K-74 Airship Project

http://www.alteredearth.com/airships/K74_Water_12FEB14b/K74_Water_12FEB14b.html http://www.alteredearth.com/airships/K74_Water_12FEB14b/K74_Water_12FEB14b.html

This is only the first story we plan to develop. We plan to feature all sorts of airships
as well as the exploits of other K-ships besides the K-74.

Special thanks to the K-28 restoration team at the New England Air Museum at Bradley International Airport, Windsor Locks, CT, for all their help and enthusiasm. George Diemer, Russ Magnuson, Don Scroggs and John Craggs. They're doing wonderful work restoring the only remaining World War II style K-ship control car in the world. The NEAM is a perfect place to visit if you are interested in aircraft and U.S. History. They have an amazing collection of actual aircraft, restored and displayed. Here's a link to the museum's site... http://www.neam.org/

Contact Cortney Skinner & A.C. Farley

This website follows an in-progress endeavor whose main goal is to use digital, three dimensional visualization, combined with live action, to realistically portray the only well-documented and officially recognized battle between a U.S. Navy blimp (K-74) and a German U-Boat (U-134) on July 18-19, 1943 in the Florida Straits.

Our goal is to depict this historic event starting with the launch of the K-74 from the Naval Air Station, Richmond, Florida through the events of the astounding battle between these two vessels, to the recovery of most of its crew from the waters of the Florida Straits. The reference and research for this project is taken from scholarly works on the subject, interviews with involved personnel, actual crew members of the airships, and experts in the field, as well as various official records. Even with all the information available about this incident, not every detail is known and there are still many questions that remain.

The K-74 Airship Project hopes to bring this event to a wider audience and act as a forum about this historic and largely ignored incident of WWII, as well as stories of other K ships and their crews, along with detailed technical info on the airships and their operations.

This website will build its content slowly and in stages. Visitors will first see very basic and raw renderings and animations as various components are created and perfected for the animation. Eventually, as these components are developed, more elements will be featured in this website including a message board or public feedback area, acknowledgments for those dedicated people who lived this history or keep it alive, and a bibliography of sorts. For now, contact us via e-mail at our airships e-mail address... airships@alteredearth.com

NOTE: The K-74 and all 3D model used in all these images and animations is in ongoing development. It'll be added to and upgraded as we reach various stages and milestones. Many of the animations and images no these pages are all developmental in nature.

Authenticity in actual details will be strictly observed as we work toward our finals.

	13MAR14-The K-74 over the ocean. It's toward sundown on the day of. It's only hours away from it's encounter with the German U-Boat.
	05AUG13- 2 of 2 High Definition images. These two images are the same image resolution as our video and animations will be in our finals.
	05AUG13- 1 of 2 High Definition images of the K-74 with new fins and a LOT of new external cabling. The fiddle bridge that holds up the control cabling has been upgraded, as well as the textures and materials overall.
	Web gallery. More in progress stills- 19JUL13. Testing while building the NAS Richmond base. It's out-of-scale. Needs revision. Added water puddles to the hangar floor. The landscape is still very, very rough. It'll be fully detailed when completed.
	Web gallery. Stills of the SBD Dauntless. 13JUL13. It's as complete as needed for our purposes. Of course, it can always be revised and updated, same as with all these models. At this point, it has working control surfaces and landing gear and the canopy operates. There are also images of the K ship. It has revised materials.
	Web gallery of still images. NAS Richmond, FL, Hangar 1- 18JUL13. Just begun. Building the naval airbase where the K-74 was stationed.
	No. 2 web gallery of WIP stills of the sailor models. 03JUL13 There's a lot of them now.
	Web gallery of WIP still test renders of K ship crew and various figures for use in backgrounds of live action shots- 29JUN2013. These guys will move around and bring the backgrounds to life.
	K ship and Dauntless test stills- 20JUN13. Test stills web gallery. The image based lighting system and background environment are tested.
	SBD Dauntless test renders- 14JUN13. Still images web gallery. Testing while building the aircraft.
	SBD Dauntless animation test render- 14JUN13. Aircraft for background.
	22AUG12- A test animation combining live action backgrounds and our K-74 model. These are rough tests and contain a lot of errors. Most noticibly, the ship is not flying realistically. It can't really take off vertically like it does in this animation. The ships are very bouyant, but the balloon is more like a wing on these airships. They need to take off like an airplane.
	A test video of the green screen process for combining layers of video and computer generated animation.
	A test animation of the K-74 model. It's very, very rough. It's only made to look over the model. I dressed it up with titles and music to entertain myself and my partner.
	A web gallery of 'Wasp' engine renders 24 OCT 11
	A web gallery of test renders posted 18 AUG 11
	A web gallery of test renders posted 15 AUG 11
	A web gallery of test renders posted 14 AUG 11
	A web gallery of test renders posted 8 AUG 11
	Apr 2010- Another sub test with realistic water effects being tested. It needs a frothy wake and a night time scene test. Nice.
	<<-- Sub U-134 Test 001 - 24 MAR 08 Rough test animation to check for flaws in the model and adjustments to the surface textures
	<<-- Click Here for a slightly larger image of the Moon as it probably appeared the night the K-74 engaged the U-134.

