The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1921-11-13
Why the Rigid Airship Is a Failure


"On July ~ there was a long
~ ght. added the coroner, when
there was some buckuug of the main
longitudinal girdcr and "a glrder on
the port eide. The safety OF tho
dirigibir was not affected al that
time. for he airship landed safely
at Howden."
The defects made apparent from
the first trials were. to he sure. the
object uf repairs and reinforce
mcnts, but they were bad sigrs for
the whole, ana In aeronRutics what
We call "rafistolagc' thasty re-
pairngl rs never very satisfactory.
Moreover, the opinion ut the
English court charged with the In
quirV Is. The airship. while flying
81 approximately 1900 feet over tho
Humber, broke lu two, due to thp
iailure OF the structure iu the rear
OF the amer engine cars. while being
subjected TO control tcstE
II w.ll be noticed also in this re-
.poft that in the Cuurs, OF construc-
ton the control OF the work ON he
= R-2 WAS changed having been
transferred from the admira.tN to a
newly created ministry the nir min
istrN This Is certainly regrcttablc.
But I do not share In the opinion
plorcs the fact that the plans were
noe examined by special commit.
zee. Com mittees do not have suIfi-
ci"ntly direct moral rcspouAlui.Ity
bearing on their different members
Contradictory opinions. disturbing in
their results. are spread out At viii
The value Of com mlttcr ia always
inferior TO the value OF the hrst OF
result a obtained In choosing the
best man. and giving 20 him alone
confidence and authority
In "a word. there was faulty dc
sign
the men who compose n. \ better
But let Ne not iuEis' further on
This point. fur " there was fault on
the lart Of the designors they nave
paid for it with their livcs. and the
widow Of one ot them followed the
sad cortege AZ the funeral ON the
contrary. let ue bow before the
bravery aud misfortune OF these
men. Let US try not to lose the
terrible lesson given by events hut
.ct us not criticize the men. ospc-
ciall, since their faults in manage
mcut Of details are ovcrshadowcd by
greater fault--that of the choice
OF tho system itself.
The IR-2 was not an airplane--it
was dlttstDit ba aiiuOu. AS such IL
7hould have offered tho most com
pleto security The dirigiblc balloon
supports Itself independent uf jts
motors. II ought To bc made 80 as
20 support the.sc motors without in
volfiug more danger than spheg-
ical sport balloon. or oven a pasSeu-
rcr steamer. But In order that Il may
achieve this we must At Jhe very
lirst absolutely rcnounCe tho So
called rigid system. the system OF
Zeppelin.
Zeppelin system at Fault.
At the present time this syatcm j.
the best known and the most W.do-
spread, but thai IL due tuepoculiar
circumstances. that f.. to the tenac-
ity. the energy and admirable will
power displayed by Count Zeppelin
up to the time OF his death. and to
the support that these qualities OH
TENED from the Kaiser when he was
all-powerful. and which support he
gave without counting the cost when
II was n question of making GC;er-
man idea prevail.
But the Zeppelin system carries
the indelible mark I was going 70
say Of original sin--more exactly Of
great error made from the very