The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-10-17
Monster Zeppelin DirigibIe CoIIapses 9O| Feet In The Air When Terrible Explosion Incinerates All But One Person--Naught But Tangled Mass Of Mechanism
 Left Of Greatest Of Air Craft--
 Intended For Main UnitOfGer-
 many's Aerial Fleet

1 lar naval crew and several officers. I She headed for Berlin, a short dis tance off, in a light wind. About a dozen aerop1anes were circ1ing the aerodrone at the time. Everything was apparently in good order on the 1 airship when she started. Then sud- denly an<expIosion was heard by those on the ground, evidently in one of the motors in the center gondola. A flash shot out and the next instant the whole ship was on fire and plunging downward.
 --EEer5 inch of the canvas covering and the baIloonettes disappeared in a moment.
 A second and more violent .expIo- sion was then heard, the fire having reached the gasoline tanks filled with about ton of fuel and in another instant the wreck of the newest and most modern of Germany's dirigibIes lay a flaming mass on the ground
 The fire departme ents of all the neigh boring suburbs, with detach- ments of the balloon corps, the pioneers and other troops, were soon on the spot but there was nothing left to save.
 The balloon lay in great 'sS'' curve, mass of glowing, tangled girders and wires. The cylinders of the mo- tors in the center gondoIa and sone of tho after propellers could be distin- guished. Otherwise there was nothing to indicate that the debris was that of Germany's proudest airship.
 Pioneers armed with axes hacked at the wreckage for two hours before they could extricate the last of the bodies of the victims.
 The dead were borne on stretchers to the balloon hall and company of soldiers roped off the place to keep back the crowd from the wreck
 RTha v inn ,of dola had been blown through the sides of the car by the first explosion and their bodies fell 400 yards away from the wrecked balloon, which was trav- cling at 40 miles an hour when the accident happened.
 All but two of the others were, it is believed, killed by the explosion of the gasoline tank and probably were dead before the Wreckage reached the earth.
 The commander and the officers of the admiralty trial board were seated in gondola and after the fire broke out were caged inside a network of redhot aluminium gfrders and frag- ments of canvas that bIazed like so many torches.
 Two of the crew were still alive when the wreckage landed. One of them. however, died in a few min utes. The other, Lieut.. Baron Won
 
 buried out and was otherwise desper- ately injured. He was taken to the hospital moaning, ''Kill meI''
 Besides the officers already men toned, Lieut.. Trenk, who was second | in command, Chief Engineer Hausa- mann and three engineer secretaries rom the admiralty, were on board.
 The pilot, Captain Glund, was the | only civilian on board the airship. He | was the commander of the Zeppelin | balloon which landed in France in April, this year.
 The rest of those on board were officers of the German navy.
 The engineers of the Zeppelin Com pany had expressed their confidence when the L II was completed that she would be able to cross the Atlantic
 Captain Haezler, Lieut.. 31oche and Mante, all of the German army aviation corps, were the victims of the fatal aeroplane accidents which early this morning.
 Captain Haezler, accompanied by Lieut. Freyberg and Lieut.. Roche, ac- companied by Sergeant Mantle left [ Berlin, last night, with instructions to fly to points in Silely and Bavaria respectively to deliver military mess ages. The motor of Capt. Hackers aeroplane broke down when the avia- .ors were in the vicinity of BresIau tnd Capt. Haezler endeavored to make m emergency landing in the darkness The aeroplane settled in treetop. Capt. Haezler was pinned beneath the motor with an arm and both legs His companion, Lieut.. Won Freyberg, was not injured He clam ,ered down and secured help but af- CT endeavoring for several hours with assistance to extricate his companion. he gasoline tank of the aeropIane l and Capt. HaezIer was kill I
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