AIRSHIP DISASTER

Taranaki Daily News, 26 August 1921, Page 5

AIRSHIP DISASTER

BURSTS IN MID-AIR.

FORTY-FOUR KILLED. SHIP BREAKS IN TWO. FIRE FOLLOWS EXPLOSIONS. A terrible airship disaster, involving the deaths of 44 men, occurred over the city of Hull, in Yorkshire.

R3B, the biggest airship yet built, which was to fly from England to America, was sailing over Hull on a trial voyage, when the thousands of spectators were amazed to see the huge craft suddenly break in two with a terrific explosion, the portions bursting into flames as they fell. Rescuers were quickly on the scene, but there were only five survivors of the 49 occupants.

Graphic stories by eye-witnesses of the disaster show that the airship was sailing beautifully in perfect control before the accident, which took place with bewildering suddenness, and which was all over in about a minute, all that remained being a mass of crumpled, burning debris. The cause of the accident is not known.

SCENE IN THE AIR. THOUSANDS WATCH DISASTER. A TERRIBLE DEATH. TERRIFIC EXPLOSIONS. By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. Received August 25, 5.5 pun. London, August 24. R3B, a big airship built in England for America, with her silver coat glistening in the sun, was sailing above Hull, apparently in perfect safety, at a height of 1000 feet, and the whole city was looking on. The spectators commented on the beautiful appearance, and the engineers observed that the engines were firing very evenly. The airship then disappeared in a cloud, and when it emerged the spectators were horrified to see it break in two portions. Both descended slowly, the nose portion, which was the larger, coming down first. As it did so, a mass, believed to be the engine and one of the gondolas, fell from the airship, and two terrific reports followed. The foremost portion landed on a sandbank and the rear half a mile away in the Humber.

The effect of the explosion wrecked shop fronts in the centre of the city. Two dead bodies have been landed, and a number of men sent to hospital. SURVIVOR’S STORY.

There were about 49 persons on board, and it is feared there will be heavy loss of life. Three parachutes were seen to leave the airship. The saved number five, namely, Flight-Lieutenant Wann and Bateman ami three Americans.

Lieutenant Wann was commanding R3B, Flight Lieutenant Little second in command, and Flight Lieutenant Montague navigator. There were also on board Commodore Maitland, who is the officer commanding all British airships, Major Thomas, Major Maxfield and 21 Americans, including Commander Lieutenant-Colonel Coil, who was second in command oi the American crew in the Atlantic flight. The loss falls on Britain.

Bateman, one of the survivors, states that the. ship took a sharp turn to tue right from the centre of the hull. Another survivor says that one of the main girders failed to take the strain. Bateman hung on to the rear portion and alighted m the water safely. FlightLieutenant Wann, who was saved, was not injured. PERILS OF RESCUE. Thousands of people rushed to a pier near the spot where the wreckage lay. Tugs and small boats hurried to render assistance, despite the fact that fragments of the airship were burning on the sand bank and floating in the water, but the rescuers were only able to pick up two sur-vivors—Flight-Lieutenant Wann, who is reported to be seriously injured, and Bateman, a youth, who was able to walk to an ambulance after a tug landed him. R3B developed a certain structural weakness a few weeks back, and the frar.ic was strengthened. She went for an extended trial from Howden last night, and wirelessed that the trials were most successful. The airship intended iandiir.; at Pulham (Norfolk), but a thunderstorm raged there for two hours, and a wireless message was sent ordering her to wait, owing to heavy cloud*. At seven o’clock this morning R3B was reported flying over Howden, and at 1.50 she was east of The Wash, proceeding to Pulham. The vessel had been in the air 35 hours when she approached Hull, and rudder tests were being carried out at the time of the disaster. Bateman, who was saved, was in the tail of the ship taking photographs of the rudder tests. ESCAPE BY PARACHUTES.

