The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1922-11-24
]. s. AISHIPS ID USE HELIUM
 IN FUTURE
NOn-Infammable Gas to Make Dirigible Balloons Much Safer.
BY HARRY L. ROGERS International News Service Staff
 COrreSDOndent

| Washington, Nov. 24-Secretary of War Weeks is planning to make bal | looms safe for ballooners.
 Although the Army Air Service has been working for many months upon the problem of producing hclium gas in large quantities. the dirigible C-2 at San Antonio has aroused the Oar Department to in creased efforts in this direction, and 1t is hoped that within less than a year the Army will have a sufficient quantity of the non-infIammable gas for all it's needs.
 At the present time the Army has about 100000 cubic feet for helium This amount is considerably less than sufficient to fly an airship of the di- mensions of the giant dirigible Roma a year ago with terrible loss of life The report of the board of officers which investigated the Roma catas- tropha declared the loss of life would have been much less if he Roma's great envelope had been fill ed with helium instead of the high ly inflammable hydrogen. but since the Army did not have the helium the accident could not have been avoided.
 No Loss of Life
 Fortunately there was no loss of life when the C-2 burned at San An tonia. And since the envelope of the C-2, like those of most of the other dirisfbles now in existence, is un-
 
 perhaps just as well that she burned under those circumstances before there had been another such catas- trophe as that of the Roma to the
 The joint Army and Navy heliUm plant at Fort Worth. Texas, is now in operation. It is from this plant that both the Army and Navy ex- poet to ohtain their future supplies of non-iuflammab gas It is esti- mated that by the end of next year the plant will have produced from 12,0Q0,000 to 14,00O.00O cubic feet Of heliun, which is expected to be suf- fc1ent for the immediate needs of the two branches of the service. different materials in the dirigible envelope, but it also requires d big ger envelope proportonatIey than that necessary for airships floated tween the lifting power of heltum and that of hydrogen is about as 92 to 100, according to the Air Ser envelope of the Roma or the C-2 would have had to be enlarged if the ships were to have had the same huoyancy when helium gas was used.
 Building Hclium Bags
 The four new diriGibles now be- ing built for the Army Air Service all are to be- equipped with enve- lGpeS suitable for using helium. This means that a different sort of mater ial must be used in the construction of the bag. It has been estimated that an airship of the dimensions of the C-2, equipped with the same sort of envelope, would have permitted the escape of approximately 5000 cubic feet of helium gas a day while with the specially adapted bags the loss is reduced to almost nothing.
 Of these four airships three are small being of about the same di- mensions as the C-2. The fourth, however, will be nearly four times as large and will be only slightly smaller than the Roma. believed to be the largest dirigible of her type ever constructed.
 While there is a difference of op- icion among Air Service experts as to the practical military value of the dirigible. the Department has no in. tentiOn of abandoning this type of aircraft IT the u-fated Roma had continued in service it had been in tended to try the experiment Of using her an "airplane carrier from which airpIanes might be launched during flight of the airship. This line of experiment probably will be continued in the future.