This Military Service Page was created/owned by Steven Loomis (SaigonShipyard), IC3 to remember Lansdowne, Zachary, LCDR.

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Lieutenant Commander Zachary Lansdowne, USN (December 1, 1888 - September 3, 1925) was a United States Navy officer and early Naval Aviator who contributed to the development of the Navy's first lighter-than-air craft. He died in command of the airship USS Shenandoah (ZR-1), which crashed in Ohio on September 3, 1925.

Born in Greenville, Ohio, Lansdowne was appointed to the United States Naval Academy September 2, 1905 and commissioned Ensign June 5, 1911. He subsequently served on the destroyer USS McCall (DD-28), and in the Ohio Naval Militia. After completing his aviation training, he became Naval Aviator 105.

Lansdowne was assigned to duty with the Royal Naval Air Service during and after World War I, to study dirigibles. He was awarded the Navy Cross --For distinguished service...as one of the crew of the British airship R-34, which in July 1919, made the first successful nonstop passage from England to the United States.-- He married Margaret Kennedy Ross (September 30, 1902-June 9, 1982) on December 7, 1921 in Washington D.C. She was later remarried John Caswell Jr. on February 27, 1927. {Caswell died on December 23, 1954 in Washington D.C.} On February 11, 1924 Landsdowne took command of the rigid lighter-than-air ship, USS Shenandoah (ZR-1), and was killed when she crashed at Ava, Ohio, September 3, 1925. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

The crash of the Shenandoah was the trigger for Army Colonel Billy Mitchell to heavily criticize the leadership of both the Army and the Navy, leading directly to his court-martial for insubordination and the end of his military career.

Click here for the Citation of his 1919 award for his air-flight crossing
of the Atlantic. The "Navy Cross" Medal is in his Ribbon Bar above.