Here are the very basic times on record of the K-74 positions on July 18, 1943: - K-74 launches at 1909 from Naval Air Station Richmond. - At 2340 July 18, K-74 encountered a radar contact at Longitude 23 degrees 59 minutes North/Latitude 080 degrees 49 minutes West. - The K-74 settles into the water 2357. The battle lasted only 17 minutes from first radar contact with the U-134 to hitting the water. I'd bet those were some really lo-ong minutes for the crew. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Sun and Moon Data for The Day The K-74 Engaged the U-134 The following information is for: Richmond Heights, Dade County, Florida (longitude W80.4, latitude N25.6): Sunday: 18 July 1943, Eastern Standard Time. SUN Begin civil twilight 5:15 a.m. Sunrise 5:41 a.m. Sun transit 12:28 p.m. Sunset 7:14 p.m. End civil twilight 7:39 p.m. MOON Moonrise 7:34 p.m. on preceding day Moon transit 1:10 a.m. Moonset 6:49 a.m. Moonrise 8:29 p.m. Moonset 7:56 a.m. on following day Phase of the Moon on 18 July: waning gibbous with 98% of the Moon's visible disk illuminated. (The Full Moon was on 17 July 1943 at 7:21 a.m. Eastern Standard Time.)

The History: A very, very short synopsis

The chapter summaries below outline only the most basic events. Details of the incident will be revealed in the actual animation as it evolves and in due course on this website.

Chapter 1.

On July 18, 1943, the K-74 takes off from Naval Air Station Richmond south of Miami, Florida at 1909 with ten personnel aboard, Lieutenant Nelson G. Grills is the command pilot. Both radiomen make radar contact with two merchant ships in the area. The K-74 passes over these vessels. Guarding, protecting and defending merchant shipping is one of the main missions of U.S. Navy airships. The proximity of these ships is an important factor in Lieutenant Grills' later choices.

Chapter 2.

At 2340, the K-74 gets a radar contact at a range of eight miles. As the airship approaches the source of the radar contact, 500 feet below them, a wake is observed. The K-74 is maneuvered to stay "down moon" from the vessel making the wake. A submarine is spotted on the surface traveling at a heading of 220 degrees true north. Battle stations is called aboard the K-74. A determination must be made as to whether the submarine is friendly or not. The K-74 withdraws, circling wide into cloud cover. Visual contact with the submarine is lost.

Chapter 3.

Circling wide, and staying off "down moon" the K-74 again spots the sub whose identity is still not yet known conclusively. With the gunner in his front turret ready at his .50 cal. machine gun, and the bombardier at his Type L-21-A bomb release, the K-74 begins a bombing run on the unknown vessel at 250-feet altitude. Only by firing on the airship will the unknown submarine reveal itself as a German U-Boat. The K-74 will then respond with her weapons.

Chapter 4.

Tracer rounds are seen coming from the submarine. They smash into the windows of the airship. The U-134 and the K-74 engage each other in battle. As the airship's .50 cal. machine gun rakes the surface of the U-Boat, the airship's starboard engine is hit. The U-Boat turns so it presents the smallest target to the airship. The airship's starboard engine is on fire and loses power as the K-74 loses some directional control. (Much more detail is to be portrayed in this confrontation.) The K-74 releases two of it's four depth bombs which inflict damage to the U-Boat (a very controversial detail) as do its machine guns. With its envelope pierced by 20mm German anti-aircraft guns the airship eventually loses lift and settles into the water.

Chapter 5.

The crew abandons the sinking airship as the control car fills with water. Grills throws sinks a weighted satchel of classified material into the water. The crewmen get separated into two groups and as Grills swims back to the control car to retrieve a pistol, he is subsequently separated from his men, and begins a swim 20 miles back towards land. Stessel the bombardier, is attacked by a shark and succumbs to the injuries. By about 0945, the next morning, the men are rescued. Eventually, Grills is spotted by the K-32 and rescued by Subchaser 657 and the USS Dahlgren.

Some random images follow...	NOTE: The K-74 3D model used in all these test images and animations isn't final.
	<<-- 28 MAR 08 - The U-134 in the water. This is the water that will be used in the animations. Movies soon! <<-- Click on this image and you'll get another look at the sub in a bigger image.
	<<-- 23 MAR 08 - This VII C sub has been revised to play the U-134 that the K-74 engaged in battle. Note the addition of the 'Wintergarten'. That's the 2nd rear gun deck behind the conn tower. Made a LOT of improvements to this model. When it's textured and properly lighted, it'll look even better than the previous textured render. (See image with green background below) <<-- Click on this image and you'll get another look at the sub in a bigger image.
	<<-- 23 MAR 08 - This VII C sub has been revised to play the U-134 that the K-74 engaged in battle. Note the addition of the 'Wintergarten'. That's the 2nd rear gun deck behind the conn tower. Made a LOT of improvements to this model. When it's textured and properly lighted, it'll look even better than the previous textured render. (See image with green background below) <<-- Click on this image and you'll get another look at the sub in a bigger image.
	<<-- 23 MAR 08 - This VII C sub has been revised to play the U-134 that the K-74 engaged in battle. Note the addition of the 'Wintergarten'. That's the 2nd rear gun deck behind the conn tower. Made a LOT of improvements to this model. When it's textured and properly lighted, it'll look even better than the previous textured render. (See image with green background below) <<-- Click on this image and you'll get another look at the sub in a bigger image.
	<<-- 16 MAR 08 - This VII C sub will be revised to play the U-134 that the K-74 engaged in battle. The rear of the conn tower is different and one of the guns has to removed as far as I know right now. -A.C. <<-- Click on this image and you'll get another look at the sub in a bigger image.

Contact Cortney Skinner & A.C. Farley