The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1913-10-22
AlRSHIP EXPLODES.
zEPPELIKS, LATEST DIRldIBLE
MEETS DISASTER
twenty Eight KILLED

Explosion Caused by Ignition Of
Gas, Causing !Airship to Drop SOC
Twenty-eight persons were killed
.Friday near Johanisthal, Germany, in
the explosion and fall Of Count Zep'
pelin's 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 dirigloie
looking to it's acceptance by the gov
ernment as new unit OF the Ger
man aerial navy, the pilot and ere"
and invited guests. Every person
that went aloft in the big airshlp is
dead.
Twenty-seven of them were killed
almost instantly by the explosion OF
gas in the balloon, or burned to
death as the flaming wreck fell to the
ground from a height Of 90 feet and
enveloped them. One man, Lieut..
Baron Won Bleul, Of the Queen Au-
eusta 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 ann
end his sufferings he was taken. to a
hosnital, where he died Friday night.
The LII, had i, proved success
full. would have been attached to the
aerial corps of the navy. which, after
Fridays fatalities, now has ONLY two
men trained to commend airshios.
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 airship. The navy was
not the only sufferer through avia-
ton accidents. for three army officers
were ki,le1 in aeronlane flights, Capt.
Haeseler, Lieut.. Koch and Sergt
Mantle.
Hundreds Of people, who had been
watching the fight from parks and
housetops, rushed to the scene.
There was nothing to be done, ex-
cept to take out 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 manoeuvres OF the LII
from below suddenly saw the great
gas bag burst into glaring fame
and then fall. A second or two later
the reverberating sound Of the terri
&c explosion reached them.
It was impossible for some time
to approach the flaming dirigible, be-
meath which the members Of the crew
had been crushed and burned. A
director Of one Of the aviation COM
panies at the Johnnisthal Aerodrome
was an eyewitness Of the disaster.
He described it as follows: 81 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 that an aeroplane had
landed on the roof of my building
and that the gasoline tank had eX-
ploded.
81 rushed to a window and saw
the new dirigible> in flames and
plunging toward the earth. The out
er covering Of the aircraft had been
already burned off and the inner bal
loonets containing the gas had disap-
peared. The naked aluminium frame
work. with it's long centerpieces. its
interlaced ribs and its 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. I rushed Immediately
to the scene after ordering out the
FIRE department from the aerodrome. ~
Coming shortly after the destruc-
ton OF the LII" 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 hal
within week been saddened by the
loss of many 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 spark
Of atmospheric electricity was devel-
oped by the friction Of the balloonets
rubbing together inside the outer
frame work. as occurred in the case
OF the predecessors of the LII. These
theories are regarded as improbable
owing to the Improvements made in
the design Of the airship to meet