The St. Mary banner., 1921-09-03
BIG DIRICIBLE
zR-2 BLOWS UP
American Naval Officers and
Men Aboard Lose Their
Lives.

LondOn.-The ZR-2, the gigantic air
ship constructed for the United States
navy, lies in the Humber River near
Hull, a colossal and appalling wreck
OF what was the greatest dirigible the
world has ever seen
OF its crew of forty-nine officers
and men, only five survive to tell the
story of the midair tragedy, which
came toward the close of the airship's
final test Wednesday before she was
to sail for America. OF these, four
are British and ore is an American.
Twenty-one out OF the forty-nine men
aboard the ship are believed to have
been Americans
For thirty hours the ZR-2 had sail
ed the air lanes above England and the
North Sea. Wireless reports from her
officers told of her splendid work"
in the air. The trip was coming to an
end and the ZR-2 had reached a point
directly over the city of Hull, eagerly
followed by the eyes Of thousands who
gathered on Victoria Pier to see the
maneuvers when there was a tremend-
Gus explosion which rocked the entire
town, sweeping pedestrians from their
feet, crashing the plate glass from
windows of shops and sending the
shock of its detonation fully fifty
miles
The stupefied spectators saw the
great bag, which had just emerged
from the clouds, burst asunder and
sink into the river. Two little white
clouds separated themselves from the
falling ship. These were the para
chutes which we're to bring the sur
vivors safely to earth. The other
men dropped with the seething wreck
age into the river.
The American officers who started
the trip included Commander Louis H.
| Maxfield Lieutenant Commander
Emory Coil, Lieutenant Henry z. Hoyt.
| Lieutenant Marcus H. Esterly, Lieu
tenant Commander Valentine n. Bieg
and Lieutenant Charles G. Little.
The American enlisted men who
went up with the craft from Howden
were c. l. Aller, Robert Coon, L. E.
| Crowel, J. T. Hancock, William julius
NJ Lay, A. L. Loftin, A. E. Petit, w.
J. Steele, N. O. Walker and George
| Welsh.
The British losses include the ia
nous air veteran Brigadier General E.
NJ Maitland and all the other officers
on board except Lieutenant Wann, the
commander of the ZR-2.
The ZR-2 was the largest dirigible
| ever built, the dimensions being as
| follows:
| Length, 695 feet; diameter, IS feet;
capacity, 100000 cubic feet; total
lifting capacity, SO tons.
The aircraft was operated by six
engines She was estimated to have
a cruising radius of sixty miles pei
| hour, giving a capacity to make an ag
| gregate of 5000 miles of uninterrupted
| flight She had a capacity for officers
and crew of fortytwo men The gaso
line supply was 10000 gallons. 1t was
estimated that she would cross the
Atlantic in seventy-two hours.
The huge aircraft had four gondofas
| suspended from the framework.
These provided sleeping accommo.
| dations for the officers and crew and
| an electrical apparatus for cooking
| meals. Her wireless set was expected
| to keep the monster craft in touch
with both shores of the Atlantic and
| to have a radius exceeding $500 miles.
Seen in flight the ZR-2 closely re.
sembled her sister ship, the R-34, with
| a bewildering confusion of aluminium
girders, rows of gasoline and water
tanks, acres of gas bags, and miscel.
lany of guy wires, control valves, pipes.
swivels and hinges.
A telephone system connected the
entire airship so that the pilot at the
| wheel was in direct communication
with every part OF the craft. Electric
lights kept the craft brightly illumi
mated