A NEW ZEPPELIN

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 75, Issue 119, 23 May 1932, Page 10

A NEW ZEPPELIN

TO OUTDO THE “GRAF.” LENGTH OF 810 FEET. The airship Graf Zeppelin can look back upon some very impressive achievements during the past few years. It covered a total distance of some 220,000 miles—namely, nine times the length of the Equator. About 15,500 persons and 100,0001 b. of baggage were carried on these flights. The LZI29, now in course of construction, will be capable of still greater achievements. It will be larger than the Graf Zeppelin, and its design will incorporate all the technical progresses made in recent years. The increase in size will be very eouiderable. Its length will be 810 ft. (instead of 770 ft.), its largest diameter 134 ft. (98ft.), the’passenger accommodation 50, and the cargo and mail-carrying capacity 160 cwt. The metal frame will again consist of duraluminium, and its general design will resemble that of the Graf Zeppelin. The hull will be subdivided into 16 bulkheads. Helium, a non-com-bustible gas, will be used as the filling material. Small hydrogen cells intended to adjust the weight of the airship during its cruises will be incorporated with the helium cells. The loss of v, eight duo to the consumption of fuel will be neutralised by lotting off the hydrogen gas, i.e., by decreasing the buoyancy. The pilots’ cabin will occupy the forepart of the airship, but will be completely separated from the passenger rooms, which will be located amidships, and will be provided with considerable improvements upon those of the Graf Zeppelin. They will be distributed over two decks, there being an upper (or “A”) and a lower (or “B”) deck. The former will accommodate 26 two-berth cabins, whilst the social rooms, etc., will be on the latter deck. The style and the arrangement of the rooms prove that the experiences gained by the Hamburg-American Line (which company operates the services conjointly with the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin G.m.b.H.) in connection with its overseas passenger business have been largely utilised. Just as the ocean liners arc equipped with promenade decks, the new airship will have a corridor on each side of the social rooms, fitted with large glass windows through which passengers can view large parts of the countryside below, and the distant horizon. The meals are prepared in the electric kitehen, and will be served in the handsome dining room. The “B” deck ajso accommodates the reading room and its library, the main social rooms and the smoke room, the size of the latter being about the same as that of the dining room and social room of the Graf Zeppelin. Zeppelin passengers, therefore, will enjoy practically all those advantages which are customarily found on modern overseas passenger steamers.