AIRSHIP TRAVEL

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 35, 5 November 1928, Page 11

AIRSHIP TRAVEL

LARGER AND MORE POWERFUL BRITISH DIRIGIBLE LONDON TO NEW YORK IN 48 HOURS LESSONS OF THE GRAF ZEPPELIN FLIGHT A British company is planning the construction, based on the lessons of the Graf Zeppelin flight, of a larger and more powerful dirigible, which .it is expected will fly from London to New York in 48 hours, and accomplish the return journey in 36 hours. (United Press Association.—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) (Australian Press Association.) (Rec. November 4, 5.5 p.m.) London, November 3. Based on Commander Burney’s RollsRoyce dirigible now being completed at Howden, the Airship Guarantee Company is preparing designs, embodying the lessons of the Zeppelin flight,- for an airship carrying 168 passengers. It will have a speed of 100 miles an hour and will be able to negotiate the Atlantic storms. It will fly from London to New York in 48 hours, and from New York to London in 36 hours. It will cost £500,000. WHAT GRAF ZEPPELIN FLIGHT HAS PROVED CANNOT COMPETE WITH STEAMSHIPS (“Times” Cables.) London, • November 2. “Tie Times” correspondent in Berlin states that airships have no chance of competing with steamships in the Atlantic trade, according to the famous war-time pilot William Schulze, who voyaged in the Graf Zeppelin out and home. Schulze points out that the airship saved 48 hours on the howeward voyage, compared with German liners, but the new liners in 1929 will reduce the saving by half, and it might disappear altogether if aeroplanes were used at both ends. Consequently Schulze rules out airships as compared with linei-s owing to the liners’ comforts and reliability. Nevertheless, he says, airships ought to be profitably employed elsewhere, notably between Germany and South America, taking a week instead of the existing three, and possibly in the Far East service.

LARGER AND STRONGER SHIPS TO BE BUILT

(Australian Press Association.)

Berlin, November 2.

Captain Eckener says that the Graf Zeppelin will be used to train crews and conduct meteorlogical researches: She will make long flights, but will not cross the Atlantic again this year. He is planning to build two new and stronger airships, one at Berlin and the other probably in the Rhine Valley, where it is proposed to establish a central airport for a trans-Atlantic service.