BRITAIN’S AIR MONSTER.

Thames Star, Volume LXII, Issue 17438, 24 August 1928, Page 6

BRITAIN’S AIR MONSTER.

lUOO READY FOR FLIGHT. IN TWO MONTHS. Two months hence the world’s largest airship,.-RIOO, will he ready for her first flight. This monster of 5,000,000 cubic feet capacity, is being completed at Howden, Yorkshire, and, was recently inspected by a large party of members of Parliament, Dominion High Commissioners, and experts*.

The airship is 709 feet, long and weighs 15G tons. It is driven by six Rolls-Royce engines, developing 4200 horse-power, and can fly from England to India in four days, Canada in three days, and Australia within eight days. The six engines are housed in three power eggs, slung from the after portion of the airship, so far from the passenger quartei*s that their roar is reduced by distance to a subdued murmur. In these power eggs the engines and dynamos which supply the airship with light and heat are also installed.

Accommodation ' for 100 passengers and a crew of 50 is provided in a huge structure consisting- of four decks. The lower deck, which projects below the airship, contains the control cabin, and above this bunks and living-rooms for the crew are situated. The two upper decks are reserved for passengers, and are on a scale never before attempted on any flying machine. There is a diningroom for 50 people, served front an all-electric kitchen, two or four-berth state rooms, and balcosies are large enough for the 100 passengers to sit at tea and watch the changing landscape below. .As soon as the official trials are completed, the RIOO will make a transAtlantic flight.