An eye-witness on the ground says that when it was apparent that the ship was cracking up in the middle her engines were working at a terrific speed. He believes Flight-Lieutenant Wann, realising the danger, put on the utmost speed in order to get clear of the city. The general opinion is that Flight-Lieutenant Wann’s skilful navigation alone prevented the ship from falling in the centre of the city. As it was the force of the explosion wrecked windows and shop fronts in the main streets, and many people on the quays were thrown to the ground. Apart from Flight-Lieutenant Wann and Bateman, three Americans, who took to parachutes, were rescued from the Humber. They are: I. Davies, W. Porter and O. Walker. The two latter were uninjured, and Davies was sent to hospital. Lieut. Little was taken from the debris alive, but he succumbed while being cwaveyed to

hospital. It is just possible some of the bodies are inside the envelope floating on the river, but there is no chance of their being alive. The Daily Telegraph correspondent at Hull states that as he watched the giant airship he thought its sylph-like appearance suggested a visitor from some fairy world. He said to a friend: “It makes one want to cheer.” A few moments later the airship’s nose pointed down and clouds of green colored vapor poured from her side. As the volume of vapor increased the airship appeared to bend or break in. the middle. The rear portion detached itself and began to fall, and as it fell bright red flames appeared. The correspondent adds: “I realised that the airship that rode so proudly a moment earlier was afire. Two loud reports in , quick succession told the amazed spectators that R3B had come to her doom—a | stricken monster crumpled up. Some of I her crew were seen to be descending in parachutes. It was all over in less than , ; a minute. The effect on the spectators was ; stupefying, and many women, buret into tears. When I reached the pier the vessel ' which had been the aerial pride of the world lay in the water a twisted mass of i . fabric and framework, with portions of its ' length burning for hundreds of feet along ! the top of the water. The only part bear- i I ing any resemblance to the airship was 1 the stem, which ballooned to a considerable height.” WORSE DISASTER AVERTED.

The Daily Chronicle correspondent says he was watching the airship as the long, graceful shape came out from a light summer cloud, when suddenly it buckled and broke in two, and flames shot from the ! ship’s side with a loud explosion. When the mass fell headlong into the river many spectators were panic-stricken, but it seemed that the navigating officer had had a few seconds’ warning, and by a supreme effort he got clear of the city. This last thought of a man facing death averted an even more terrible disaster. Sergeant Busby, a member of the American Air Force, who was a spectator, told me: “I consider there was some fire amidships. The airship collapsed in the centre when turning. It was God’s mercy the disaster did not occur over the town.”

The Daily Express’ Hull correspondent describes the explosions as like immense rockets. When the material touched the ! water at huge column of flames and smoke I went up, and it seemed that nothing on earth could live in this inferno. The river pilots who first reached the sinking airship say the fore end broke away forty seconds before the after part. They saw beds and blankets dropping from her, but they fell into the other portion of the wreck, which was a mass of flames. “We had to cut sections of the envelope open with jackknives to get. the survivors out, but we were unable to extricate ‘the dead,” added the pilots. “A TERRIBLE TIME” The correspondent continues: The first man brought ashore was unconscious, but the second was smoking a cigarette, but was none the worse, except for a ducking. He said: “I saved myself by climbing with the officers on to the rudder of the airship.” This was Davies, an American, who was picked up swimming in the river. When be landed he walked through thousands of people, who cheered him to the echo for his pluck. Interviewed later, Davies said: “We had a terrible time, but it was all over in a minute. Many of the poor fellows hadn’t a cat’s chance, and some jumped overboard. I was one of the lucky ones.”

Au official communique states that the time of the accident was 5.45 p.m. The cause is unknown. There is difficulty in obtaining information, as no member of the Air Force personnel was near the scene. The newspapers point out that the loss of life i greater than in any previous airship disaster. R3B was 695 feet long, and her cruising range was 6500 miles. There had been rumors regarding her airworthiness in circulation last week serious enough to warrant a denial by the American authorities. Some spectators state that they observed a diagonal crack at the moment of the disaster, which rapidly developed until the ship broke in two. A wireless message dispatched two minutes liefore the however, and received in Howden, said: “Running in fine condition,” and it added that tbe vessel would reach 'Pulliam, at 6.30 p.m. A PATHETIC ASPECT.

