The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1919-07-16
Round Trip Completed
British Dirigible Returns to
Home Station After Trans
Atlantic Voyage

Pulhan, Norfolk, Eng, July la (by
the Associated Pressl.-Great Brit
aims mammoth transatlantic air
pioneer, the dirigible R-34. arrived
here at 6.56 o'clock, Greenwich mean
! time today, completing her round
trip from the British Isles to the Unit
ed States and return.
The R34 poked her nose out of the
clouds northeast of the village and,
after circling the flying field three
times, glided gently to the ground and
ten minutes later was housed in the
dirigible shed. The voyage from Long
Island was without particular incident
and was completed in approximate4ly
! rs hours.
Shouts from those on the field
greeted the first sight of the long
gray body low on the horizon. AS the
R34 approached the field. she dropped
from a height Of 5000 feet to 1000
feet. The men who were to aid the
| airship in landing were ordered to
their positions and waited silently as
the ship circled the field, dropping
lower and lower.
When Major G. H. Scott. her COM
mander, had maneuvered the airship
into position for the landing, the
water ballast was released to steady
her and rope was thrown from the
bow. The rope was slasped by eager
hands and the giant ship moved across
the field to the shed where the deli
cate operation of berthing her was
;ol- nd yyithn,1t
dent.
A military band stationed on the
field played The Call Of Duty as the
airship began to settle and then
changed to the strains of See the
Conquering Hero Comes. AS the ship
was warped into the shed the band
played Keep the Home Fires Burn
ing" The crowd was too intent in
watching the ship to notice the mu-
sic while the whirr Of the propellers
made it inaudible to the men in the
R34
The tired, unshaven. but smiling
men who composed the crew quickly
climbed from the gondola and were
greeted warmly and with many slaps
on tne DdCk Dy lliS Olileoio AiiA Npi
diers gathered on the field.
'The voyage home has been with
out incident" said Major Scott. I'VE
want breakfast After breakfast
and enjoying the belated luxury of his
little black pipe, smoking not being
permitted on the adrship. Major
Scott told the story, of the return
flight as follows:
eve estimated we would make it in
from 20 to 80 hours" he said. We
made it in rs. When.we left we had
strong wind behind us and we COW
cred the first 500 miles. in about
eight hours When we circled over
New York we could plainly see the
crowds on Broadway. waving to us as
we passed. but we could not hear
them because Of the. noise Of the en-
gines.
South of newfoundland we en-
countered head winds and our prog
ress from then on was slower. We
travelled at an average height of from
1000 to 5000 feet and found much
low clouds and fog. Once we saw
nothing but fog for "a hours.
I'VE struck Ireland at Clifden and
made good progress from there. al
though our steering engine broke
down Saturday morning. We started
with 1900 gallons Of gasoline and had
900 left.
We are naturally pleased with the
trip. all of us. expect important
changes in the size and speed in the
future airships. the big ships that
travel 20 to 50 miles an hour and pow
erful enough to crawl through any
thing"
This has been a great trip said
Col. w. \. Hensley. .Jr.. of the United
States army air service, as he climbed
ont of the car. Eve were lost one
whole day because Of the fog. which
was so thick we could not get a shot
at the sun, moon. stars or horizon but
we worked out Of it and struck the
Irish coast We passed over the Isle
of Man about .3 O'Clock this morning
and then mounting above the clouds
witnessed IL most beautiful Sight.
Above was the bright moon. below
soft fleecy clouds touched with all the
coors of the rainbow and far down
below occasionally could be seen the
dark. deep blue of the sea. But we
did not have time to admire the beauty
of the scene.
I'VE soon passed over Liverpool and
the northern cities and towns and
here we are We suffered no hard
ships and no inconvenicnces except
that we had no hot water for shay
ing. Our eggs were cooked in the
| exhaust Of the engine and we had
plenty Of other good food and coffee.
! tea and cocoa to drink. No one sui
fered from air sickness and while the
sea below was tossed By 10 mil"
gale. we were moving along in con-
! fort on an even keel.
Regular airship service between
Europe and America is bound to
come and soon.
The members Of the crew We're
ca gerlv surrounded by friends. who
were waiting at the airdrome. GeorG"
! Graham. the chief engineer. proud'*
carried his pet kitten which was born
at East Fortune. The kitten suffered
80,