Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1914-07-05
LITTLE LEFT
OF ZEPPELIN
Circumstances Of Destruc-
ton of Germany's Latest
Airship Which Was SO
Complete as to Make It's
Repair Impossible

BERLIN, July 4-The wreck of the
latest Zeppelin airship adds another
sad chapter to German aeronautical
history. Though the destruction in
this case is not so complete as that
which befel most of the other yes
sells of the same type that have come
to an untimely end, it is sufficient to
exclude the possibility of repairs, and
the only question is how much of
the aluminium framework and fit
tings can be employed in their pres
ent condition in the task of recon-
StIuction. The latest total loss to
Germany's aerial fleet was completed
in June, 1912, and taken over by
the war ministry just about a year
ago.
The doomed airship left Colongne
in fine weather for a practice cruise,
which was to take her as far as
Carlsruhe, via Metz. She had on
board complement of thirteen per
sons, including an officer of the
general staff. When she was about
thirty mile sdistant from Diedenhofen
a thunderstorm was seen gathering
ahead and an attempt was made to
avoid it by following a circuitous
route. This plan, however was
| thwarted by the rapid approach of
| the storm and safety was then
sought by ascent to height of be-
| tween five and six thousand feet.
Apparently it was found impossible
| to keep the aiIship at this altitude
| for sufficient length of time, and, on
| coming down to a lower level, it
found itself faced with a gale against
which it was difficult to make any
Roadway, even with the full power of
the engines.
Indeed, for minutes at time the
vessel which has a proper speed of
| nearly fifty miles an hour, was COM
! pletely held in check by the force
| of the wind and remained station
| AIRY Meanwhile, the position of the
| crew was rendered all the less envi-
able by lightning. which necessarily
| played around the airship. Presently
| rain fell in a deluge and streams
of water poured down the covering
| of the hull. This greatly increased
| the weight of the vessel, which had
| lost much of its gas and buoyancy
i'll the attempt to soar above the
storm, and drove it downward till it
was within a few hundred feet of
earth
In the struggle with the tempest
| the airship had been carried long
way out of its course toward the
frontier, and the officer in command,
| evidently anxious to avoid the I'M
pleasant contingency of a descent on
| French territory, now decided to eff
| feet landing. Accordingly, the red
flag, which signifies intention TO
! descend. was flown from the rear of
| the car and broad eXpanse of mead
OW on the banks of the Moser, near
| Diedenhofen, was selected as a suit
| able anchoring ground. But the deli
cate maneuver of alighting on linn
tied area was frustrated by vertical
currents of air, which first pressed
| the vessel down to within 90 feet of
the earth and then whirled it up
again to four times that height. At
last one of the downward movements
almost forced the airship into the
MOsel.
| The vessel, Just clearing the river
and escaping a worse disaster. with
a last effort bumped down into the
meadow land beyond with such vio-
| lence as to break its back between
the aftercar and the stern. The de-
scent was otherwise so little in ac-
cOrdance with the calculations that
the propellors impinged on the
branches of a tree and We're broken
| to pieces
| A company of infantry exercising
| in the neighboring field, and a
| squadI of hussarS which had been
sent out from Diedenhofen, as soon
as the red flag was seen, FASTENED
to the spot. and though they were
| unable to avert damage fatal to the
airships navigability, they succeeded
| in making it fast and prevented it
| from being swept away and COM
| pletely demolished by the wind. A
lieutenant was badly cut about the
head. but no one else was seriously
injured. After this latest loss, the
German army still has seven Zeppe-
Inns at its exclusive disposal.