The history of military aviation is dominated by accounts of heavier-than-air aircraft. While this is perhaps justified, given the current role they play, it has caused the important role lighter-than-air aircraft played in history to fall out of mainstream attention. This paper seeks to reinvigorate public knowledge of this by providing a brief record of lighter-than-air aircraft, also known as airships, in the United States military. This paper focuses on the importance of airships through their contributions to the development of technologies, as well as the roles they directly played, beginning with their first recorded military use in the American Civil War and ending with the retiring of the N-Class airship in the Cold War. This list includes many diverse technologies such as aerial photography, aerial bombardment, and midair docking. This examination will include analysis on the missions of different types of airship, as well as the results each was able to achieve.
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