NEW AIRSHIP

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 84, 7 January 1928, Page 9

NEW AIRSHIP

BEING CONSTRUCTED FOR BRITISH MINISTRY LARGEST FLYING VESSEL IN WORLD EXPECTED TO BE COMPLETED IN APRIL Rugby, January 5. The airship RIUO, which is under construction fur the Air Ministry at the Howden works of the Airship Guarantee Company, is expected to be completed by April. After undergoing home trials, she will probably make a demonstration flight across the Atlantic. Commander Burney, M.P., will next week leave for America to discuss plans for the future operations of the airship. It is suggested that the vessel, which will be the largest in the world, should carry passengers across the Atlantic, the journey occupying 48 hours, . and the fare being approximately £l2O. The airship is 709 feet long, and is* to be driven by an engine developing a total of 4200 horse-power. She will have accommodation for 100 passengers and a crew of 50.—British Official Wireless. GREAT FLYING “HOTEL” WONDERFUL PROVISION FOR PASSENGERS VESSEL DESCRIBED Press representatives were permitted recently to view the huge 5,000,000 cubic-feet Empire airship which is being built for the Air Ministry in a lonely airship shed on the East Yorkshire plain. A representative of the “Manchester Guardian” describing the air giant, said:— To an observer on a lofty perch at the apex of the 145-feet-high shed the skeleton of the big ship presented an amazing spectacle, entirely filling the mammoth shed and looking the embodiment of grace. This hew flying ship is the largest and most powerful air vessel ever constructed, being nearly twice the size of any Zeppelin yet built. The most wonderful part of this air monster is perhaps the arrangement made for accommodating the passengers and Just forward of the centre of the framework a complete “hotel” has been built into the ship. / Dance Hall, Lounge, and Verandahs. This wonder is four stories high. On what may be called the -ground floor, which projects slightly below the keel of the ship, will be the control and navigating rooms, while the second floor will be reserved for the crew, accommodation beilig provided for fifty men. The two top floors have been equipped on a lavish scale to provide living accommodation and amusement for 100 passengers. On the third floor is a dining-room for fifty people which. when cleared, provides a smooth dancing floor.' Oil long transcontinental flights passengers will dance in this aerial ballroom to wireless music, picked up from the broadcasting stations of many countries. Kitchens and two and four-bunk berths are also to be found pn this floor, while on either side is a long broad veranda. All the JOO passengers can be accommodated on these verandas, which are quite weatherproof, the whole of the sides of the airship opposite these verandas being covered in with glass to allow an open view of the country over which the ship is flying. The top story contains the remaining berths, and a lounge from which passengers can look down into the diningroom atid ballroom below. The entire passenger quarters will be lighted by electricity, and electric radiators and fans will keep them at an equable temperature.

Four thousand two hundred horsepower is required to drive the ship, and this is provided by six of the new 700 h.p. Rolls-Rovce Condor engines. These are arranged in three power “eggs” slung below the rear of the ship. Each “egg” has two engines driving airscrews back and front. Each of the rear engines is fitted with reversing gear for use when approaching and leaving mooring.masts. Thirty-five petrol tanks, each holding a ton of petrol, supply the six engines, giving the ship a non stop range of 4500 miles. The cruising speed is calculated at 75 miles per hour, with a top speed of 83 miles per hour. j . New Method of Construction. An entirely new method of airship construction has been evolved for the building of this new airship. The entire framework is of duralumin spars. These are built up of special tubes in a triangular formation which provides an enormously strong frame with a minimum of weight. Some idea of this marvel of construction is gained when it is realised that the dimensions of the new airship are approximately those of a 50,000-ton battleship, and yet the entire ship with a full complement of passengers will w’eigh only 156 tons. The framework of the ship is virtually completed, and a large part of the outer covering is ready for fixing to the frame, while the first gasbag, the largest ever made, will be ready next week. It is hoped that the ship will be completed, even to being filled with gas, by next April. Commander C. D. Burney, director of the Airship Guarantee Company, the designers and builders of the ship, said to me: “This ship represents an entirely new departure in airship construction, but it is by no means the last word. Already we are working on a design of a ship which will be as great a step forward from this ship as it is of its predecessors. The airship will cost nil told £450,000, and on this cost basis the passenger fare for a transatlantic flight would be £lOO. This compares favourably with £125 charged by some ocean liners, and in addition the journey from London to New York would be made in 48 hours.”