The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1913-10-29
.AlRSHIP EKPE0DES|
.zEpPElINs, LATEST: DlRl6IBLE. Ii]I J.
MEETS. DISASTER -. 49,: =. :. j..
TWENTY EIGHT KILLED

TWENTY Eight KILLED /
ia ..--e..- - -:
= -. KS - :: -. -;
Ship Was on Final Trial Pending !Ac--
ceptance by German Government.
Explosion Caused by Ignition of
Gas, Causing Airship to Drop 900
Feet. -.' 49, .;s:....,.-- ;:
.....-.-.. 80. =. -. -s:
Twenty-eight persons were killed
Friday near Joharisthal, Germany, IN
the explosion and fall of Count Zep-
pelins latest dir;gible balloon, the
LII. The .twenty-eight men repre-
sented the entire personnel of the
admiralty board, which was to con-
duct the final trial of the dirigible
looking to it's acceptance by the gov
ernment as new unit Of the Ger
man aerial navy, the pilot and crew
and invited guests. Every person
that went aloft in the big airship is
dead.
Twenty-seven of them were Kill d
almost instantly by the explosion or
gas In the balloon, or burned to
death as the flaming wreck fell to the
ground from a height OF 90 feet and
enyeIoped them. One man, Lieut..
Baron Won Bleul, Of the Queen AL
gusta Grenadier Guards, guest Of
the admiralty board, was extricated
alive from the mass Of twisted
wreckage. His eyes were burned out
and he suffered other terrible hurts.
Begging his rescuers to kill him and
end his sufferings he was taken to
hospital, where he died Friday night.
The LII, had it proved success
ful, would have been attached to the
aerial corps OF the navy, which, after
Fridays fatalities, now has only two
men trained to command airships.
The official report Of the accident
says the explosion was due to the
ignition Of gas in or above the for
ward gondola, but not within the
body of the air-ship. The navy was
not the only so fferer through avla-
ton accidents, for three army officers
we're killed in e.roplane fights, Capt.
Haeseler, Lieut.. Koch and Sergt
Mante.
Hundreds Of people, who had been
watching the fl light from parks and
housetops, rush ed to the scene.
There was not: hing to be done, ex-
cept to take ont the dead bodies Of
the victims Of the disaster from the
mass of twisted wreckage. Specta-
tors who had been watching the i'm
pressive manc ,euvres Of the LII
from below S, s,dddently saw the great
gas bag burs into a glaring flame
and then fall. A second or two later
the reverbera ting sound Of the terri
fc explosion reached them.
It was impossible for some time
to approach the flaming dirigible, be-
meath which tile members of the crew
had been or q shed and burned. a
director Of ore Of the aviation COM
panies at the .Johnnisthal Aerodrome
was an eye-W FITNESS Of the disaster.
He described it as follows: "I was
working in my office, about 500 yards
from the scene. of the accident, when
was startled by an explosion Of ex-
traordinary violence. My first
thought was tfaat an aeroplane had
landed on the ooe of my building
and that the g;G;oline tank had ex-
ploded.
"I rushed to a window and saw
the new dirigible. in flames and
plunging toward tn earth. The out
er covering Of the. aircraft had been
already burned off :and the inner bal
loonets containing the gas had disap-
neared. The naked aluminium frame
work, with it's long centerpieces, its
interlaced ribs and les tapering ends,
and the gondolas containing the mo-
tors beneath fell rapidly bow fore
most.
"When the skeleton OF the i'm
mense craft struck the earth the
heavy gondolas buried themselves In
the ground. + rushed Immediately
to the scene after orGsring out the
fire department from this aerodrome.' y
Coming shortly after the destruc-
ton 0. the "L-II' in a. hurricane in
the North Sea on September 9, when
fifteen men were killed, this disaster
gave rise to a feeling OF consterna-
ton in Berlin, whose public had
within a week been sad dened by the
loss Of nany German passengers on
board the burned Volturno and by
accounts Of the terrible mining catas-
trophe in Wales.
Other possible causes of the fire
and explosion were that old gasoline
was carried on board or that a spark
of atmospheric electricity was devel-
oped by the friction Of the balIoonets
rubbing together inside the outer
fr ame work, as occurred in the case
t,f the predecessors of the LII. These
theories are regarded as improbable
@ wing to the improvements made If
the design of the airship to me-
such contingencies.
WILL SEND SHIPS