The Fall of Wellman.

Progress, Volume VI, Issue 1, 1 November 1910, Page 436

The Fall of Wellman.

For the tMrd time hag Mr _ Wellman come to For tne tsnr( J time nas iYLr - wellman come to grief, and for the third time has he demonstrated the unsuitability of the dirigible type for an trustworthy work. The first time—two ago, when he started for the North Polewind simply drove him off the line and threw him on to a friendly glacier. The next attempt was nipped at the outset by a gale, which smashed the airship at the garage. He gave up t] ? e Arctic after tatn ? was fought to ha given up aeronautics, but he had made up his mind to make a record fly across the Atlantic. After much preparation he started from Atlantic City on Saturday, October 15th. A few days of in . te ? se excitement followed, with occasional wireless messages. Those from the airship kept a good countenance. But the task proved too great. Wellman and his party were blown away towards the West Indies and half way over a^ ll^ ned their airship and were picked up by l^ilfZ'^Ajl^TStf^i of all the stories in the airship record: that the dirigible is not a craft to be depended upon, T *! e America was probably as good as any airsniP that has ever been turned out bv the builders! Yet she proved unable to keep a course. Wellman lays the blame on the equilibrator. This was a floating collection of gasoline cylinders attaehed by a rope to the airship. Some Such ai ' ran g ement was deemed necessary for the purpose of preventing loss of hydrogen by the necessary descents during the voyage and the disturbance of equilibrium from throwing out °{ wei g ht for the purpose of rising. The weight , the gasoline attached to the rope, it was hoped) would maintain a steadv level 1 Probably the hope was justified, but the cost was too great for the airship 's safety, as the drag proved to o much for the P ower of the propeller. Hence tffW «" wind. The result was duly chronicled. When the mail files arrive, there will be an exciting narrative. The additional failure will not help the dirigible ty P e to rehabilitate itself with the world, it TIL Ii« tiL"?? exa^eration > that the navies of the world are for the present Quite safe from the much discussed dibble. 'The Gordon Bennet race from St. Louis North has furtber demonstrated the utter unreliability of -J* J?"*? 1 !; Itf\ Governments go on spendg money on the type, as for example. Britain with the purchase of the big Clement-Bayard that has just sailed over from Paris to London.