Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-04-01
HUNS WERE READY
TO BOMB US CITIES
WHEN WAR ENDED
New York Was TO Have Been
Attacked First by Oversee
Zeppelin.
RAID SET FOR NOV. II, 1918

Washington, -. G., April New
York city escaped bombing by 4 German
Zeppelin Just 10 days before the armis-
tice was signed November IL, 1918. A
trip that would have brought the air
vessel across the Atlantic about Novem-
Der 81 of that year, with load of deadly
bombs had been constructed and o
course charted by German air officials.
This is the testimony of Colonel Will
liam Hensley, Signal Corps, before the
House Military Affairs Committee, who
has recently returned TO the United
States after five or six months IN Ger
many. He went to England on the
R-34.
Colonel Hensley said the German Yep
pelin was ready 10 make the transatlantic
fight Mt the. date the armistice was
signed. He talked with the pilot and got
some of the details.
.if YOU could hear the story as he
told it," Colonel Henslcy said to the
committee, "you would not talk of our
splendid isolation and complete immun-
ity from attack.
Gle had worked that thing out by
making 367 voyages on weather charts.
(These trips were theoretically madel,
He got the combined weather charts Of
the German Admiralty and the German
merchant marine and the Danish Adj
miralty and the Danish merchant marine,
that gave for each hour of the day and
each mile of the Atlantic the weather.
Three hundred and sixty-seven times he
made that trip by those charts and 367
times he reached New York city--and
not once did he fail He carried five
tons of bombs and YOU can imagine what
We had at New York absolutely moth
ing as aircraft defensive, no alrplanes
that carried machine gun, and if il
did, could not 90 up over 5000 feet. He
could come down and rake New York
city"
"He never made the physical voyage,
said Mr. Kahn.
mo sir; but he would, in 10 days
after the armistice, have made the actual
voyage with that ship,
Colonel Hcnsley said the Germans have
turned away from wooden airships aud
arc building all metal airships
what | have seen there is simply
amazing TO me and have seen so much
and so many revolutionary things that |
am still kind Of dazed
Colonel Hensey said this country
could scrap it's aviation because IT is out
Of date "Ne are absolutely obsolete.
type Of ship we have anything but a
flaming coffin. Every ono We have is
flaming coffin The Germans have gone
10 the all-motal design. They have revo-
lutionixed the design and they are not
only revolutionary, but they are efficient
in their daring
The dirigibc being purchased IN Eng
land by the Navy Department was critl-
ciynd MS Obsolete -
II saw that ship IN August OF last
year." Colonel Hensley continued. "and
II had then been under construction
about six or eight months IL will be
another year before it is finished
Colonel Hensley said he brought from
Germany an option for the biggest ship
in the world. to lift 3s'% tons. cruise %
miles an hour and cost about million
dollars"
Since have come back, said hc. 81
have learned that the army cannot have
any airships so that option is worth
less
He said the ship would carry 40 tons
of mail from San Francisco to New
York IN 20 hours