AIRSHIP COLLAPSES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16513, 25 August 1921, Page 7

AIRSHIP COLLAPSES.

R. 38 BREAKS IN HALF.

HEAVY LOSS OF LIFE FEARED. A TERRIFIC EXPLOSION. By Telegraph—Press \s.ociation —Copyright. Australian and N.Z. Press Association. (Received August 25, 9.50 a.m.) LONDON, August 24. The airship 1138, intended ior America, while on its trial trip broke into halves over Hull. There were about fifty people aboard, and it is feared that there will be a heavy loss of life. Three parachutes were seen to leave the airship. One report is to the effect that only two people were saved. Thousands watched the R. 38 cruising over the city at 5.30 this afternoon. A few minutes later the air- , ship broke and fell into the Humber, belching a dense cloud of blue smoke and flame. Tho effect of the explosion wrecked shop fronts in the centre of the city* Two dead bodies fell to the ground. A number of injured have been sent to hospital. ONLY SIX SURVIVORS. COMMANDER UNINJURED. Australian and N.Z. Press Association. (Received August 25. 10.55 a.m.) • LONDON, August 24. Lieutenant Wann was commanding the R. 38, with Flight-Lieutenant Little second in command, and FlightLieuitenaint Montague the navigator. There were also aboard Commodore Maitland, who was officer commanding all British airships in 1913, Majors Thomas and Maxwell, and twenty-on© Americans, including Commander-Lieu-tenant-Oolonel Coil, who was second in command of the American, crew in the Atlantic flight. The loss falls on Britain. It is reported that there are six survivors. Bateman, one of them, states that the ship took a sharp turn to the right from the centre of Hull. Another survivor says that one of the main girders failed t-o take the strain. Bateman hung on to the rear portion and alighted in the water safely. Commander Wann was saved uninjured. A message received cm August 7 from London stated: —-The airship R. 38, which was purchased by America, is undergoing her final trials. She will start on the trip across the Atlantic on August 25. She will carry an American naval crew of thirty, under Commander Maxfield. The vessel is driven by six 350-horse-power engines. She will carry thirty tons of petrol for the voyage. A new type of aircraft, partly aeroplane and partly ship, and capable of resting on the ocean In the roughest weather, which is expected to fly from London to New York in forty hours, is undergoing trials in England. Gigantic flying ships are being designed on tho same principle, and are capable of carrying a hundred passengers, in addition to crew, food and stores, and crossing the Atlantic in less than fortyeight hours.