The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-06-21
Believed Dirigible R-34 Circled
Over Berlin; Touched Baltic Ports
British Public Mind More Intensely Pre- Occupied With Myste
rious Doings Of Monster "Bimp Than With Any Other
Subject

afrshtp's crew. Most important among
the human freight were General Matt
land, director Of airship services under
the air MINISTRY. and Colonel Hicks
another important functionary of the
newly created department of CONNER
cial + ing in Britain. The ,Hn.nsnder
of the sky venturers were just pilots,
engineers and plain passengers who
had come to take spin under the
stars by invitation
No Food Was Stored.
Because the expectation was that the
big ships would make Its flight to East
Fortune in two hours or less. no food
was slowed aboard. and therein lay the
seed OF great lesson to be learned by
the sky travellers of the present. You
never can tell when you will get down,
you know. SO, better a sandwich in
the inside coat pocket than nothing
at five thousand feet.
The R-34 winged her way daintily
to a. spot over her. destination. only
to find that a heavy fog between the
ship and the landing ground made a
descent practically impossible. Then
the wireless equipment came into play.
Messages were sent back to the big
shed at Inchinnan to inquire how con-
ditions of visibility were there. The
answer came hack over the magic
wires. Heavy fog" Which meant
that the R34 and her freight of two
legged and four legged kind were all
dressed up and nowhere to go, in a
way OF speaking. Remember that
you can't drop an airship some four
city blocks long anywhere you please:
its likely to be Dad for the ship, to say
nothing OF the passengers
So the commando decided to cruise
a while. And cruise he did. Not only
did the fog come up from below to
confuse him but heavy cauu<fs, settled
down from top slider" and before mid
night the big gas bag with her dang
ling gondolas filled with passengers
was more or less lost Over all Of
Yorkshire and part OF Southern Scot
land wandered-the= night aif AT an
altitude of between 5000 and 5000
feet.
Through Blanket OF Fog.
o>~e the pilot plunged down
through the blanket of fog which lay
like cotton mufffer spread out un-
der the stars in the hope Of finding a
lower level clear of the binding fuff.
Instead he saw a dreary stretch of
black. with here and there the white
crest of wave, and the menacing
drone Of the restless North Sea came
to the ears Of the hopeless passengers
receipt of another wireless message Of
guidance served to direct the sky
skipper back over England
Midnight and nothing to eat all
hands rnunds- the cold was biting.
About that time the mascots became
ohstreperous. The three dogs con-
tented themselves with sitting on their
launches and bowling disnally, tell
ing the cold stars that they never ex-
pected TO see the inside OF kennel
again.
But the cat. She went quite mad.
and, esca ping those who wished to re-
strain the lunatic feline Skinned" IN
guy rope 10 the swelling bag over
head and with sharp claws inclined her
way around the swelling contour of
the envelope to the topmost plane
Thcre. somewhere between stars and
earth beyond sight OF the sky ven-
turers. this heaven exploring cat
poured out her heart The cat came
down all safe after the R-34 event
ualiy made landing at 3:so p. NJ.
next day at East Fortune