GIANT NEW ZEPPELIN.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 230, 27 August 1935, Page 4

GIANT NEW ZEPPELIN.

MANY INNOVATIONS PLANNED

“I don’t expect in my lifetime to ! see aeroplanes carrying substantial loads of mails and passengers across the Atlantic. 1 have fought lor airships since the war, and have always been told that two years hence aeroplanes would he making regular commercial Atlantic crossings. That two years is a long time coming.” That was how Dr Hugo Eckener, commander of the Graf Zeppelin, declared his faith in airships to the special representative of the Sydney Telegraph, who interviewed him at Friedrichshaven alongside the new Zeppelin, LZI29. “Meanwhile,” added Dr Eckener, “the old Graf Zeppelin continues its regular crossings.” The LZI29, which at Dr Eckencr’s suggestion is to be named Hindeninirg, is expected to be completed by the middle of November, and will commence trans-Atlantic voyages early in the new year. It, will have a range of 10,000 miles, without re-fuelling, but Dr Eckener said that it was unlikely that the Hindenburg would ever be seen in Australia, owing to the lack of a mooring mast and the difficulty of arranging the refilling of the gasbags. He intends, however, to fly the airship to Batavia, in which case an opportunity may he found to continue to Sydney, and return to Batavia without refuelling.

The Telegraph representative was conducted by Dr Eckener and his sou, Kurt Eckener. who will he the Hindenbuvg's navigator, on an inspection of the monster.

The refinements include a smoke room, writing room, and a sliowerbath, which has a gadget to prevent any of the 50 passengers the airship will carry from bathing for more than 10 minutes. Dr Eckener will personally command the new airship on her early flights, in order to study many innovations, including the new MercedesBenz crude pil engines. It will take 10 days to inflate the gasbags, as the Friedriehshaven gasholder contains only one-tenth of the. Hindenburg’s capacity of 675,000 cubic feet.

A constant strenm of visitors, at 6d a head, is helping to defray the construction costs.