The Colorado statesman., 1922-09-23
CONTRACT LET FOR
GIANT DIRIGIBLE
WAR DEPARTMENT DECIDES
THAT WE CAN'T GET ALONG
WITHOUT SUCH AiRSHlPS
WILL USE HELIUM GAS ONLY
New Vessel Will Be of Semi-Riaid
Type and Will Be Equipped With
Suspension Landing Devices for
AirpIanes
BY JAMES P. HoRNADAY

Grafton the War department has de-
cided that the United States cannot
get along safely without giant diri-
gible airships equal to those built by
any other nation. In some quarters
regret is expressed that the confer
ence on the limitation of ornaments
did not place some limitation on diri-
gibles. AS things stand there is bound
to be an unrestricted race between
nations in this sort of construction.
Contracts for the first giant dirigible
of American make and American de-
sign have been closed. The great air.
ship will be somewhat larger than the
Inflated Roma and, if successful as n
flyer, will be tried out as an airplane
carrier.
The chief of the army air service
says that a series of experiments with
suspension landing devices for air.
planes had been arranged for the
Roma before she vas destroyed, and
the same experiments it is now in
tended shall be carried out with the
new ship. These devices, it is under
stood, are intended to provide a base
for landing and departure at any
lclSlt III llt lhC
ship will be built under the direction
of the building company's engineers
and those of the army working to-
gether. The vessel will be of the semi
rigid type, as was the Roma, will be
300 feet in length and have n gas
bag capacity of 100000 cubic feet
No kind of gas will be used in the
new aircraft except helium, as a nee
essary protection against FIRE, which
destroyed within the year both the
giant ZR-2 and the Roma. Construc
tion of the ship has aot yet begun, and
when it does it is estimated that one
year and six months will be required
before it is completed.
Cruising Radius of 1000 Miles.
Engineers claim that the new craft
will have a cruising radius of 1000
miles, which would enable it easily to
cross the Atlantic ocean. They plan
that on low speed it's engines shall be
capable of maintaining speed of Az
miles an hour and on high speed 70
miles an hour.
All details as to the landing devices
or heavier-than-air machines on the
big unsupported ship are at present
being kept a secret, though the gen
eral scheme of seizing the smaller ma
chimes by some appartus suspended
below the great dirigible Is indicated
by the War Department engineers. On
the new army dirigible airplanes can
be carried and dropped with the air.
ship in full flight. Likewise an air.
plane can fly underneath the dirigib.e
and be picked up with a big hook and
hoisting apparatus and brought up on
board while the ship is flying 60 miles
an hour. 1t will have two power cars
and a navigator's car, all attached to
the metal keel of the ship. 1t will be
capable of making the 3,O00-mile trip
from New York to San Francisco or
from Liverpool to New York at
speed of 80 miles an hour, completing
the journey in 60 hours.
DeIano Service Is Started.
The first two Red Cross nurses
to engage in missionary form
of service provided for in the will
of the late Jane A. Delano, who
died in France while director of
the nursing service of the American
Red Cross, have been detailed for duty
in Alaska and in the islands off the
Maine coast. Miss Bertha b. Sleeves,
formerly superintendent of the Ottawa
(Can.) hospital, and long in nursing
and settlement work, has been select
ed for the Alaskan field. Miss Stella
Fuller, graduate of the Milwaukee
training school, who served with the
A. II. c. in France during the war,
takes up the work in Maine.
The conditions of the hequest re
quire that the nurses selected be so
situated that demands of dependents
will not interfere with their work. In
addition to being enrolled Red Cross
nurses, candidates for the distinction
must have had two years experience
in public health nursing, be qualihed
to teach, and be not less than thirty
years old. Miss Delano's purpose in
endowing this special service as me-
mortal TO her father and mother was
to create nursing facilities in isolated
districts where no funds are available
from governmental or other agencies
or from individuals. The Delano
nurses will be under the supervision
of the American Red Cross.
A memorial in recognition of the
achievements of Miss Delano in the
form of a monument Is to be erected
by popular subscription on the grounds
of the Red Cross national headquar-
ters in Washington at cost of $4,000.
1t will stand as a shrine commemorate
Ing not only Miss Delano, but all Amer
lean nurses who responded to the call
of their country in the World war.
To Improve Health of Indians.
In order to test the feasibility of
public health nursing and general well
fare work on the Indian reservations,