BIG DIRIGIBLE

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 30, 4 August 1931, Page 3

BIG DIRIGIBLE

AMERICA'S AKRON

CHRISTENING SOON

It was recently announced by company officials that the christening ceremonies for the U.S.S. Akron, the world's largest dirigible, which is being built for the United States Navy at the giant hangar near the works of the Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation, will be held in the latter part of July. The exact date for the dedication has not yet been determined, as it is contingent upon tho completion of certain technical requirements now entering the final stages, : The framework of the airship, which is larger than the famous Graf Zeppelin and three times the size of the American dirigible, Los. Angeles, has been completed and approximately one-half of the outer cover is now in place. Many, interior refinements and adjustments, however, will have to be effected after the christening of the ship as is the custom on a marine vessel after it has been dedicated'and launched. Therefore the first trial flight of the Akron will not be held the day of the dedication, but some time within the following three or four weeks. Under the command then of Lieutonant-Com-mander Charles E. Kosendahl, former commander of the U.S.S. Los Angeles and one of the foremost authorities on lighter-than-air craft in the country, it will be taken aloft for conclusive tests on speed, rate of climb, fuel con-' sumption, control ability, and various other factors. This flight and other tesi trips will be held from the Akron base and will vary from three or four hours to 24 hours. Ultimately,, it )is .*-expected that the Akron will form a unit c' the Pacific Fleet and will operate out of Sunnyvale, near San Francisco, where a haugar is now being built. WITH HELIUM. Among; those expected, to attend the ceremonies are President Herbert Hoover and various Cabinet officials. They will probably be accompanied from Washington by high army and navy officials, including - : Hear-Admiral William A. Moffett, Chief of Bureau of Aeronautics of the United States Navy and • father of lighter-than-air craft development in America. The hangar was built on rollers to allow the entire mammoth structure to "stretch" and contract. Being entirely of steel, both frame and roofing, the building gradually changes its dimensions as temperatures vary. \ It expands, as the air becomes warmer and contracts as it gets colder. The rollers allow it to l/-eathe. The Akron,, which is inflated with helium, a non-inflammable, non-explosive gas, has a capacity of 6,500,000 cubic feet, is 785 feet long, and has a diameter of 133 feet.. Eight 560 horsepower engines will propel the ship through the air at a speed of more than 80 miles per hour, arid it is estimated that it will be able to fly for 10,500 miles without refuelling. One of. the novel features in. the Akron's construction willbe the inclusion in "a; special compartment of five aeroplanes. These aeroplanes, through a trapeze arrangement, can. be lowered, through the hull and released while in mid-air. The trapeze attachment; will then pick up the aeroplanes upon their return and haul them back into the ship. • '■■■ ■■■•'■■;..