Helium, institutions, and the rigid-airship programme

Helium extracted from American natural-gas deposits gave the United States an advantage that other airship powers could not readily match. Helium-bearing deposits had been identified beneath the Great Plains in 1903, and the Navy sponsored three experimental helium plants during the First World War to supply barrage balloons. Early investment helped establish the production capacity on which the later rigid-airship programme depended, although the gas remained difficult to obtain in quantity. The Bureau of Aeronautics and the Naval Aircraft Factory supplied the bureaucracy and technical capacity to pursue the programme. Admiral William A. Moffett supported rigid airships while keeping competing aviation factions working together under his leadership.