Norwich bulletin., 1922-02-22
FACTS AND CONJECTURE
RELATING TO THE. ROMA

d TAO 1aIllIoton ROADS army base 70 the |
arrays Italian built airship Roma, larg-
est craft Of her type in the world. cast
gloom over the. war and navy depart
rnents as the long list OF officers and men
Who were burned to death in the ship
came in. Pending full reports, however,
Secretary Weeks and air service off
Gals had no comment to make. Imrre-
diately on receipt OF the news, Majcr
Senerai Patrick. chief OF the ar ser
vice left for the scene by airpiane.
Unofficial reports indicated that failure
OF rldder controls had caused the. Roma
to become un1aaaageable : thousand on
more feet IN the air, and plunge earth
ward where she struck high tension wires
which we're thought to have, :g1it1d tie
hundrsds % thousands OF ctsbic feet C
hydrogen gas which filled the great sag
Pending detailed accounts from Survivors
Officers here accepted this as the r~cba-
be explanation OF the distaster. Cn5i' Il
has been learned definitely whit structtir-
Al defect sent the snip pluneing down. to
he" ceatll. It was added, the lessons ?
~ t:r;4wn from tn acci@ent c1ui not pe
fbr.t s.s:' 50 far as &.rsntp design v-a3
=. coacerued.
With several Officers Of The ship :115.
+, some OF Ter skilled mechanics among TIE
/ survivors. It was hoped that fuil infor1l-
| alton would be available. When the tvZ-
rigid. British built airshiD zR-2 came to
q tragic end through explosion II the air
during a trial trip in England. evidence
! OF Che cause. OF the smash had to be
! sought II. the wregrlaee for there were
| no survivors who could tel, what hap
ii5ered. In that case It has since ipeen as
-eertaired,' the buck Ing Of q; portion Of
:tlle franewo-k resulted in destruction. os
Tx, ship iw explosion IN ar.
Navy officials. laid emphasis, IN talk
Ing Of the Ror1a's destruction OF tne
zpoint that had It been possible to de-
new coTl-infiaIrl1lable gas first produced
d1rif2g the war. 10 fill her great bag. ro-
| days accident almost certainly would
have been far less terrible. There would
have been no fire after the chash. at
least, It was said and it was the terri
Bile heat OF the blazing hydrogen which
apparently brought death to more than
thirty men. But 50 fa- only sufficient
heituu has been produced to initiate the
naval liinlp CT, mere ptgray Snip OF
the air beside the Roma. CT made her
trial fight carried by the new gas during
the first days Of the recent arms cor
ference. !ourneying from Hampton Eoads
i to Washington and. back.
1 During the Ronla's trip IN December
4 from, Langley. Field. To WASHINGTON to
i be christeued and formally commission
i ed IN the army air feet. she developed
trouble with: her original Italian motors
but otherwise Punctioned perfectly. The
The ship fought ann increasing head
wind all the way and reached Boiling
Field with Only three % her SIX motors
running. She had SO little power as she
approached, the landing place where
scores o. distinguished guests awaited
, her, that her commander was compelled
to Jockey his monster craft over the low
Hills that surround the feid with utu2os!
4 cunning to bring her IN at all.
: Because Of the motor trouble the
scheduled Initial fight OF the ROMA over
Washington with Secretaries Weeks and
DENLY and the Italian ambassador II
: her cabins as well as senator's and mem
|, bers OF the house was postponed. The
ship went. back to Langley running be-
fore the wind and barely reaching hel
hangar before q, coast gale broke. She
remained IN the shed for many weeks K
have her motors replaced by Liberty en-
gine5 Of greater power and more GER
tainty OF performance. The flight which
proved her last was one OF those made
! to. test her. new propell!ng plant and ::
. had been expected she would show great
. ly improved speed and vancouver ablIl
q II.
= Destruction Of the Fona leaves bot
j, the army and navy without airships larg
= er than the navy bljrrps. There Is no
now IN the United States rigid or semi
!. riged craft even SANITY resembling tn
> German zeppeI.as that Married Lo3do,
a time after time during the world va
: Tho 2R-f 70 under construction by til
navy roweveE, and recently arrangement
:, were made with tho cooperation OF tn
= allied governments that the zeppel,
. plant IN Germany should build for tn
: navy q Zeppelin OF the L type, wt.:c
Z proved successful during the war.
u Tie zR.1 was described today 2
!. strictly q reproduction Of the best &c:
n man atrships, only slight nlodifca;t'o-
q In plan having been made By the nav
. department. The policy OF the depar
20 -nert IN planning the ship Is unde-stoo
N to have been to attempt no improve
10 u1ents until the tried and proved prat
tice of the German airsh!p builders ha
.ol been duplicated successfully and then
% advance in. speed and size By slo
strides ard with emphasis laid IN ever
l. succeeding design on safety azA eour
g. structural Developments.
" The. Zeppelin TO be procured IN &c
many also will be Of this proven tyr
Il and tbs business Of airship building !
oil the country on a major scale, either Il
Of military OF; commercial purposes, hi
II been generally expected by technical o
e, 4csrY 70 start from this point. N II