The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-02-22
A|RSHIP DISASTER CASTS GLOOM OVER
 NATIONAL CAPITAL
Firing of Gas by Electric Wires Believed Responsible for Destruction of the
 AirShip Roma
By Associated Press

over the war and navy departments as the long list of officers and men who were burned to death in the ship came in. Pending full official re- ports, however, Secretary Weeks and air service officials had no comment to make. Immediately on receipt of the news, Major General Patrick chief of the air service, left for the scene by airplane.
 Unofficial reports indicated that failure of rudder controls had caused the Roma to become unmanagable a thousand oE more feet in the air and plunge earthward where she struck high tension electric wires which were thought to have ignited the hundreds of thousands of cubic feet of hydrogen gas, which filled the great bag. Pending detailed ac- counts from survivors, officers here accepted this as the prooable ex- planation of the disaster Until t has been learned definitely what stl.ucturar defect sent the ship plung- ing down to her death. it was added. the lessons to be drawn from the &C., cident could not be forecast so far as airship design was concerned
 Hope To Fix Cause
 With officers of the ship and some of her skilled mechanics among sur vivors it was hoped that full informa . tion would be available. When the navy rigid, British built airship zR-2 came to a tragic end through explo- sion in the air during trial trip in England evidence of the cause of the smash had to be sought in the wreckage, for there were no sur vivors who could tell what happened. In that case, 1t has since been ascer- tained. the buckling of a portion of the frame work resulted in destruc- tion of the ship by explosion in air.
 Naval officials laid emphasis in talking of the Roma's destruction on the point that had it been possible to deveiOps a sufficient siippiy of heliU'a, the new, non-inflammable gas first produced during the war to fill her great bag, todays accident almost certainly would have been far less terrible. There would have been no fire after the crash. at least, 1t was sa i'd. and it was the terrible heat of the blazing hydrogeh which apparent lily brought death to more than 90 men. But so far. only sufficient hel- ieum has been produced to inflate the naval blimp CT. a mere pigmy ship of the air beside the Roma. The C-f made her trial flight carried by the new gas during the first days Of the recena arms conference journeying from Hampton Roads to Washington and back.
 Trouble On Initial Trip
 During the Romas trip in Decem- . Der from Langley field to Washing ton to be christined and formally commissioned in the army air fleet she developed trouble with her orig inaI Italian motors but otherwise functioned perfectly. The ship fought an increasing head wind all the way and reached Bowling field with only three of her six motors running She had so little power as she approached the landing place where scores of dis ftinguished guests awaited her, that her commander was compelled to jockey his monster 9raft over the low hills that surround the field with ut nost cunning 10 bring her in at all.
 Because of the motor trouble tho | scheduled initial flight of the Roma over Washington with Secretaries Weeks and Denby and the Italian ambassador in her cabins as well as senators and members of the House was postponed. The ship went back to Langley running before the wind and barely reached her hangar before a coast gale broke. She remained in the shed for many weeks to have her motors replaced by Liberty engines of greater power and more certainty of performance. The flight, which proved her last, was one of those made to test her new propelling plant and it had been expected she would show greatly improved speed and maneuverability.
 only Blimps Left
 l Destruction of the Roma leaves both i the army and navy without airships larger than the navy blimps. There lis not now in the United States a rigid or semi rigid craft even faintiy 1 resembling the German Zeppelins that harried London time after time during the World war. The ZR-1 is under construction by the navy, however, and recently arrangements were made with the cooperation or the allied governments that the Zep- peiin plant in Germany should build for the navy a Zeppelin of the l. type which proved successful during the war.
 1 The ZR-1 was described today as strictly a reproduction of the best German airships, only slight modifica- tions in plan. having been made by the navy department. The policy or the department in planning the ship | is understood to have been to attempt no improvement until the tried and proven practice of the German air ship builders had been duplicated sue cessfully and then to advance Tn speed and size by slow strides and with emphasis laid in every succeed | ing design on safety and sound struc- tural developments.
 The Zeppelin to be procured in Ger many also will be of this proven type and the business of airship building | in the country on major scale 1 either for military or commercial purposes, has been generally expected | by technical officers to start from this point. Tn this connection it was said today that examination Of all German records had failed to reveal \ any disaster such as that to the ZR-2 which was far larger than any Ger man built craft of the kind, or to the Roma.
 | FORBES LEAVES FOR ATLANTA By Associated Press
 Washington, February 2l.-Director