New-York tribune., 1919-07-10

sibility of Ballantyne secreting~ him
self on the ship again before its de-
parture, he said:
There is no chance of his slowing
away again. We have taken full pre-
cautions against that"
Although the local conditions are not
the best, the weather in the Atlantic is
momentarilT favorable. but shows
signs of rapidly changing against
the ship. 1t is for these reasons that
the decision to start was reached, de-
spite the twenty-f five mile an hour gale
which has been sweeping across the
field throughout the day.
W. R. Gregg, the meteorological ex-
pert sent down from Washington to
colaborate with Lieutenant Harris,
meteorological officer of the airship,
announced this afternoon that the pres
ent favorable conditions would not last
more than twenty-four hours.
Further Stay Dangerous
IL tllc snip Stays lOHE6rs Lnan To-
morrow" he said, "she Will be in ex-
treme danger. This is due to the fact
that at present low pressure area is
moving eastward across the country.
Just now it is over the Great Lakes
and should reach Newfoundland within
forty light hours and then continue on
out to sea.
sit will cause strong southwesterly
winds in this vicinity, reaching a We
locity of thirty miles or more Off
GERS connected with the balloon service
here have told me that under those
conditions the ship would break away
from her cables.
con the field here at o'clock this
afternoon the wind was blowing at
velocity of twenty-fiv miles an hour
from the south at the surface to an al
titude of 500 feet Above that and
up to an altitude of 1000 feet it was
blowing from the southwest From
1000 feet up to 5000 feet it was blow
ing from the west
"This is not an unusual condition.
The winds now prevailing indicate that
the unusual spell of unfavorable
weather is over. If the ship leaves
tonight she will have favorable con-
ditions"
Fear that the high winds might tear
the R34 from her moorings increased
the Britishers' desire to expedite the
start of the homeward trip. Leuten-
ant Colonel Lucas even went SO far as
to speculate as to what might happen
If the drigible drfted away.
Drift Over Land Perilous
"Of course it would travel at an
incredible speed" said Colonel Lucas.
1T would first rise to 500 or 1000
feet, and then, having no steering ap-
paratus to guide it, would topple. Roll
ing. through the air upside down or
on end, it would loosen the internal
machinery, which would increase the
tumbling. If the automatic valves
were crippled there might be an ex-
ploslon before the gas bag fell to the
sea. II the explosion occurred over
open land hardly think it would hurt
any one who happened to be beneath
for the dirgihlc would be up too high.
But If it hapnc- just over village
1T would be goodbye to the villagers.
The possibility of losing the dirigi-
bic has often been in our minds. Ever
since we landed here last Sunday our
anxiety has been to get away as speed
lily as possible, because here we have
no protection from storms, while at
home our hangar protects us. 1t would
be pity If now, after having achieved
the first flight of its kind we should
have to return home by steamship. 1t
would be a severe setback to aviation.
Hence our eagerness to get away"
Wind Batters Airship
While Colonel Lucas was talking the
wind sweeping across Roosevelt Field
from the southwest appeared to be
stitfening every moment. The great
oirigible, with its nose pointed wind
ward, pulled and tugged at its moor
lngs as ii impatient again to be out
over the Atlantic. Little dust clouds
from nearby soldiers camps were
picked up by the wind and dashed
against the sides of the dirigible. 1t
sprinkling sand and gravel on the sky
ship.
Five hundred husky soldiers who held
on to the ropes by which the dirigible
was moored were lifted from their feet
every time the wind increased in Sc
verify The combined weight of these
human anchors was 10000 pounds The
alternating lifting and lowering acted
as q spring. Had the moorng been
rigid the, tugging would have torn
holes in the gas bag.
ViceAdmiral Alberto. Gleaves, u S.
n, was taken on a tour of inspection
through the R-34 this afternoon by
Major Scott. After his return he said
"The ship is wonderfully equipped.
She should have had a hangar here,
though. 4 1t is too bad to leave her ex-
posed in the open.
ming the entire length of the " ship in
side the envelope. This is built on the
keel. I could readily see how easy
man could fall off this through the
fabric into the sea while the ship is in
the air.