AIRSHIP R101 CRASH

Taranaki Daily News, 7 November 1930, Page 9

AIRSHIP R101 CRASH

EVIDENCE AT THE INQUIRY EARLIER FLIGHT SATISFACTORY. : EXPERIENCES IN HEAVY GALE. British Wireless. Rugby, Nov. 5. At the RlOl inquiry Air Marshal 'Sir John. Higgins .mentioned an occasion ..when the airship was at the mast at Cardington and rode out a gale when the wind reached 83 miles an,hour. He said that during July the question arose whether the RICH should stand by and possibly take the place of the RlOO on the Canadian flight. Lord Thomson then said that whatever happened, even to the ■ extent of/the abandonment oiAthe Canadian flight, the RlOl was to be' ready for the flight to India by the last week of September as he had made all his arrangements accordingly. I; '- As to her trial flight on October 1 and 2 Sir John Higgins said that both Major Scott and Wing-Commander Colmore had told him that the flight was very satisfactory. Sir John Higgins recalled writing last year a reply to Lord Thomson, who was annoyed because the airship was put in the shed owing to the warning of a severe gale. Sir John Higgins' therein pointed out that the alternative might have been a flight to avoid - the gale which Commander Richmond, the designer, thought was an unjustifiable risk as an endurance flight had not yet been carried out. Lord Thomson later said: “I consider the right policy is to go on steadily with progressive experiment enabling the achievement of our extensive programme. Ido not anticipate further difficulties from weather if a slow,, and sure policy is followed out.” z Flight-Lieutenant 1 Moore, who assisted in the investigation, gave evidence. A man who was familiar with judging altitudes declared that the airship passed over befpre the crash at a height of 330 feet. LEADING BASKET CONDEMNED. ECKENER’S BELIEF IN AIRSHIPS. Rec. 7.15 p.m. Berlin, Nov. 5. Captain Hugo Eckener, commander of the Graf Zeppelin, suggests that the cause of the tragic RICH descent was the leading basket which reduced the ship’s buoyancy. The result would have been far less tragic had the ship not been filled with hydrogen, which needed only a spark or piece of hot metal to ignite it. / . ' , Captain Eckener emphatically reasserted his belief in airships. No decision as to the use of the airship RlOO will be reached until the report of the court of inquiry has been received and considered in all its beamings on future airship policy, said Mr. F. Montague in the House of Commons. The cost of upkeep of RlOO in flying condition, including pay of the personnel and overhead charges, was about £6OO a week. RlOO was at present being deflated and a full inspection of the hull was proceeding. The Minister also informed . questioners that the cost of airships constructed since the Armistice was: R 33 and .36, £350,000; RBO, £275,000; R3B, £500,000; R 37, not completed, £325,000; RlOO, contract price £350,000; RlOl, including the insertion of an additional bay and other alterations, £640,000. Two German airships taken over at the Armistice were dismantled, being unsuitable for ..the Air Ministry’s programme. The total expenditure on them was about £|oo,ooo.