EXPERIMENTAL FLIGHT

Hawera Star, Volume L, 29 July 1930, Page 9

EXPERIMENTAL FLIGHT

LATE EDITION

v , BRITAIN’S 810 AIRSHIP ■'T. TRIP ACROSS ATLANTIC early departure. (British Ofhclal Wireless.) Received 2 p.m. to-day. RUGBY, July. 28. The British airship- RIOQ will probably leave Cardington on her voyage to Canada to-morrow morning. The flight is expected to be completed in' three days. A mooring tower at Montreal has been provided by the Canadian Government and the airship will bo welcomed there by members of tbe Canadian Government. Squadron-Leader Booth will command the airship, while the director of airship, development, Wing-Commander Co lino re-, as we 11 as Major Scott, who commanded thei R 34 on her double Atlantic crossing several years ago, will be among those aboard. Airship R.IOO is at present riding at the mooring mast at Cardington and the time of her departure and the - course she will follow will be determined after a careful study of the probable weather conditions over' the Atlantic.

1 The flight is being undertaken as Apii rt of the Air Ministry’s development policy for airships, with the object of testing out the reliability and behaviour of the airship on a long-distance flight. Data will also he acquired which will be of value in deciding upon a full policy with regard) to the development of airships for commercial purposes, with particular reference to the speeding up of Empire communications.

When the RIOO was designed she was approximately twice the size of the largest airship then in existence, apd she and her sister, the airship RlOl, are still the largest in the world. The experimental nature of the flight, therefore, is emphasised, for the vessel will incorporate many novel features. This wiUj be the second flight of a British airship across the Atlantic, the first occasion being in July, 1919, when the R 34 made the first aircraft flight from east to west. The R 34 made a successful return flight a few days later.

The airship. RIOO, which is equipped with six Rolls-Royce-Condor engines, each developing 650 horse-power, has a gross lift of over 156 tons. She is 709 feet long and has a- maximum diameter of 130 feet and a maximum height of 133 feet. She attained a. speed of 81 miles per hour during her trials. The airship will have on hoard food for five days, reserve rations, one day’s emergency rations and 500 gallons* of drinking and washing water. Throughout her journey the vessel will be in constant wireless communication ''with land stations.

PRECAUTIONS’ O.N AIRSHIP

LONDON. July ZB. “Have you nailed shoes?” the Empire Press delegates were asked when they visited' the air.ship RlOl at Cardington. The majority had donned sandshoes already.

The delegates were also requested to k-ave tobacco., pipes, cigarettes, and behind, but some were snrcl to find a. smoking ' room aboard the vessel.