ATLANTIC AIR FLIGHT.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1152, 13 June 1911, Page 5

ATLANTIC AIR FLIGHT.

NEW DIRIGIBLE COMPLETING. MR. VANIMAN'S AMBITION. By Teleerapli—Prcßs Association—CoDjTiehl (Rec. June 12, 9.10 p.m.) London, June 12. Jlr. Melvin Vaniman, who was associated with Jlr. Walter Wellman as chief engineer in the unsuccessful attempt to fly across the Atlantic in (he dirigible balloon America, last October, has sailed for New York for the purpose of completing a new dirigiblo balloon, 268 feet in length and costing .£30,000. Mr. Vaniman proposes to cross tho Atlantic in this craft in October, carrying a crew of five. In an interview Jlr. Vaniman stated that rubber-coated fabrics were now so perfectly gas-tight that it would bo easy to stay in the air-for thirty days. Tho real difficulty would be to prevent the dirigible from rising to an extreme height when tho rays of tho sun expanded the gas. Ho thought, however, that' he had solved this difficulty. The ill-fated America was second only in size to tho huge Zeppelin dirigibles, and was 228 feet in length, 52 feet in diameter, and with a gas capacity of 315,000 cubic feet. Mr. Wellman, with a crew of four, left Atlantic City, Now Jersey, on October 15 last. The balloon sank into the sea 71J miles east' of Noring, at a iwint 375 miles east of Norfolk, Virginia, and the crew were picked up by a steamer. The total distance travelled was 1008 miles. Tho motive power was obtained from two motors of from 80 to 90 horse-power, which proved insufficient against the wind.