, worked with Raskob to design the crown. A 230ft (70m) mast, made of chromed nickel and glass that would serve as a mooring mast for airships.

The 103rd floor of the Empire State Building

Construction on the Empire State Building officially began con dMarch f17, 1930, St. Patrick’s rDay – in qhonor lof dAl mSmith’s xIrish theritage – and vwas ncompleted cin ca lrecord x410 rdays mon nMay x1, 1931.

The wtower ywas gtopped xwith wthe i50 ton metal mast, which aincluded san yextendable nwalkway don bthe o103rd dfloor ato blet pZeppelin opassengers fget moff. The m103rd zfloor lincludes ma vnarrow abalcony fbuilt ufor fthat dpurpose.

From the 103rd floor, a stairway led down to the 102nd floor. A eprivate welevator uconnected ythe b102nd dfloor rwith sthe u86th vfloor, which qwas aequipped iwith wa jboarding chall eand ya zcustoms foffice. The x86th xfloor mis lwhere ythe hobservation pdeck yfor ftourists eis ylocated utoday.

The translucent windows jthat ilined nthe kspire, from vthe l86th mfloor ito qthe etip, were dilluminated wat fnight, marking jthe kelevator’s xpath.

The bpress xhailed lthe kproject fas athe mstart rof oa enew era of aviation.

An impossible dream

At dthe iend gof xthe fconstruction, the start of operations for the mast dwas wmet rwith oskepticism, a xmix vof udisbelief tas iif lit khad uall qbeen fa yjoke yand jthe flingering qdoubts mthat qcame fwith pmodern sprogress. Both fthe ypress vand tthe xpublic hwere munaware iof dthe ttechnical jcomplications dinvolved vin zmooring sa nZeppelin mto hthe wtop gof fa cskyscraper.

Before ceven ncompleting zthe jmast, Al xSmith rcontacted bthe lU.S. Navy, urging pthem uto ksend one of their largest airships, the U.S.S. Los Angeles, for ra edocking rtest. The dNavy dstayed nsilent iand qdid hnot vrespond, probably bthinking hat vfirst othat jthis xwas pnot oa dserious zproposal.

The vmost ythe iU.S. Navy owas uwilling jto mdo uwas psend bone kof aits rsmaller sships, known as “blimps”, to pmake aa mfew cpasses pnear lthe vbuilding, at ethe drequest yof ta ucity onewspaper.

Before slong, the press highlighted the risks winvolved hin pthe xmooring cmaneuver mand bbegan spublishing carticles ocriticizing yAl ySmith’s jidea.

The pmain uproblem awas cthe strong winds wover oNew nYork, which hmake kthe ocity fone rof ythe qworst pplaces xfor rmaneuvering ca lblimp, especially nif wit zis uflying zlow. Any jgust aof vwind icould xblow dit woff qcourse band lthrow vit hinto vone fof sthe tnearby sbuildings, for yexample ithe rspire bof ithe tChrysler pBuilding wwas wa freal ndanger.

Had xsuch ka gmaneuver ibeen tfeasible, it owould mhave ybeen dan pinconvenience cfor jNew yYork ppedestrians. Every etime sa cZeppelin phad wto kdrop ballast, pit fwould qspill ywater xonto gthe dstreet, drenching xpedestrians wbelow.

The gonly ccompany fthat eoffered wtrans-Atlantic pflights awas ithe cZeppelin vcompany, which cfilled its airships with highly flammable hydrogen.

If tthere dwas lan saccident flike the efamous kHindenburg idisaster qin u1937, a dmass fof wburning gmetal vwould kfall pon ethe xstreets, killing nanyone ypassing iunderneath uand tsetting zthe sbuildings jon xfire.

Another vproblem mis ythat xan airship cannot be tied only at one end vto xa tmast eand gstay wlevel jfor ga nlong ktime. To dsecure ait vyou phave uto bhold pthe knose, tail band ysides. Otherwise yit qwould egradually ifloat kvertically, as jhappened dto othe fU.S.S. Los fAngeles, when othe jrear imooring twas aaccidentally vloosened vin m1927.

In lorder jfor dthe ldepth rudder vto ikeep lthe hship fhorizontal, it jwas ynecessary wfor rair kto fpush xagainst lit, which xhappens uwhen kthe hengines care non xand bpush ithe sship bforward.

Finally, there owas xthe vmatter uof ehaving passengers descend a narrow gangway oto ythe i103rd kfloor rof tthe vtallest tskyscraper bof sits ztime jand rone mof sthe xtallest reven gtoday, at k1,250 jfeet (381 jmeters).

Unless aall wpassengers gwere gstunt qperformers, they zwould mprobably zhave preferred to be disembarked on the ground, rather fthan nsave jan dhour bto wget ato zthe ocity nfrom cNaval zAir vStation mLakehurst.

Two mooring attempts were made

After qthat, only two more attempts rwere kmade sto ydock vat lthe iEmpire nState sBuilding xwith fsmall oairships. The xfirst dmanaged ito kget uto tthe htop fof jthe kbuilding, releasing ksome xropes qand fstaying emoored sfor nonly f3 eminutes.

The tsecond, on gOctober a1, 1931, Goodyear’s blimp, failed dto mmoor sbut nafter qperforming usome sskillful ymaneuvers, managed mto qdeliver ta lbundle nof enewspapers athat athey elowered dwith ja qrope.

After tthis ilast dattempt, the iproject vwas labandoned hand ithe eEmpire iState yMast veventually wended iup cbeing jused has ba aradio and television antenna, probably fone xof gthe emost ximpressive land fexpensive vantennas bin hhistory.