Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-07-14

", who came here with the huge
dirigible.
BY the Associated Press.
PULHAM. Norfolk, England, July
13.-Great Britain's mammoth trans
atlantic air pioneer. the dirigible
R-34. arrived at the air station here
at 6:56 o'clock. Greenwich mean time,
today, completing her round trip from
the British Isles to the United States
and return.
The R-34 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 voy-
age from Long Island was without
particular incident and was COM
pleted in approximately seventy-hve
hours.
Soon after daybreak 400 men sta
toned at the airdrome were aroused
from their sleep to prepare for the
towers and wireless operators pre-
pared to pick up messages from the
airship. The sun rose bright. but soon
afterward was obscured by clouds
There was no wind and those on
watch were confident that the diri-
gible would arrive on time.
Greeted With Shouts.
Shouts from those on the field
greeted the first sight of the long.
gray body low on the horizon. AS the
RIA approached the field she dropped
from 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 Maj. c. H. Scott, her COM
mander. had Unanswered the airship
into position for the landing the
her and rope was thrown from the
bow. The rope was grasped by eager
hands and the giant ship moved
across the field to the shed. where the
delicate operation of berth:ng her was
completed quickly. without accident.
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 music
while the whirr of the propelIers
made it inaudible to the men in the
R-34.
The tired unshaven, but smiling men
who composed the crew quickly
greeted warmly and with many slaps
on the back by the officers and SOL
diers gathered on the field.
The voyage home has been with
out incident" said Maj. Scott I'VE
want breakfast"
Maj. SCOTS Story.
After breakfast and while ENJOYING
the belated luxury of his little black
the airship, Maj. Scott told the story
of the return flight. as follows:
We estimated we would make il in
from seventy to eighty hours" he said
I'VE made it in seventy-fve When
We left we had a strong wind behind
US and we covered the first 500 miles
m about eight hours. When we cir
-'ed over New York we could plainly
see the crowds on Broadway waving
% US as we passed. but we could not
tear them because of the noise of the
engines.
"soitn Of Newfoundland we en-
countered read winds, and our prog
req rom then on was slower We
tra|o-ed at an average height of 1000
10 1000 feet. and found much low
clouds and fog Once We saw Moth
ing but fog for twenty four hours.
We struck Ireland at Clifden and
made good progress from there al
though our steering engine broke
down Saturday morning. We started
with 1000 gallons Of gasoline and had
1000 left
We are naturally pleased with the
trip, all of us. expect import ant
changes in the size and speed of fu :
ture airships-big ships that will
travel seventy to eighty miles an hour
and powerful enough to crawl
through anything"
American Officers Comments.
This has been a great trip" said
Col. w. y. Hensley, jr., of the United
states Army air service. as he climbed
out of TIE car and shook hands with
the British officers. we were lost
one whole day because the fog 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
messed most beautiful sight. Above
was the bright moon: below soft,
ieecy clouds touched with all the col
ors Of the rainbow. and far down be-
dark. deep blue of the sea But we
did not have time to admire the beau
" OF the scene.
We soon passed over Liverpool and
t6en otner cltleS ana towns, and here
We are. We suffered no hardships and
10 inconvenience except that we had
no hot water for shaving. Our eggs
acre cooked in the exhaust Of the en-.
sInes and we had plenty OF other good
Food and coffee. tea and cocoa &c
drink. No one suffered from air sick.
ness, and while the sea below was
tossed by forty-mile gale we were
moving along in comfort on an even
keel.
Regular airship service between
Europe and America is bound to come
and soon"
Friends Surround Crew.
The members Of the crew were
eagerly surrounded by friends who
Graham. the chief engineer, proudly
at East Fortune. The kitten suffered
no Inconvenience during the trip ant
manifested its delight on reaching
land again by jumping on the backs
of it's masters friends-
the world, although we met a lot o.
fog said Lieut. r. D. Durrant sh'
wireless ofiicer. TT was hot in New
York. cold In the middle Atlantic ant
you see what It 10 here. We signalet
two ships. the Cumberland and on
going to Mexico. When they asked Vi
British airshfp from New York t.
leland Their wireless operators ex