The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-05-13
J. 5. D|R|G|BLE IS ABLE ID FLY OVER
 ATLANTIC, BELIEF
 OF NAVY OFFICERS
Plans in Regard to Trans atlantic Attempt Will De pend Upon Flight of
 the C-5 From Mon
 tauk to St. Johns
By Associated Press

Washington, May 12.-Offi- cial announcement was made by the navy department that upon the outcome of the pro- posed test flight of the new navy dirigible C-5 from the naval air station, Montauk, N. Y, to St Johns, N. F., would "depend the future plans in regard to the possi- bility of attempting later a transatlantic flight by a dirigible." The flight to New FoundIand, distance Nof ap proximately 1000 miles, 1t was said, would be made "when- ever weather conditions are favorable"
 In making this announcement the navy disclosed much data regardins
 
 new dirigible. which was commis stoned only a week ago. is commanded by Commander E W. Coil and the members of the crew are Lieuts ]. V. Lawrence and NJ II. lsasterly ESign II. P. Campbell and Chief Machintstf Mates T. l.. Moormau and $. IL Black burn.
 The c-5 is A twin engine. non-risil sirship with two 25 horse power en- zines The dirigible has an envelopr displacement of appi oNimately 1fS,0ee feet an envelope length of log feet and envelope diameter of nearly f2 feet. making her the largest of the navy's airships
 The normal speed of the C-5 Is placed in the navy department announcement at 50 miles an hour with an endurance at normal speed Of 10 hours However, in addition to the useful load of i00os pounds and to the crew of six. tt was learned that provisions can be made for a greater gasoline carrying ca pacity, thus increasing her. cruising ability greatly beyond the estimated 800 miles At a speed of i2 knots the airship has 8 fuel consumption of 10 1, gallons
 HAS AMPLE ENDuR MICE | officials at fine f1ifvy department ar- pear to be entirely confident that the C-5, which was designed during tae war Tor coast patrpi WoFK, naS a1upt" endurance to cross 10 Europe without stop. There is a general belief at the navy department that the trsnsat- lantic attempt will be ordered rnme- diately after arrival of the C-5 at Sf Johns and before tho naval craft pa-
 trolling tho Atlantic for the flight of the heavier-than-afr machines the NC l and NC-3 have dispersed It is re- garded as practically certain. however. that the dirigible will not start until after the seaplanes arc well on their way or have arrived on the other sids, as the navy will permit nothing to in-
 terfere with the seaplane attempt Tho department put finishing touches today on preparations for the hop off" of the two seaplanes from Trcpassey Bay. N r. Tho start may come ai any time now, t was learned. depend- ing on weather conditions Fxtraord,- nary measures to obtain data for
 weather forecasts have been made and the system is said to have worked
 thus far with clock-liiSe precision. The department received today ami transmitted to Commander Towers the following message from Admiral Ber-
 son in Paris;
 "Consratulations npon your success so far Tho navy department conf. denty expects yor to make a success ful transatlantic flight"
 COMMANDERS REPORT Commander Towers today sent in his 1 official account of tho flight from Rockaway Beach:
 Left Rockaway in NC-s, accompan- led by NC-i and NC'-1 at 1 3. n May s. proceeding in formation along south coast of Long Island: thence over Vineyard sound to Chatham: thence to Seal Island receved radio from NC-4 at 2:1o D. m that they were running on three engines ard might be compelled to land. NC-f dropped astern and shortly later was lost sight of. It was believed that shs had turned to land near the McDermut tContinued on Page SevenD