GERMAN FLYING HOUSE NEARING COMPLETION

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 65, 17 March 1936, Page 10

GERMAN FLYING HOUSE NEARING COMPLETION

Engineers and Aeronautics Experts Expect To Put a Great Dirigible m Service Soon, Carrying 50 Passengers in Comfort Across The Atlantic m Two Days

CREAKING OF AIRSHIPS one is inclined to think of gondolas, an eerie smell of gas, wind blowing through cracks and crevices, howling engines, the singing of wires in the wind and the clatter of machine telegraphs. One is apt —as in the earlier days of airplane travelling—to arrive at the airport dressed as if one were about to start on a polar expedition, with fur-lined coats, woollen socks and warm underclothing. One would scarcely expect to enter what resembles a comfortable hotel with corridors and stairs, bedrooms and bathrooms, lounge and dining hall, and still less expect thut, while one is yet unpacking, this whole hotel, with its rooms and passengers and luggage and all, would gently rise, higher and higher, and glide swiftly through the air until, two days later, it descended just as gently ami discharged its guests in another continent on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. But that is what is actually about to take place in the very near future, if all goes according to schedule. For far down in the south-west corner of Germany, in a huge shed surrounded by low’ factory buildings, lies the “LZ 129,” Germany’s newest and finest airship, now rapidly nearing co uplet ion at the Zeppelin works at Friedrichshafen. Spaciousness is its keynote. As one enthusiastic visitor to Friedrichshafen put it. “Roominess—that was my first and lasting impression. One can move about. There are stairs and rooms for every purpose. It is like being on board a ship; it. is like a house.” This spaciousness was made by moving the passenger accommodation into the hull, for there they could expand without creating that head resistance which a gondola-like protrusion of sufficient size underneath the hull would have offered. On the other hand, the designer of the rooms could not space them as he pleased but had to consider certain technical requirements. It seemed, for instance, not desirable to spread the passenger section over a great length. One of the chief

points to be considered in airship construction is weight distribution. This oiade it advisable to keep the passenger accommodation as compact as possible. they were, therefore, distributed over two decks, A Deck and B Deck, one above the other. This involved another technical advantage. The base of the passenger section, now being shorter, could rest on only four of the ring girders of the hull’s framework, and thus only these four needed special strengthening. The double-deck, therefore, also means a saving in weight and that is an all-important factor in airship design. .Moreover, it introduces a note of variety for the passengers. The light Hooding in at the windows ami through the unpainted strip of fabric into A Deck is made available in a clever way for the dining saloon on the port side and for f he lounge on the starboard side. Unlike those on seagoing vessels, these rooms are not separated from the promenade decks by walls but only by low bannister-like partitions enabling the light to stream right in and giving a greater sense of spaciousness. Starboard promenade deck and lounge arc therefore really one. The same may be said of the port promenade deck and the dining saloon. Between the lounge and the dining room, in the centre of A Deck, are the 25 cabins for the 50 passengers. They arc therefore all ‘"inside” cabins, to use a ship’s expression. The plan of A Deck from port to starboard is therefore us follows: Port promenade dock, dining saloon, cabins, lounge and library, starboard promenade dock. B Deck houses a wide assortment of rooms. There is a smoking room, a bathroom, lavatories, the kitchen, the officers’ mess, the crew’s dining saloon and a room for the stewards. The promenade decks are 45 feet long and almost 6 feet wide, so that two passengers can comfotably walk down them side by side. The windows can be opened and afford a beautiful view downwards. Altogether a stage of airship development has been reached in which comfort has become one of the chief considerations. In the early stages of any system of transporta-

tion the chief concern is usually the mechanical improvements. Passengers are willing to put up with discomfort as long as they can enjoy the thrill of being conveyed in a new way. Many still remember the days when the <•■ e and only airplane passenger sat next to the pilot, precariously perched on a little board on the edge of the wing. Comfort, it may be safe to say, spells technical progress. When it is staled that an airship like the “LZ 129” has 5,500,000 rivets, 83 miles oi steel wire, 71.4 miles of steel bands, 43.5 miles of struts. 12.4 miles of girders, 27,000 square meters of fabric then it is understandable why a few hundred pound may be devoted to bedsteads and baths and windows and chairs. But one must always bear in mind that a cubic meter of gas is needed to lift every two pounds of weight. And this ship has 190,000 cubic meters of gas capable of lifting 380,000 pounds. In the “LZ 129” the passenger qur»*tcrs are separated from the steering cabin or “bridge.” On the “Graf Zeppelin” both were joined together, and nothing could prevent inquisitive passengers from flocking into the forepart and watching the helmsman steer. Indeed, there are many things on the ‘ ‘ LZ 129” which the passengers will not see. For example, the huge freight holds where complete motorcars can easily be carried; the electric power plant with its two Diesel engines hidden away in the hull. Then there are the crew's quarters. For the first time the crew has been given proper accommodation. Soon the ship will start a fortnightly service between the new airport, which is being built at Frankfurt-on-Main, South Germany, and Lakehurst, New Jersey. The trip is to last two days, and will cost about 1000 marks, or £BO. A business man should be able to leave New York on a Monday and arrive in Europe on a Wednesday, attend to his business in Berlin, Paris or London. and return Thursday and be back again in New York Saturday evening. All in one week. The new Zeppelin ship will tielp to make the. world smaller, and she frill be a Ship of Peace.