STARTLING TALES OF AIRSHIP CRASH

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17647, 21 September 1925, Page 14

STARTLING TALES OF AIRSHIP CRASH

GALE NOT CAUSE OF SHENANDOAH’S FALL. EYE-WITNESSES AVER. By Telegraph.—-Press Assn.—Copyrights -Mis. snd NZ. Gable Association. SA N F R A N ( J SCO. Sep teraber 19. A message from Cambridge. Ohio, states that an article - published in the ‘Jeffersonian ’ declares that the Shenandoah was in distress for at least, two hours before she crashed, during which period no winds were recorded stronger 1 than forty miles an hour, intimating »;• that some cause other than the storm precipitated the . disaster.. 1 he disclosures .are based on records j recovered from--souvenir- hunters after the. crash, on statements from survivor's made immediate! v after the ’ disaster, and on.statements obtained from many newly discovered witnesses. Dr Arnpt, of Lora, City,. states that he saw the Shenandoah at 3..>0 ami., when the dirigible passed over that centre. The taihof the ship was turned upward, and ir had obviousiw !«..» buoyanev. tumbling and r-.iiing. r:<>si" down It was apparent that the pil e was-righting to keep ihr snij. l ) from ning to a greater altitude <le 'rge Davies cv the airship over Cambridge at 115 a.vn. It was i rat'd- | ling ur.t higher than 2500 feet; and *va: apparently, in .distress. . The tail was upward. The vessel turned off on a southward course about' three, 'miles west <f Cambridge The r.ight wi thcr. calm and clear. Df’/ies’s statement of tjie altitude ■ f i the airship is corroborated by the bar - ~ The ship's, dock 'stopped at 5.35 a>v . and the Shenandoah crashed fourteen miies south -A ' ambrirlgt Thus the dirigible 'took two hours five minutes j t' • travel the last, twenty-two miles. I D. Stevens, of -Cambridge, stated that he was sitting in the porch of his home near the scene .of the crash. The storm was mild. He said: “It appeared to me that the ship’s distress-was. not caused bv the storm, which I. would not call severe in the least." The article states: “beme of tne crew declared, immediately after the crash, that one of the crew became, excited, and opened a valve, while extreme pressure or. the cells blew a valve out, anti burst a. cell. Another of the crew declared that the commander surveyed the weather report at midnight, and remarked that there would be perfect weather for landing next day, as thenearest storms reported were slight. The article "The evidence obtained at the preliminary inquiry showed conclusively that, the velocity of the wind never; reached more than fortv miles an hour."