GIANT AIRSHIP

Te Aroha News, Volume XLI, Issue 6468, 12 April 1924, Page 6

GIANT AIRSHIP

TRANSATLANTIC FLIGHT TESTS IN GERMANY The transatlantic voyage of the airship ZR3, constructed by the Zeppelin Company at Friedriehshaven for the United States, has again been postponed. Originally the flight was planned for last November, but was subsequently fixed for the end of April. Now it is unlikely to take place, says the Berlin correspondent of “The Times,” before the end of May. The reason for the latest postponement is the desire to carry out a series of test flights over Germany to prove the reliability of her five new 12cylinder Maybach motors of 400 h.p. each. Previously motors used even in war-time Zeppelins did not exceed 260 h.p. With the new higher-powered type it is hoped to render the -airship, which is the 160th built by the Zeppelin Company safe and controllable in any storms likely to be encountered. It embodies all the latest constructional improvements. For the Atlantic voyage to America the airship will be controlled by Herr Eckener, one of the leading Zeppelin flight engineers, and the crew will be mainly German.

The Maybach firm is one of the biggest engineering concerns in Germany/and before the war specialised in the manufacture of racing cars.