Roger Charles McNally was born in 1887. He joined the United States (U. S.) Army in 1917, after walking about 400 miles to an enlistment center from the school in Alaska where he was teaching for the Department of the Interior. After World War I, McNally stayed in the U. S. Army Air Service and was subsequently sent to Italy to assist with the Army’s purchase of the airship Roma. McNally remained in Italy for nearly a year and essentially became one of the officers of the dirigible, though the leadership role of McNally and his fellow pilots was never made official. The crew brought theRoma to the United States, where it was modified and tested at Langley Field (Virginia).

McNally, who had been promoted to Master Sergeant, was on board the Roma on February 21, 1922, when the airship crashed. He died in the fire resulting from the crash, along with 33 others. He left a wife, Mabel, and three children: Will, Margaret, and Rogene.

Source:

Biography derived from collection materials.

Master Sergeant Roger C. McNally was a member of the crew of the U.S. Army Air Service dirigible Roma. The airship had originally been built by the Italian outfit Stabilimento Costruzioni Aeronautiche [Aeronautical Construction Factory] and was given the designation Usuelli T-34.

The United States Army purchased the airship in 1921 for $195,000. It was, at the time, the world’s largest semi-rigid dirigible, and was designed to make cross-Atlantic flights. Following its arrival at Langley Field (Virginia), the ship was heavily modified and the six original Ansaldo SVA engines were replaced with 400hp Liberty engines.

The Roma was destroyed by an explosion and fire near Langley Field (Virginia) during a flight trial on February 21, 1922. The crash resulted in the abandonment of the use of hydrogen as the lifting agent in dirigibles, with helium being used instead in all subsequent United States dirigibles. The crash was believed to have been caused by a failure in the rudder system, which was supposed to allow theRoma to maneuver over tight areas. The ship failed to clear some high voltage power lines, and the airship burst into flames as it came crashing to the ground.

A total of 34 out of the 45 men on board were killed. Most of the eleven survivors escaped death by jumping from the wreckage as it hit the electrical wires, before it hit the ground.

Sources and Further Reading:

"The 'Roma' Disaster," Flight 2 March 1922: 140.

Forrest, Leo C., Jr. "Remembering the Roma." NASA Researcher News. 22 February 2002. http://researchernews.larc.nasa.gov/archives/2002/022202/Roma.html.

Swinfield, John. Airship: design, development and disaster. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2012.