COMPLETE FAITH IN AIRSHIPS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 53, Issue 149, 5 April 1933, Page 5

COMPLETE FAITH IN AIRSHIPS.

DR. ECKENER UNSHAKEN. awaiting advice of cause. (Received This Day, 9.35 a.m.) BERLIN, April 4. Though shocked by the disaster to the Akron, Dr. Eckenev (designer and commander of the Graf Zeppelin) do-j clares that whatever happened could not shake his complete faith in airships. Until the causes of the crash are established he could not say whether it would necessitate a change in Ills plans. THE AKRON SOME• STRIKING FEATURES. Launched on August S, 1931, by Mrs Herbert Hoover in' the presence el 100,000 people at the Municipal Airport, Akron, Ohio, where the dirigible was built by the Goodyear-Zeppelm Company, the Akron made her maiden vovage of 125 miles in the iollovmg

September. She then carried a complement of 129 men. The Akron was the first of two huge airships ordered for the United States Navy, at a cost of 8,375,000 dollars each. These are twin ships, 785 ft in length, which is Bft longer than the new German LXI2B. They have a maximum diameter of 132.9 ft and a gross lift of 403^000111. Their eight engines furnish 4480 horse-power and their maximum speed was estimated at 83.7 miles an hour. As in the other American dirigibles, non-inflammable helium gas is the lilting medium. There" is an aeroplane hangar housing five fast machines which can take the air while the airship is moving, either for fighting or scouting purposes, and the airship is also equipped with 16 machine-guns. It is able to cross the Atlantic four times without refuelling, and at a reduced speed could circle the globe on the latitude of New York. ' ''Compare a shi- of this size," savs General Mitchell (Chief of the United States Air Forces), "costing £1,100,000, with a surface aeroplane carrier that costs from £10,000,000 to £'10,000,000. The airship alcne, cr with its aeroplanes, can destroy a whole fleet of sea vessels, and a group of them can defend themselves very well against air attack with the assistance of their own 'planes, their power of concealment and their manoeuvring ability." The RlOl disaster, and the acute question it raises of the future of the airship, lend an added interest to some remarkable safety devices, said to be unknown to any other dirigible, that were built into the Akron. The use of helium as the lifting gas is regarded as the greatest safety factor. Besides being non-inflammable, it permits housing 'the engines in large rooms in the huff of the ship for the first time, making them readilv accessible to repair and overhauling with the dirigible in flight. Housing the engine with the ship, it is claimed, cuts down the wind resistance of engine gondolas, ordinarily hung on the outside, where repairing is extremely difficult and overhauling impossible. The swivel feature of the eight propellers is another important safety factor. The great ship can be more easily manoeuvred in adverse winds. The propellers can be turned through a 90deg. arc, so that the blades can be vertical or horizontal as desired. The motors may run forward cr reverse, so that the propellers' energy may be exerted in any of four directions. When the propellers are horizontal, tfle motors at forward speed will help to pull the ship to earth. With the motors and the. propellers horizontal, the ship can be pushed upward if altitude is lost. Each propeller and its engine will work independently. ADMIRAL MOFFETT DISTINGUISHED CAREERi •Rear-Admiral William. Adger Moffett, Chief of the Navy Bureau of Aeronautics, graduated at the United States Naval Academy in 1890, and was promoted through the grades to Rear-Admiral in 1923. He commanded the Chester at Vera Cruz and at Tampico, Mexico, when the demand was made for the salute of the American flag by Admiral Mayo in 1914, and at the taking of Vera Cruz in 1914. Later he was in command of the U.S. Naval Training" Station, and took over the supervision of naval aeronautics in 1921. In that year and in-1922, he was appointed technical adviser at the Washington Limitation of Armaments Conference, and occupied a similar post at the London Conference in 1930. He was awarded a Congressional Medal of Honour and the D.S.M.