AIRSHIP R100

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XX, Issue 192, 4 August 1930, Page 5

AIRSHIP R100

LESSONS OF THE FLIGHT

UNSUITED FOR TRANSATLANTIC SERVICE.

SHIP TWICE AS LARGE NEEDED. [British Official Wireless.) (Received 4, 12.30 p.m) Rugby, Aug. ,2. The airship RIOO, which is now swinging at the mooring mast at Montreal, underwent an examins tion yesterday and the Air Ministry states that it revealed no structural defect or failure, but there was stripping of the fabric over a fairly extensive area on the underside of the horizontal fin . Materials for repair are on hand. It is probable that no oxtensivo flights will he undertaken in Canada. In any case the flight over Ottawa, scheduled for August 5, must be postponed. The officers and crew of tho airship are being officially welcomed at Montreal to-day. They haws received scores of telegrams and messages of congratulation. Wing-Commander Colmore. however, deprecates any exaggerated significance being attached to the voyage It has, in his view, demonstrated the efficiency of the thick-bodied, blunt-nosed type of airship, but all her officers are agreed that the vessel does not conform to the requirements for an adequate and regular trans-Atlantic service. Sir Denniston Burney, at whose airship works thia vessel was built, is of opinion that a ship twice as large as RlOO, and capable of doing 85 miles an hour, is necessary for such a service. CANADA THANKED FOR COOPERATION. [United Press Association—By Cable— Copyright.] (Received 4, 11.25 a.m.) London, Aug. 3. “The arrival of the RlOO at the mooring mast in Canada, built for airships which, are still in the experimental stage, will go far to justify your confidence in British engineering skill and enterprise,” writes Lord Thomson in a letter which RIOO carried to the Premier, thanking him for Canada’s co-operation in a great experiment fraught with precious possibilities for the British commonwealth of nations. Lord Thomson adds that if the experimental programme, of which the' flight to Montreal is one of the most important features, fulfils expectations, larger and swifter vessels will be built; then all the great cities will require mooring masts for leviathans crossing the Atlantic. The adventurous spirit has made the British predominant on the sea, and they only need encouragement to secure a like advantage in tho air. [See page 9 for Aviation News.]