The New York herald., 1921-08-25
DIRIGIBLE RECORD
ONE OF DISASTERS
Accidents of All Kinds With
Many Lives Lost Since Ex-
plosion in 1908.


the opinion of most military authorities,
failed to make good. Count Zeppelin
was the pioneer champion of this type
of lighter than air war engine and Ger
many in pre-war times had developed It
to its highest degree of efficiency.
At the close of the world war, how
ever, figures made public by the Ger
mans themselves conceded that of the
eighty-three Zeppelins sent out alto
gether sixty-six were destroyed. larger
percentage than even the Allied General
staff had estimated.
According TO Paris dispatches pub
lished this year, OF the sixty-six de-
stroyed in the war thirty-four were ac-
counted for by the allied armies, two
wers demolished while entering their
hangers. thirteen were burned and ten
smashed while landing. Four OF these
great rigid frame gas bags fell because
of accidents to their motors, one was
struck by lightning, one broke away
from it's moorings and disappeared and
one fell into the sea.
Among the more notable OF these war
time disasters were that of November
25, 1916, when q super Zeppelin was
wrecked during It's trial trip and all
but one OF her crew were lost: that or
July 10. 1918, when a Zeppelin fell In
flames over Dalheim, and that Of An
gust, 1913, when two Zeppelins were
lost of.the coast of Norway In storm
Prior to the great war the fate Of
the series of peacetime Zeppelins was
hardly less tragic Zeppelin l. made her
first fight July /. 1908. She made
several successful aerial voyages there
after, during one of which Count Yep
pelin had as passengers King William
and Queen Charlotte of Wurtemburg.
On the afternoon OF August 8. however,
a severe wind drove the dirigible into a
clump of trees, the motor exploded and
when the smoke cleared away only the
framework OF the airship remained.
All Germany helped the aged Count
Zeppelin to build Zeppelin ii. That
craft made several successful flights.
but she was caught in storm and
wrecked on May 81. 1909.
Zeppelin III. met a like fate at Mer-
genthein.
The Deutschland, the next Zeppelin.
made her maiden voyage June 90, 1910.
with twenty passengers from Fried
richshafen TO Dusseldorf, distance Of
a0o miles That was to have been the
beginning OF a regular aerial passenger
service between those cities, but six
days later the great ship came TO grief
In the Teutoburgian forest. though her
thirty-three passengers escaped un-
injured.
Zeppelin VI. was wrecked while being
worked into her hangar at Baden-Baden,
septonnber IL. 1910. An explosion set
fire to her shed and it also was de-
stroyed
Deutschland II. smashed three OF her
compartments against the wall OF her
aerodrome.
The Schwaben. while at anchor before
her aerodrome at Dusseldorf. was
swerved by a sudden gust of wind. An
explosion wrecked the airship and in
iured thirty-four soldiers, June 2S. 1911.
On March 10. 1913, the substitute IL
was destroyed while attempting a land
ing.
The I'll. a large naval Zeppelin. was
DESTROYED by a hurricane on September
Q. 1913, and Captain Metz'ng, Captain
Tfannc. Baron Won Multzahn and twelve
others were killed.
on October II. 1913. b-2. the largest
drigibla yet built at that time for the
German navy, exploded and was
wrecked while making her trial trip
Three unexplained explosions were heard
while the drigible was at a height Of
about COO feet above the Johannisthal
aerodrome lust outside Berlin. There
were twenty-eight officers and enlisted
men killed, among them Lieut.. Com
msnder Behnisch, close friend of the
then Emperor william, and other MEM
bers OF the Admiralty trial board.
Other nations than Germany have paid
| heavy toll in their efforts to conquer
the air routes by iighter-than-ai dirigi-
bles. The first naval airship built for
the British Government by vickers. Sons
e. Maxim, at n cost OF about S400. 900,
was wrecked on its first removal from
its shed. September "a, 1911.
In Oakland, Cal. the NIorrell airshp
\ fell and collapsed during a trial trip,
May 30, 1908, and sixteen passengers
were injured.
BY the explosion OF the dirigible bal
loon Akron on July 1, 1912, near At
| lantio City, ". j., Melvin vaniman and
| four companions were killed In the
sight OF more than 1900 persons. vani-
man had spent 100000 on the gasbag
In Chicago. on July 81. 1919. dirigi-
BILE fell In flames through the glass
skylight OF the roof of the Illinois Trust
and Savings Bank building. Eleven per-
sons were killed and 21 injured
Tho United States Navy blimp Clio,
during the International Yacht Cup races
last year because of lealky valve
dropped 5000 feet and was wrecked on
the rocks OF Jamaica Bay. Her officers
and crew were rescued.