THE AIRSHIP.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 108, 7 April 1936, Page 8

THE AIRSHIP.

The new Zeppelin Hindenburg has confirmed the good impression it made on its trial flight by successfully crossing the Atlantic Ocean. Meanwhile its designer, who has won fame with the remarkable success that has attended the Graf Zeppelin, is out of favour with the supreme Nazis because, a-ltliough a Nationalist, he objected to the airship being' decorated with swastikas .when the Hindenburg was used for propaganda purposes during the recent election campaign in Germany. Dr. Eckenei is tflreatened with dismissal from his post as captain of his latest creation, but tflere is some doubt as to Avliether he actually is in command. The netv Zeppelin, which is officially known as LZI29 and is intended primarily for the South American service, is larger than the Graf Zeppelin which, now a veteran of the air, having been launched in 1928, .has crossed the Atlantic more than 100 times and has travelled at least 900,000 miles. There have been times when her passenger accommodation has not been equal to the demands made upon it, and her freight loads generally haye been good. Dr. Eckener has implicit faith in the airship, and' he believes that a big profit is possible with four ships of the Hindenburg’s size on the routes between Germany and Brazil, North America ..and the Dutch Indies, and a triangular route linking Europe with both Americas. He has expressed the view that he does not expect to see in his lifetime aeroplanes carrying substantial loads •of mails and passengers across the Atlantic Ocean. Experience with airships has not been of the happiest nature in both Britain and the United States, but Dr. Eckener’s Graf Zeppelin still defies the elements. Since it made its first flight Britain has lost the ElOl with appalling loss of life, and the United States the Akron with nearly all her crew and the Macon happily without such severe destruction of personnel. The flights of the Hindenburg will therefore be watched with the greatest interest. Heliumfilled and oil-driven, she is larger than the Graf Zeppelin and lias accommodation for 50 passengers and 25 tons of freight. If her achievements are in any way the equal of her predecessor, then it would seem that Dr. Eckener’s faith in the airship has been amply justified.