The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-07-02
Airship Is Wrecked
Half Mile From Shore
While Sailing at a Height of
1000 Feet.
Ii ON BOARD ARE KILLED
The Dead Include the Builder
and His Brother.
Expansion of Gas From Suns
Rays Held Responsible.

Atlantic City July I'm view of 5000
spectators the big dirigible balloon Ak
ron was shattered by the explosion of
the gas bag at 6:Ss this morning q
half mile Off shore over Absecon inlet
Melvin vaniman, who had built the
airship with the idea Of flying across
the Atlantic ocean: Calvin vaniman,
his younger brother, Fred Elmer, Wal
ter Guest and George Bourtillion. his
crew, were instantly killed. The bal
loon was sailing 1000 feet high and had
been in the air since 6:15 o'clock when
the accident occurred. She was a quar-
ter of a mile south OF Brigantine
Beach which is across the inlet from
this city. The huge envelope cont ain
ing thousands of cubic feet of gas
was rent by the terrific explosion. pro-
bably caused by expansion from the
SUMS rays. 1t burst near the middle
A mass of flames hid the ship from
view. For a space of perhaps ten sec
onds the half million dollar dirigible
was invisible, while the air about the
spot where she had been lowering
seemed to be all flames. The fire dis
sipated and then the. ship, outlined
against the sunrise was seen to fall like
a plummet.
First the understructure, or car, in
which were penned the unfortunate
men held in by a meshrvork put on
after the second trip of the balloon
three weeks ago unable to escape, broke
away from the envelope. 1t upended
the bow, turning first in a slow arc.
Then it reversed suddenly and plunged
downward Directly above, twisting in
a long spiral, was the bag a smoking
mass of rubber and silk with flames
shooting out from a dozen sections as
it collapsed. 1t fiuttered a moment
and then streaked down after the car.
One Body Recovered.
In the descent something which ap-
peared to be the body of a man snot
out to the left of the wreckage and
hit the water before the rest of the
descending mass. It was reported that
this was the headless body of Calvin
Vaniman.
At S:2O a. m. message was relay
ed ashore from rescuers that this body
had been recovered. With it came the
statement from Captain Lambert Par
ker, of the Absecon federal life saving
crew that this was true and that the
other four members of the crew were
entangled in the wreckage, beyond
reach for the present in 1S feet of wa
ter.
Thousands Of persons from every
part of the resort gathered along the
inlet, board walk and about the Vani-
man cottage. just across from the
hangar at the inlet where Mrs. Vapi-
man collapsed and became uncon-
excitement prevailed for time. Boats
were darting out from the inlet and all
along the shore of the thoroughfare
and beach. Police reserves who help
ed to launch the craft, which sailed
along gracefully until tie accident oc-
CURED, kept the crowds from about
the Vaniman villa.
second Flight This Year.
The fight was the second that the
airship had taken this year. After
tfnkering all winter on the ship Vani-
man took the Akron out for a short
fight on Saturday morning, June 1.
At that time the balloon was nearly
wrecked by some of the mechanism
going wrong but it was landed without
serious mishap.
The longest flight tie balloon made
was last fall when it spent the greater
part of the day in the air in the VI
cinity of this city. At that time the
gas in the bag was not sufficient to
keep the big ship constantly in the air
and it had to make several landings
During the winter Naniman improved
the ship through lessons learned in
that fight.
In general appearance the Akron
wasnot unlike the America in which
Walter Wellman and Vaniman at
tempted to cross the Atlantic ocean
in October, 1910. but there were many
differences in the construction. The
gas bag was 80 feet longer than that
of the America but was smaller in d.
ameter. The dimensions were:
Length of bag, 25S feet: diameter,
Al feet. The bag was made of a COM
position of rubber and was construct
ed in Ohio. Beneath was the car.
similar in shape to the Americas but
longer, perhaps $50 feet long. The
bottom of the car was composed OF
a round steel tank two feet in dame
ter and about 100 feet long. In this
tank was stored the gasoline. The car
tubing of light construction. On top
of the tank was a platform of two
inch boards and on this rested one
100 horse power motor. two Of 80
horse power, one II horse power mo-
tor and a small dynamo.
Had Three Large Motors.
The 100 horse power motor was
used for the two forward vertical Dro-
pellers and the other two large motors
for the two pairs of horizontal pro-
pellers. These propellers could be
turned from the horizontal to the YER
tical and were used to raise or lower
the ship.
The small motor and dynamo were
used for electric lighting and to fur
nish power to the wireless outfit. Some
of the supplies of the ship were also
stored on this platform. In the for
ward end of the platform were the
steering wheel and gear for controll-
ing the rudder and the stabilizing
planes fore and aft. The sleeping ac-
commodations for the crew consisted
of hammocks strung up in the car.
The disaster came as a shock to the
people of Atlantic City who had come
to know Vaniman Verv well. For a
week the airman had been planning to