GIANT AIRSHIP.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 9 October 1925, Page 5

GIANT AIRSHIP.

TO REPLACE SHENANDOAH. RECOMMENDED BY EXPERT. BY CABLE—PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT. WASHINGTON, Oct. 7. The immediate replacement of the Shenandoah by a dirigible three times larger was recommended by RearAdmiral Moffett, chief of the Naval Bureau of Aeronautics, before President Coolidge’s Aircraft Board. Admiral Moffett defended the performances of the Shenandoah and the Los Angeles. Both, he said, had a capacity of approximately two million cubic feet of gas. but they were too small. They should have an Americanbuilt ship of at least six million feet. He declared that parachutes were not carried on the Shenandoah because experience had shown that if the ship fell suddenly they would be of little value, while if the descent was slow the dirigible served as its own parachute. He urged the establishment of a bureau of civil aeronautics in the Department of Commerce and the establishment of an airship base on the West Coast. He said the use of helium' handicapped the Shenandoah from thirty-five to forty per cent., because she was built in 1915 for hydrogen inflation. The admiral asserted that aeroplane PN9I was tested early in 1925 at Philadelphia, and remained in the air for 2&i hours, a time sufficient to reach Honolulu.