The sun., 1919-07-07


fantio must be investigated very
thoroughly before transoceanio travel
between England and America can be
made safe and practicable. With the
limited information as to weather con-
ditions that We have now TRANSATLANTIC
travel Is highly dangerous. 1 consider
y almost miracle that we completed
the trip successfully after what we
went through last night"
| stowaway Put to Work.
| A stowaway, a member of the crew of
the dirisible, who was not chosen for tho
hight, stole on board the R-3+ just be-
fore she sailed, and din OF come out Of
his place Of concealment until six hours
after the airship had sailed from East
Fortune. Scotland. The stowaway was
| W. w. Baflentine of CVromwell, Eng
land. He did his share of the work on
| the way over
Il was sore when they told me that 1
could not go along. and instead of get
ting or the dirigtblc I slowed away be-
tween gas bags and l." he said 81
foraged some food and water and in
| tended to remain there until the end of
the voyage. became sick, however.
and had 70 come up was the only
I man aboard who was sick"
A mild court-martial probably Will
| be Ballentine's fate, but what he is
Worrying about just now is that he will
not be permitted to make the return
voyage
In telling a few facts about the voy-
age Major Scott said that the big dirig-
ible varied her altitude from 400 feet to
1000 feet. according 10 the atmospheric
| conditions encountered
| our altitude depended an the way
upon the wind" he sad I'VE encoun-
tered strong winds and used 1--WE en-
gines. our whole power plant, to COM
bat them. At times when the weather
was good We used only two engines
Had the strong wind over the Hay Of
Furdy continued through the night we
| would have been compelled to land
near Boston. We would not have been
able to make Mineola at all. The
change in the wind came early this
morning and II was then that decided
We could make Mineola."
Inc principle reason why il was ne
| cessary to reach Mineola was that onlv
there in the United States at the pres
ent time could 100000 cubic feet of
hydrogen be found. almost enough to re-
| NIL the envelope of the R-St. together
with oil and gasolene in proportion and.
most important of all. sufficient num-
Der of skilled mechanics and landing
Held men 10 take care of the ship when
she arrived As many as 500 men
might be needed to handle the RIA
should she attempt to land or rise on a
stormy or windy day. The men at Min
cola have been carefully trained for the
WITNESSES of the great R-34 by Lieut..
j. j. Quinn. commander of the ca of
the Rockaway naval station.
| Rear GondOIa Damaged.
The men will work In RELAYS. but will
always be on hand in case it is heces-
sary to shift the position of the R-34
! owing 70 atmospheric changes. Me-
| chanics discovered yesterday while eX-
aiming the R-3i that some damage
had been done to the bottom of the
rear gondola Of the ship during the
landing. 1t can be repaired in a few
hours In addition to going over very
| carefully the engines and structure Of
! the ship. the men of the landing gang
gave her full load of l.490 pounds
Meanwhile the crew of the R-34, who
worked day and night during the voy-
age and showed themselves worthy Of
the honor OF making the first lighter
than air craft do So are being honored
and VIII probably have an opportunity
to see New York to-day IL they are not
too much interested in making up for
lost sleep.
Just now tho boys are pretty we'll
| played out and are anxious to sleep the
clock around until the time for the re-
turn home" Gen Charlton said yester-
day. They may feel more like them
selves in the morning and be glad to go
TO New York.
The R-34 is now sealed BY orders Of
Major scott, When his seal is broken
n O In
Will be permitted to get within 100 feet
Of the dirigible. The work of vorehaul-
Of the dirigible. The work of overhaul
and she viii be put in readiness for the
start home on Tuesday morning.
Crew OF R-34 Entertainea,
Atemhors of tina crew Of the British
airship were guests last night at a ban
| quet in their honor rendered by army
officials in the mess hall at Mitchell
Field Col. Archie Miller, who is in
command of the air forces on Long
Island. acted as POSTMASTER, and ex-
pressed his qualification at the oppor-
tunity Of mixing with men who have
made such a success.
Although none Of the men of the
R-34 will knock their craft. one. at
least, admitted that he thought at one
time he was, gone when she ran into a
very severe storm. She pulled through
without very much trouble.
We were not permitted to smoke on
the entire trip" he said. That was
some hardship. believe me-. but we man
aged to make tho best Of it, Phare was
plenty of coffee and cocoa aboard and
We thought We had plenty of water
but toward the end OF the trip the
water was getting low. and We drank
very little Of 1t. because We didn't know
when we were going TO get any more
But say. none Of us would have
missed this trip, even II he, had nothing
to eat or drink to say nothing of hav-
| ing no smokes" -
Lieutenant-c ommander 'Lansdcwae re-
CARDS Major Scott as the best dirigible
! pilot In tho world according 10 a state
nlelt made Yesterday by him in describ,
ms his experiences on board, the R-34
Commander Lansdowne will remain in
this country now On the return voy-
age to Ensland his place will be taken
- =