THE AIRSHIP

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22823, 6 March 1936, Page 6

THE AIRSHIP

Thk new Zeppelin, concerning which accounts have come from Friedrichshafen at odd times during the past year, has made her first flight. The trial performances will be watched with interest. The only airship that can be said to have had a notably successful career thus far is the Graf Zeppelin, Dr Eckener's masterpiece, which, launched in 1928, is still defying the elements. The new Zeppelin, officially LZI29, is considerably larger than the Graf Zeppelin, and is intended primarily for the South American service. Dr Eckener has expressed his belief that a big profit could be made with four ships of this size on the routes between Germany and Rio de Janeiro, North America and the Dutch Indies, and a triangular route linking Europe with both Americas. Apparently he does not believe a North Atlantic service with any type of aircraft to be possible that will operate with clockwork regularity by reason of the severe weather encountered. Somewhat recently he was reported as stating that he did not expect to see during his lifetime aeroplanes carrying substantial loads of mails and passengers across the Atlantic. No man should be better qualified to offer an opinion on that subject. The soundness of his views—and Dr Eckener has always been cautious in his estimates —is likely soon to be put to the test. The commentary is of interest, too, in relation to the projected Tasman air ' service, the question arising whether the weather conditions prevailing over the Tasman Sea, which is by no means a quiet region, will permit of a service of clockwork regularity. That matter has also to be tested. The Graf Zeppelin marked an attempt to demonstrate the commercial value of airships, and while no single ship of the kind could be expected to be a profitable concern, the demonstration

has been very instructive. For this veteran of the air lias established a remarkable record of successful flights. The Graf Zeppelin has crossed the/ Atlantic more than a hundred times, and has travelled nearly nine hundred thousand miles. For some time she has carried most of the first-class mail between Brazil and Germany; her freight loads have been good, and apparently her passenger accommodation has been unequal to the demand upon it during the past year. In November last, it is not uninteresting to recall, the Graf Zeppelin was prevented from landing at Pernambuco by the circumstance that a rebellion was in progress in Brazil. The airship was kept hovering aloft for 119 hours, until the conditions for landing became more propitious, dropping her mails in another town and hauling on board fresh supplies of food from a steamer. An aeroplane arriving on top of a rebellion would have found itself in a more awkward predicament. Whatever the future may have in store for the airship the world will give Dr Eckener all the credit which he merits for his perseverance with the type, and for the evolution of the Graf Zeppelin, with her long record of travel in all climes and her proved ability to weather storms and brave the lightning. Her larger successor, to be helium-filled and oil-driven, is to have spacious accommodation for fifty passengers, and to be able to carry twenty-five tons of freight—figures which only reflect, of course, the insignificant cai'rying capacity of the airship in relation to its enormous bulk. On the performances of the Hindenburg will largely depend whether Dr Eckencr's reputation and faith in the airship are again to be justified. There have not been lacking suggestions that the Graf Zeppelin has been a " fluke " ship.