The Holbrook news., 1921-03-18
Plan to Fly Giant DirigibIes From London to America, Aus
 tralia and Africa.
SPEED 60 MILES AN HOUR
Craft, With 100 Passengers Aboard, Expected to Fly From England to California in Four Days- Commercial Airship Is AL
 ready a Success.

London.-PlanS are now under dis cussiOn here for linking up all parts of the world by passenger air routes, on which giant dirigibles, flying two miles above the surface at 60 miles an hour. will join London with North America, Australia, India and South Africa. If these plans are carried out air liners 800 feet long, equipped with berths, dining rooms, smoking rooms, libraries and observation plat forms, will speed from England to San Francisco in four days. stopping to discharge passengers and mails at New York and Chicago. Each ship will carry 100 passengers, and the fare will be only 50 per cent more than present steamship rates. Ships capa- ble of this service are now in com mission, and a trial passenger flight will be made to Egypt by British government airship to determine the feasibility of opening such passenger routes.
 ''The commercial airship already has proved it's success said Sir Ire vOr Dawson of Vickers. Limited, when asked whether he thought the plan practicable Vickers, Limited, is now building airships for the Brit ish government. and Sir Trevor is an expert on the lighter-than-air craft.
 "Day of Passenger Liner Here"
 "The success of the, R-34 showed the possibilities of a transatlantic service" he continued. Tt is now only a question of building more and larger ships and equipping suitable landing fields. sheds and mOOring stations on both sides of the Atlantic. The air ships are speedy, safe and reliable. They can carry large cargOes. have wide cruising range, and can ride out almost any weather.
 ''The day of the passenger air liner is here, and if the task of organizing air routes is undertaken by big finan ciaI interests it should be possible to begin regular passenger service over Europe within six months with the ships and bases already in existence. The American service would require somewhat larger ships and landing stations in North America. But it could be in operation in less than three years. We need such a service, and believe that it will come"
 The R-34 is the type of craft sug gested for the proposed service, but the contemplated ships, although built on the R-34 lines, would be much larger and have a far greater cruising radius. It is said that rigid airship could be built that would be HOO feet long. carrying 136 tons of freight or passengers. and having a maximum range of 13.250 miles. cruising radius.
 Maitland Supports Project.
 Brig. Gen. E. NJ. Maitland. r-hO commanded the R-34 in the transat- Iantic flight. is a believer in the plan for world air routes.
 Even the existing airship of today can be regarded as a reasonably safe public conveyance" he says. They already have proved themselves capa- ble Of flying through practically any type of weather. and the larger air ships of the future. fitted with more powerful machinery. necessarily will be even safer FOgs do not prove a real menace to airships. as with the present methods of navigation it is | not necessary to see the ground in flying between bases. It is true that at | present the most violent forms of cleo tric storms are an undOubted danger | to all forms of airTaft, but at the | most this danger appears to be less than the danger of rocky cOastf and | to the seagoing ship.
 "Airships. of this type of the R-3s. which is now being built at Bedford, | or the German LII, would be capable of flying from England to Egypt. a of 2,200 miles, without a stop in two and one-half days. These ships would carry about 80 passen- gers, with 100 pounds of baggage for