The sun., 1919-06-19
british DIRIGIBLE
is DUE NEXT WEEK
Great Rigid Balloon VIII
Come Over Leisurely With
Thirty Men.
SPEED SO MILES AN HOUR
Concrete Anchors Being Set
at Mineola to Hold Ship
During Stay.

The great British dirigible R-si, which
is coming to Mineoia. L. l.. TO repay the
visit of the American seaplane NC-4 to
England. will not arrive until the latter
part Of next week. Lieut.-Col FREDERICK
w. Lucas OF the Royal Air Force an
nounced yesterday.
Lieut.-Col. Lucas. who Is here to make
arrangements for the airship's arrival.
said yesterday at Mineola that the nee
essary worl, could not be done until
| Sunday and might take several days
longer. Among the details of prepara-
ton is the planting Of eight great con-
crete anchors, seven feet in diameter and
eight feet in depth. As soon as these
are in place and everything else is In
] readiness q cablegram will be sent to the
commander of the great dirigible. which
10 now at East Fortune, near Edinburgh.
Scotland. The start will be made as
soon afterward as weather conditions
permit
The airship should reach Mineola In
from two and a half to three days. She
will travel at an altitude of about 2,o00
feet and will take a northerly course to
| the United States. FIRST sighting land
after leaving the shores OF Scotland be-
hind. on the Long Island coast Al.
| though the air currents which probably
will be met are not fully known. Lieut.
| Col. Lucas said her commander Is hgur-
| ing on adverse winds OF an average We
locity of sixteen miles an hour. with
wind Of this speed against them the
| dirigible should average thirty ighi
miles an hour. Her maximum speed is
| 63.5 nautical miles an hour. but she will
travel at cruising rather top speed.
Chart of AiS<Currents to He Made.
During the night observations Of grea,
value will he made of air currents, etc
These air currents will be charted much
as the Gulf Stream and other ocean cur
| rents are now indicated on navigators
charts.
| Col. Lucas yesterday described the
big airship which 10 England's first ex.
| pertinent Of any Importance in the big
rigid type OF airship on which Germany
relied SO strongly. She Is $40 feet long
and IL setenty-nine feet in diameter M
| the greatest point. From the top of the
bag to the bottom of the cars swuns
beneath her she is ninety-two feet In
height. Five cars, each twenty-five feet
long, are swung beneath the big bag
These are connected by long deck
1
length OF the ship.
Each car has an engine OF the Sun
beam type In its rear end. 1t is planned
| to use only three OF these engines Il
propel the craft on its trip across the
ocean. The other two will be held in
reserve and will be started only II high
winds are encountered. The total horse
power developed by the Ave engines OF
which three are Of $50 horsepower and
1 w nf q. n
horsepower less than is developed by
the power plant OF the NC-4.
The total lifting capacity Of the dirig-
ible Is SO tons. Of which 2l1s tons II
the discharBeable lift-that is to say
the amount available for the carrying
Of passengers. gaso.ene. oil. etc. matter
which Ii not q part of the ship itself
Sixteen tons of gasolene, enough for
1900 nautical miles. will be carried by
the R-S4 on her trip across the ocean.
Thirty Men VIII BE Aboard.
| Thirty voyagers will be carried by
the R-S4. These will include four pas.
sengers Among these will be Brig
Gen. Edward NJ. Maitland. representa-.
tive Of the British Air Ministry. and
Lieut. Zachary Lansdown, who repre-
| sents the American navy. The crew f.
self consists Of four officers. Major Her.
bert Scott of the Royal Air Force Ia
command. and twenty-five men. The
members of the crew will be on watch
four hours and OF four hours. Sleeping
accommodations are provided for hall
the crew at time. An electric stovs
will be carried so that hot meals will
be served. and all on board will prob,
ably wear electrically warmed clothes
The navigation of the craft will b
greatly simplifed by the use Of a wire
less direction finder by means of which
the distance and direction OF the airshir
and Clifden, Ireland, may be calculated
Thus the craft can proceed surely on It,
way even when fog prevents the making
OF sights
The construction Of q wireless station
at Roosevelt Field was begun to-day q
the naval officers in charge may direc
the airship surely to this neld as soor
as It comes within a radius OF $50 miles
In addition. all the naval aircraft at tn,
Chatham, Montauk and Rockaway nava
air stations will be ordered out TO gree
and escort the big British dirigible wheT
she nears the American coast. Boti
blimps and seaplanes will take part II
this demonstration.
At Roosevelt Field the dirigible will
md awaiting her 1000. 900 cubic feet o.
hydrogen, 5000 gallons OF gasolene ant
several hundred gallons OF oil.