Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1921-08-25

Inflated airship. He Ii 40 years old.
We were all in the highest spir-
Its when we left Howden on the trial
flight" he said: 1--WE sailed over the
North sea first and then started down
the north coast to Pullman.
~ thick fog developed so 1t was
found impossible to land at Pulham.
w were: flying at height OF
about $500 feet with wireless keeping
In touch with both Howden and PUP
ham. The ship was behaving finely,
a was not q sign Of weakness
anywhere. !, m
We drove out . the sea again
and as the fog continued bad we flew
along the coast until Wednesday aft
We then flew across to Howden,
where it was decided to land at $3.50
-. M, SO We sailed over Hull sagain.
"a test Of the ships control then
began. I was at tho lower rudder,
proceeding back to the tail, and had
just reached the cockpit when there
was q tremendous crash. The Orders
a~mtdships broke and the ship split in
halves.
Both the tail and the nose immedi-
ately pointed downward and the
halves started to descend toward the
Humber.
= certainly cannot describe my
sensation but I thought my time had
come.
Rushed for Parachute.
IT made "a rush for the tail to get
q parachute, but I found two Of my
English comrades, Harry Bateman
and Walter Potter, were already
there. I knew there was only n
chute there for the three Of us. Bate
ma had the chute and jumped, but
It fouled and he hung to the tail Of
the dirigible. Both Potter and I
started to run forward for other par
achutes but just as I got in the keel
there, came an explosion of either a
petrol tank or hydrogen. and flames
Immediately began to sweep the for
yard part of Our half of the ship.
II ran back to the tail to get away
from h hre In the bag. Bateman,
Potter and ! got into the cockpit. BY
this time the gas was becoming de-
pleted and the ship was shooting down
rapidly. We couldn't use a para
chute then as we were too 1oW-oniy
a few Kindred feet up.
II saw we were going to land in the
water. so I climbed to the. fabric for
ward of the tail cup. I couldn't tell
how fast we were falling, but when
jumped.
Il was surprised to find my feet
striking. the bottom. l had landed in
four feet Of water near shore. Botn
my comrades stuck to the ship and
continued to cling to her as she
struck. 4 managed to. scramble
aboard the wreckage, and the three
OF US were picked up, by = tug"
Hull, Eng, Aug 26.-(By the Assoc
ciated Press.)-Most Of the American
members Of the crew of the i'll fated
dirigible ZR2 were killed by the ex-
plosion which, followed the buckling
and swapping OF Orders amidships,
declared Flight Lieut.. A. n. wann, in
command Of the craft as navigating
officer at the time of the disaster, in
la statement to the Associated Press
today. :
Lieut.. wann said the ship had run
beautifully at sixty knots an hour, and
that he had reduced the speed to
fifty knots when there came q violent
cracking sound. He thought several
Of the Orders broke. The whole thing
happened in five seconds.
Happened Without Warning.
There was no sign of anything
added, but everything happened
afterward I was in sole control at
the time. " .N t
Before the moment Of the acct
dent" said Lieut.. Wann, whose in
turies are not serious the craft had
been sailing perfectly. She had4been
passing through various difficult tests
suddenly while crossing the broad
estuary Of the Humber, I heard the
grinding and cracking OF Orders and
the, airship pitched forward, from an
even keel. @
"As soon as humanely possible I
emptied the water ballast to enable
the, craft to its normal posi-
ton. but at this instant a tremendous
explosion occurred. The great ship
seemed to halt for q moment, and
then 1t dropped like a rocket The
conclusion threw me down in the
navigator's car, where I was pinned
by the wreckage.
Remained Above Water.
This section of the craft in which
I was riding remained above the
water when she plunged into the
Humber and I vas rescued after being
imprisoned for fifteen minutes. That
is all I am able to say"
Lieutenant Wann denied local re-
ports that he had heroically plunged
the ZR-2 into the river rather than
on the shore, which was crowded by
thousands of spectators. The disaster
occurred SO quickly, he said, that any
"uSA "SaoAA "o0 AAaposoiole.
Not Satisfied.
Washington, Aug. 25.-Despite the
loss of the ZR-2 before actually be-
coming naval property, officers of the
naval bureau Of a~eronautics con-
idently hope 1.-THE navy will be per-
mitted to continue its rigid airshir
Z, program. They point out that Amer
lea already has a gigantic hangar al
Lakehurst, N. j., completed at a cos'
Of 100000 and capable of housing
two ships of the size of the ZR-2 as
well as other complete facilities.
;, Still without details as to the cause
Of the ZR-2 disaster today, naval
aeronauts were loathe to accept the
hydrogen explosion theory advanced
lin early dispatches from England.