The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-03-28

In retrospect of the year 1908
probably the most striking thing
about the period will be the wonderful
advance made in the sphere of aerial
navigation. In no preceding period of
equal length has one fraction of the
accomplishments of 1905 been achieved.
New records for distance, height and
practically everything else were made,
and feats performed which even one
year previous would have been deem
ed the rawlings of an unbalanced mind.
More flights were made in every part
of the world in every conceivable type
of air-cleaving machine and the public
at large began to respect the pr0phe-
cies of those who foretold d practical
utilization Of these strange birds of
passage for sport, commerce and war.
Apart from the worldwide sensational
achievements Of the Wright brothers,
whose wonderful accomplishments on
both sides of the Atlantic have been
received with such acclaim. probably
most interest attaches to the work in
Germany of Count Zeppelin with an
entirely different type of air vessel.
The Zeppelin airship is not an aero
plane like the Wrights machines, but
an airship combining the qualities Of
a balloon, yet unlike the latter in that
it is dirigible. The Zeppelin was, and
is-there have been several-a great
cylindrical framework of aluminium,
pointed at the ends and covered with
Iinoleum Inside a row of ordinary
round balloons are inflated. Close be-
meath the cylindrical cigar shaped body
of the airship are suspended gondolas,
which float on the water, often neces
sary when the ship is first launched
from it's shed on the waters of Lake
Constance (where most of the flights
have been heidi, or when alighting on
the same body of water. The motors
and propellers are well upon the sides
of the so-called cigar, so that they
push right in the line the body has to
travel. BY careful study Count Yep
pelin has evolved a series Of rudders
and propellers, which enable him to go
just where he wishes. thus realizing
most remarkably the dream of an al
most perfectly dirigible airship. The
flight last August of this remarkable
creation of the German scientist over
the mountains of the German-SwisS
frontier, heralded around the world,
aweke the self-same world to the pos
sibilities of airships of this kind. Even
the wreck of the Zeppelin ". meant
nothing as concerns the merits of the
machine, for the storm did most of the
damage through the leakage of gas
mingled with the air inside the alumni
mum. This mixture made strong and
powerful explosive. only ready for a
spark of any kind to bring about the
wreck. Had the Zeppelin been flying
in the air at the time she might easily
have been saved. for to airships air
means safety, just as water of great
depth does to steamships, which in
shallow water are lost.
The wonderful performance of this
particular Zeppelin was accomplished
on August f. the trip being from Lake
Constance to Basel and Strasburg
down the Rhine to Mayence, a dis
lance of $50 miles. Automobiles which
ATTEMPTED to follow it were left far
beblnd, SO great was the speed OF the
airship. The accident which destroyed
the machine occurred on the return
trip, or, rather. while preparations
We're being made for the return from
Mayenee Count Zeppelin had tele
graphed for more cylinders, and was
waiting for them when a small cyclone
arose. which dashed the airship. held
by soldiers, to the ground and destroy
ed it in conjunction with the explo-
sions which came Immediately after
ward
Throughout all Germany the loss of
the wonderful machine was felt to be
national calamity, and messages of
coincidence and offering assistance