ALL HOPE GONE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18057, 6 April 1933, Page 7

ALL HOPE GONE

VICTIMS OF THE AKRON INTENSIVE SEARCH MADE MEN SANK WITH DEBRIS (Elec. Tel. Copyright — United Press Assn.) (Received April C, 11 a.m.) NEW YORK, April 5. The search for the 71 lost officers .;nd men of the airship Akron went forward swiftly to-day, 'but hope that any had survived had gone. Four w-ere rescued, one of whom died, and one body was found out of a total of 70 aboard.

.Richard Deal, the boatswain’s mate, one of the survivors i underwent his second experience of-an airship disaster, having been one of the creiv who escaped from the' ill-fated Shenandoah eight years ago. The crash of the Akron is reckoned to bo the most costly disaster in the listory of aviation. Hundreds of vessels, naval and civilian, concentrated off Barnegat Light this morning, determined to renew' the pursuit on the faint chance that others might be saved. It is believed in authoritative circles that the missing men were trapped in the debris which sank.

Tho Secretary for the Navy stated that tho Macon, a sister ship to the Akron, now almost complete, would tot be accepted by the navy for service until it had passed exhaustive tests.

Two lives were lost, including that of Lieutenant-Commander David Cummins, in the disaster to the J 3.

The Akron, which shared with her sister dirigible the Macon, christened on March 11 at Akron, Ohio, tho distinction of being tho biggost in the world, formed a unit of tho United States Pacific Fleet. She was named at Akron on August 8, 1931, by Mrs Hoover. At the christening, the nose of the vessel was permitted to rise a few feet as a symbol of launching. The maiden flight of 125 miles over northeastern Ohio, with 113 passengers, took place on September 23, 1931. The Akron was 785 ft. from stem to stern — that is to say, she was only a few feet longer than the Graf Zeppelin—but he had a capacity of 6,500,000 cubic feet of non-inflammable, non-explosive gas, helium, which was twice the capacity of the Graf Zeppelin and threo times that of the naval dirigible Los Angeles. Her diameter was 133 ft.

The Akron had a lift of 91 tons. Eight SGO horse-power engines propelled her, and she was calculated to reach a speed of more than 80 miles an hour and fly over 10,500 miles without refuelling. As she used noninflammable helium, it was not necessary to house her motors in gondolas .suspended away from the hull, and her light motors were in motor-rooms in.ide her hull. Only tho control cabin protruded from tho hull's streamline.

The Akron was constructed by the Goodyear Company. This “warship of the air" cast the shadow of a passenger ship. She was regarded as a pioneer for commercial transport as well as for war manoeuvres. Her hull contained a hangar for several aeroplanes equipped with anti-aircraft runs, intended for scouting with a •adius of 9200 miles and capable of carrying a small expeditionary force. A shocking tragedy in connection with the Akron occurred on May 11. 1932. Two members of the ground crew who were attempting to moor the dirigible were swept up into the air it Camp Kearney, California, by the nooring ropes, lost their grip and fell to their deaths. The victims were Robert Edfall and a man named Henton. A third man, Bud Cowart, managed to damp his feet against a knot in the rope and held on while the •rew tried to lower the airship, which had been caught by a gust of wind. For two hours Cowart clung to the rope with a wooden “hand" used by the ground crew to hold tho landing cables. Meanwhile, the Akron was flying at an altitude of 2000 ft. in "bumpy" air. Finally the man was hauled into the dirigible by members of the crew, who opened the cockpit to hoist him up hand over hand.

MISHAP IN FRANCE

E 9 BREAKS IN HALVES SAINT NAZAIRE, April b. The semi-rigid dirigible E 9, in the course of a test flight from Rochelle with a crew of 12, crashed in open country at Gusrande and broke in halves. Two officers were injured.