A pathetic fact is that no fewer than nine of the American naval airmen stationed at Howden married English girls during the months of waiting for the completion of R3B, and the last ceremony took place at Howden on Sunday. Their bodies will he embalmed.

Lieutenant-Commander Byrd, who came from America io command the airship during the Atlantic arrived at Howden too late to take part in this cruise, though he watched the ascent and was going to Pulham to board the vessel when be heard of the disaster. Bateman was a representative of the National Physiological Laboratory. Turnbull, designer of the airship, and Warren, superintendent of the Air Force works, were also on board. Commodore Maitland held world’s records for balloon flights and parachute descents. He once left London and landed in a Russian forest. He was on board the R 34 when she flew the Atlantic. Commodore Maitland was the firmest believer in the possibilities of a flight to Australia, and was looking forward to taking part in it.

THE NEWS IN AMERICA. GRIEF AT THE DISASTER. LOSS FALLS ON BRITAIN. Received August 25, 11.50 p.m. New York, August 25. The New York Times’ Washington correspondent reports that aviation experts agree that if helium instead of imflammable gas had been 'used the R3B accident would not have resulted in the destruction of the airship and such loss of life. The Aero Club of America has issued a statement suggesting that hereafter only helium, should be used in American dirigibles. A hangar costing 3,000,000 dollars, and taking two years in construction had been erected at Lake Hurst, New Jersey, by the Navy Department to house the dirigible upon arrival in America. The Government built a large plant for the production of helium at Fort North, Texas, near the oil fields, which was the only natural source of supply of helium.

Mr. Edwin Denby (Secretary ot the Navy) cabled to the American Naval Attache in London: “The Navy Department of the United States extends to the Air Ministry and the British Navy the deepest sympathy in the appalling disaster to Z.R.3 (the American nomenclature for R. 38). We hope our earlier reports wi,ll prove exaggerated concerning the loss of life.” Admiral Moffett, head of the American Naval Air Service, commenting on the accident, regretted that so many good aviation officers have lost their lives. He added: ; “We will carry on and build and operate >as many big rigid dirieibles .as ore neceo-

sary in order that these brave men shall not have given their lives in vain.” Commander Maxfield was 38 years old. He was, like Commodore Maitland, a pioneer, having received a heav*er-than-air licence before the war.

It is understood an agreement exists between the United States and Britain under which the United States paid 2,000,000 dollars for the dirigible, provided that if the airship was lost on the trans-Atlantic flight the loss should be borne by Bri-tain.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.

REMARKABLE AIRSHIP THE BIGGEST EVER BUILT. FEATURES OF HER DESIGN. R3B was recently purchased by America, and was to l>B flown across the Atlantic. The craft was the biggest airship ever built, being driven by six 350 horse-power engines. She was built in Britain by British labor, to British designs, as American enterprise has not hitherto done much to develop the airship. The dimensions of the airship are: Length, 695 feet; diameter, 85 feet; gas capacity, 2,750,000 cubic feet; total lift, 83 tons; horse-power, 2100; full speed, 70 miles per hour; endurance at full speed, 5000 miles; normal speed, 60 miles per hour; endurance at normal speed, 6500 miles. Armament: 14 Lewis guns, one onepounder automatic, four 5201 b bombs, six 2301 b bombs. Crew: 30. A recent report stated: The R3B can climb to an altitude of 25,000 feet, which outdistances by nearly 13,000 feet the altitude record of the R 34, the only airship which so far has flown across the Atlantic Ocean and back. The most notable difference between the two is in the respective total lift and disposal lift of the two airships. The total lift under normal conditions of R 34 was 59 £• tons, and the disposal lift 24 tons, while in the case of the R3B the total lift is 83 tons and the disposal lift 50 tons. The frame of the R3B is built of duralumin, and contains 14 compartments, in each of which is’ a gas hag. Inside the bottom of the airship, and running from end to end, is a corridor containing the aluminium petrol tanks, the fabric water-ballast bags, accommodation for bombs, and the sleeping and living quarters of the crew when off duty.