Albuquerque morning journal., 1922-11-06
Of
AIRCRAF 7 URGED
BY FL PASO MAN
In Spite of the Many Acct
dents, the United States
Must Not Relax Its Work,
Says Waterman

El Paso, Tex, Nov. 5.--"In spite
of the many accidents and the
tragedies which are resulting from
experiment in aviation, United
States must not neglect it's deyel-
Opment Of aircraft, either in a
commercial or military way" This
is tho belief of J. e. Waterman,
Ell Pasoan who has spent more
than six years in military air SER
vice, having been one OF the sur
ViYOrs of the crew of the Inflated
L. s. A. S. Z1u-:, which collapsed
in the Humber river in England,
August "a, 1921, and caused the
death of all but three of her crew
of 46, one American and two Eng
lish airmen surviving.
"Other countries are superior in
nearly all branches of air service
and especially in the rigid dirigi-
BILE type" Waterman declared.
This is especially true of Germany
and these giant ships of the air
must be perfected in this country,
at least to the extent of their devel-
Opment in other countries. be-
lieve that with proper supervision
and with untiring effort, the air
ship OF the various types will soon
be brought to the state of perfec-
tion where it is no more dangerous
than motor car travel. But this
stage will only be reached by con
stant effort" Waterman prophe-
sled.
Has Had Narrow Escapes.
.ri. 4 I,,.fr
dies of the past few years in which |
were connected, Water !
man, a wireless operator OF senior
rank, has escaped from four of
them.
after six years, l decided to
leave the air service which Kept |
me constantly away from my rela-
tives here and to come back to |
Ell Paso and make this my perma-
nent hOme,' Waterman explained |
today.
Recounting the disaster of the
Z. $, A. s., IR-2, Waterman used
it as one Of the reasons for un- /
ceasing efforts upon the part OF
United States in the develop
ment of its afrsnIp science. Short |
Iy after the signing of the armis-
tice, United States military author
tiles decided to possess the largest |
rapid type dirigible in tho world. |
Such a ship could not be man
ufactured in America. Negotia-
tons for the monster airship were /
started with German experts, who
claimed that q ship of the size and /
type wanted by the army could |
be successfully built by them. |
German manufacturers agreed 10
build the ship for one million dol
lars and to sail it across the Allan /
tic, deliver it in this country and .
take their pay for it if it was sat
The agreement was
made when England |
experts pointed out that under the
treaty, Germany could not build |
such ship for many years.
CONTRACT Awarded to England.
This confronted the United |
States officials with either having |
such ship built in England or not |
built at all. The contract was
awarded to Great Britain for a /
700-fOot ship at a cost of $1,000 .
600, one million to be paid at com.
pletion and one million when the |
ship was delivered. when the ship !
completed, money had !
to be advanced and in order 10 get .
It finished, it was necessary for
United States 10 pay the entire
two million dollars.
4 crew of 40 men and IL Officers /
went to England to test the ship
and to bring it to this country. I
Changes We're made TO suit the !
experts and it was not
until August Of 1921, a year after
delivery was supposed to have been
made that it was really ready for
its tests. German experts claimed /.
IL would not be n success. The
tests were started and it survived
three test flights. Ii was to COM /,
plete one more and then start for 1
across the Atlantic.
Giant Ship CrumpIcd.
After 33 hours in the air, the
ship passed all tests given it and /
was ready for the speed and rud- /
der tests. The flight crew that
day consisted OF 16 Americans and
SO English. The ship was speeded J
up and made a speed of so miles .
an hour as it passed over Hull, |
An English expert then took the |
rudder for the rudder test. He !
swung it clear over to turn around. |
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