Coil Emory Wilbur

Monuments

US Navy R38 Airship Crew Monument

US Navy R38 Airship Disaster Memorial Plaque

Name:

Emory Wilbur Coil

Rank:

Lieutenant Commander

Serial Number:

Unit:

U.S. Rigid Air Detachment

Date of Death:

1921-08-24

State:

Cemetery:

Evergreen Memorial Park, Tucson, Arizona

Plot:

East side of the cemetery

Row:

Grave:

Decoration:

Comments:

Emory Wilbur Coil was born on September 28, 1888 in Westborough, Massachusetts. He was the son of Elijah Alfred Coil and Sarah Katherine Steen Coil. He served as a Lieutenant Commander in the US Navy aboard R38/ZR-2 during World War I.

LCDR Coil was killed when the experimental dirigible R-38 broke up and exploded in England on it 4th and final test flight prior to being purchased by the U.S. Navy from the British who built the airship. The intentions were for America to utilize this ship during WWI and become the main means of transportation in the future. A total of 44 men lost there lives 17 were Americans. Witnesses said it appeared to break in the middle and the front half exploded, the tail end fell in the Humber River, Hull, England, there were 4 survivors pulled from it. One being the pilot.

Cause of Explosion: Zepplins fly on hydrogen and as a result of their highly flammable lifting gas, it exploded over the river with thousands of spectators on the shore watching this amazing aircraft take off. No one on the shore-side were injured.

LCDR Coil is now buried in the Evergreen Memorial Park, Tucson, Pima County, Arizona, USA.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com