The USS ZR-1 Shenandoah was the first American-built rigid airship to use helium; the first to use water recovery apparatus for the continuous recovery of ballast from the exhaust gas of the fuel burned; and, during 57 flights with 740 hours in the air, the Shenandoah also trained crew members in the science of handling large airships in naval missions. The ZR-1 Shenandoah was destroyed in a squall on September 3, 1925, with the bulk of the airship crashing near Ava, Ohio; fourteen of the 43 person crew were killed. Robert McElroy visited the site of the Shenandoah's crash on September 4, 1925. This collection consists of two black and white photographs of the crash site that belonged to McElroy.

The USS ZR-1 Shenandoah was the first American-built rigid airship to use helium. Plans for the construction of the ZR-1 Shenandoah began in September 1919; the parts were manufactured at the Naval Aircraft Factory and then shipped to NAS Lakehurst for final assembly. The assembling began on 11 February 1922 and the ZR-1 Shenandoah was commissioned in 1923. During the ZR-1 Shenandoah's short life, it had many achievements, including being the first rigid airship to be inflated with helium and the first to use water recovery apparatus for the continuous recovery of ballast from the exhaust gas of the fuel burned; and making 57 flights, logging 740 hours in the air, training crew members in the science of handling large airships in naval missions. The ZR-1 Shenandoah was destroyed in a squall on September 3, 1925, with the bulk of the airship crashing near Ava, Ohio; fourteen of the 43 person crew were killed. Robert McElroy visited the site of the Shenandoah's crash on September 4, 1925. McElroy collected a piece of the Shenandoah's fabric on which he wrote a first hand account of viewing the crash site and this item is now in the National Air and Space Museum's artifact collection.