NEW DIRIGIBLES

Taranaki Daily News, 22 July 1929, Page 2

NEW DIRIGIBLES

CARRY FIVE AEROPLANES TRAVEL OF THE FUTURE. That large commercial rigid airships will in the future be the common vehicles for long-distance travel is the firm belief of Mr. A. C. Hammond, of Christchurch, who returned from a visit to tho United States and Canada by the Niagara on Monday. While in Akron (U.S.A.), Mr. Hammond took an extended flight in a new dirigible, the Puritan, the first ship to be designed and constructed in America, under the direction of Dr. Karl Arnstein, vicepresident of the Goodyear Zeppelin Corporation, and the builder of 90 Zeppelin type airships. Dr. Arnstein was formerly chief engineer of .the German Zeppelin Company at Friedrichshafen, Germany. “It was one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life,” he said. “This little ship only 126 ft long, .and holding 86,€00 cubic feet of helium, the noninflammable lifting gas, speeds along smoothly and silently, the pilot and passengers entirely enclosed in a comfortable windproof cabin. This lighter-than-air dirigible will be greatly dwarfed by the two huge dirigibles of 6,500,000 cubic feet gas capacity which are being built for the United States Navy. These navy ships will measure 785 ft long, 132 ft wide, and 146 ft high, and will be able to attain a speed of 72 miles an hour. Both of them will be more than twice as large as the Los Angeles, the only rigid ship now owned by the navy, and the largest ship in America to-day. They will also be larger than the Graf Zeppelin, which recently made trans-Atlantic flights, and the two British airships under construction.”

Mr. Hammond said the navy dirigibles will be built in Akron, the home of the American Zeppelin industry. “Preliminary work on the construction of the largest hangar in the world has already started,” he declared. “This hangar will measure 1200 ft long, 360 ft wide, and 200 ft high. The navy airships will have a cruising range, without refuelling, at 50 knots, of 9500 miles. One of the outstanding constructional features of these ships will be the carrying of five airplanes within the hull. Through a trapeze arrangement that will swing through sliding doors, the airplanes can be released and later picked up while in full flight. Airplanes intended for use with the airship will be equipped with special hooks above their wings for attaching to the trapeze. “Instead of one chamber for lifting gas, such as non-rigid and semi-rigid ships have, the navy rigids will have several gas bags, so that in case of damage to one or more, the ship’s bouyancy will be only slightly affected, and repairs can be made while the ship is in flight. They will be inflated with helium. Since 1912 the company has built nearly 1000 balloons of various types, and upwards of 100 airships, mostly of the non-rigid type. The first American semi-rigid, the RS-1, and gas cells for the Shenandoah gnd Los Angeles were built by the company.”