The New York herald., 1922-07-27
The Tragedy Of the Roma.

AS TO the cause OF the original ac-
cident which sent the military diri-
gible Roma crashing to earth at Nor
folk, Virginia. on February 81, the
Italian engineers, representing, the
country in which the airship was con-
structed, and the American Army AIR
Service. representing the nation
which bought her, do not agree.
AS to the cause Of the horrible con-
flagration which followed the air
ships crash and which cost the lives
of some. II not all, Of the thirty-four
Americans who died in that heart
rending disaster there is no doubt
The Army Air Service report on the
catastrophe. issued yesterday, tells
the story in these two sentences:
Undoubtedly the loss of life in
this accident would not have been so
great II the supporting medium in
this envelope had been q non-innam-
mable, non-explosivs gas such as =
helium.
I'm addition to tho safety meas
ures indicated above this accident
shows clearly that in such large air
ships. when possible. helium should be
used in place Of hydrogen"
And the CHASTITY fact Is that this
finding is nothing except a confirma-
tion of what every reasonable man
and woman knew from experience
and observation when the shocking
Roma tragedy occurred.
The United States contracted
abroad for two great dirigibles to be
delivered after the close of the war.
One was the British R-3S, later known
as the ZR-2; the other was the Roma.
When these two contracts were made
the United States had produced the
non-infammable gas helium In guam
titles sufficient for use in place Of the
dangerous, tpfammable hydrogen.
Yet the ZR-2 was equipped for hydro
gen, and when on August "a, 1921,
the monster airship. on her final trial
trip, buckled over the River Humber
and fell to destruction, killing seven
teen Americans and twenty-seven OF
her British crew, the explosion of the
hydrogen in its gas bags contributed
greatly to the horror. At that time
THE New YORK HERALD said:
/'Tf this country Is going in for
dirigibles It will be better for 1t to
| make its own. Let US use American
engines. bodies. bags and gas. And
| let the gas be helium- II we can't
afford helium we can't afford diri-
gibles. Least Of all can We afford,
whatever the condition Of the Treas
ury, to risk the lives of our fighters
unnecessarily. Tho tragedy Of the
Humber ought to be a lesson"
But the tragedy Of the Humber did
not teach a lesson to the authorities
in charge of aeronautics. Within six
months almost to day the R6ma
was sent up with hydrogen In her
gas bags, to crash to earth, the fu-
neral pyre Of thirty-four men whose
lives were sacrificed to the use OF a
dangerous element where a safe ele-
ment should have been used and
might have been used. Then THE
New York HERALD said:
'Tt 1.-THE ZR-2 dIsaster] ought to
N
have been lesson IL anything in the
world could be a lesson. But evil
IDENTIFY to stupidity OF the frst order
no lesson Is impossible to forget"
Every word of warning and every
phrase of criticism THE New YORK
HERALD has uttered with regard to
the use of hydrogen In dirigibles
when helium Is obtainable Is justi-
fed by the official admissions OF the
Army Air Service in the report on
the Roma now before the public.
And 1t Is time for the authorities
to act for the prevention of such
tragedies in the future. II the army
and the navy must have dirigibles---
though why these clumsy, vulnera-
tle vessels are wanted no man can