The six middle-sized blimps, off Lakehurst, N.J., looked as deceptively innocent as exploding cigars. They made up the first lighter-than-air squadron the Navy has sent aloft in World War II. Each of them was manned by a crew of eight and carried machine guns, light cannon, bombs, depth charges. Their job: to hunt enemy submarines and mines in U.S. coastal waters.
Before the end of 1942, seven other blimp squadrons will take to the air. On the East Coast they will be based at Lakehurst, South Weymouth, Mass., Elizabeth City, N.C., and at...
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