AIRSHIP CONSTRUCTION

Evening Star, Issue 22228, 4 January 1936, Page 14

AIRSHIP CONSTRUCTION

ACTIVITY IN GERMANY In February last tJie United States naval airship Macon was damaged, by a heavy gust of wind, with the result that the vessel cama down in the Pacific, and was a total wreck. Fortunately, only two ■ people lost their lives. In 1933. the same country lost the Akron, which broke up in the air, involving the )death of ,73 persons; .while in 1925 the. Shenandoah was wrecked, - 14 being killed. Great Britain abandoned airship construction after the loss of RlOl when on her maiden voyage to India in 1930. This airship encountered bad weather after crossing the Channel, some part of the structure failed,' and the vessel crashed, 48 people being killed. After this long record of disaster many predict that lighter-than-air craft are doomed, and there is a strong case in support of their vifew. But there is another side to the question. The German airship, Graf Zeppelin, has crossed the South Atlantic 62 times since 1928, and has ilown a total of 570,000 miles and carried 10,000. passengers, none of whom has been injured. Germany is now completing a larger vessel, the- LZI29, which, it is expected, will be launched in May. Dr Eckener, the designer, claims that this airship will have a speed of 83 miles per hour, and will carry 50 passengers and a crew of 54. Germany has been building airships for the past 25 years, and has vastly more experience of this type than any other country. Judging by results, this experinece has taught her sounder methods of construction than those in use elsewhere. Comparison of size, by these airships, based on tho amount of gas carried by each, will be of and is as follows: Graf Zeppelin 3,709,000 cubic feet The U.S. Macon 6,500,000 cubic feet The British RlOl 5,000,000 cubic feet The German LZI29 6.710,000 cubic feet It will bo seen that the LZI29 is nearly twice the size of the Graf Zeppelin and the largest airship which has yet been built.