The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-10-18
Newest and Largest of Zep-
pelin's Warships Is Com
pletely Destroyed by
Gas Explosion
ENTIRE ADMIRALTY
TRIAL BOARD MET
DEATH IN ACCIDENT
Hundreds See Giant Airship Plunge
to Ground in Shroud of Flames.
Many Bodies Are Burned
and Mutilated

Berlin. October I7.-Twenty-eigh
nisthaI in the explosion and fall Of
Count ZeppeIin's latest dirisibIe bal
loon, the LII. The Is represented the
entire personnel of the admiralty board
which was 10 conduct The final trial of
the dirigibIe looking TO its acceptance
by the government unit of
the German aerial navy. the pilot and
crew and invited guests. Every person
that went aIoft in the big arsbip is
dead.
Twenty of them were killed all
most instantly by the explosion of gas
in the balloon or burned to death as
the flaming wreck fell To the ground
from height of 900 feet and enveloped
them one man, Lieut. Baron Won Bluel.
of the Queen Augusta Grenadier
guards, a guest of the admiralty board.
was extricated alive from the mass OF
twisted wreckage. His eyes were
burned out and he suffered other ter
rihle hurts. Begging his rescuers to
kill him and end his sufferings, he was
taken to a hospital, where he died to-
night.
Explosion Due TO Gas
The I'LL, had it proved successful,
would have been attached to the aerial
corps OF the navy. which after todays
fatalities now has only two men trained
to command airships The official re-
port Of the accident SAYS the eXplo-
sion WAS due to the ignition of gas in
or above the forward gondola, but not
within the body of the airship.
The navy was not the only sufferer
today through aviation accidents for
| three army officers We're killed in aero
| plane fltghts--Captain Haeseler Lieu
tenant Koch and Sergeant Mantem.
Spectators who had been watching the
impressive movements of the LII saw
the great gas envelope burst into glar-
ing flame and then fall second later
there was a heavy thud.
"A second later the reverberating sound
of the explosion reached them. 1t was
impossible for them to approach the fam
ing dirigible beneath which the members
of the crew had been crushed and burned
One of the directors of the aviation COM
pany at the Johannisthal aerodrome was
an eye witness of the disaster.
He describes it as follows:
Il was working in my office about
500 yards from the scene of the wreck
when | was startled by an explosion of
extraordinary violence.
Plunges to the Earth
Il rushed to window and saw the
new airship in flames and plunging to
the earth. The outer cover of the air
craft had already been burned off and
the balloonettes containing the gas had
disappeared
"The naked aluminium framework
with its long center pieces; its inter-
laced ribs and its tapering ends and
the gondolas containing the motors un~
derneath fell rapidly, bow foremost.
when the skeleton of the immense
craft struck the earth the heavy gon-
dolas buried themselves in the ground
Coming so shortly after the destruc-
ton of the LII In a hurricane In the
North sea on September when 10
men were killed, today's catastrophe
gave rise to a feeling of CONSERVATION.
The dirigible before leaving the ball
loon aerodrome at Johannisthal, TOOK on
board her naval crew and a number
of subofficers. She headed for Berlin,
a short distance away, in light wind.
About one dozen aviators were cir
cling the aerodrome at the time. Every
thing was apparently in good order on
the airship
She was gradually getting up high
eF speed when suddenly an explosion
was heard by those on the ground evil
IDENTIFY in one of the motors in the CEN
ter gondola. There was a binding
flash of flame. The next instant the
whole ship was on fire and plunging
downward
Every inch of the canvas covering
and the balloonettes disappeared In
moment. A second later and more vio-
lent explosions were heard, The fire
then had reached the gasoline tanks
filled With about ton of liquid fuel.
Before the echoes of the report had
died away the wreck of the most mod
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