Cheraw chronicle. [volume] (Cheraw, S.C.) 1896-2005, 1922-03-02
81 PERISH IN A|RSH|p FIRE
AIRSHIP ROMA PlUNGES 1,ooo
FEET, HITS HIGH-TENsloN
WIRE AND BURNS UP.
Most of as Men Aboard Giant Airship
Are Caught In Roaring Furnace
Of Burning Hydrogen.

Norfolk, Nd.-FluQS edTluWdIu, pic'
sumably by broken rudder, the giant
airship Roma plunged a thousand feet
or more to strike ground at the Hamp-
ton Roads army base, capsize across
high tension electric line and burst
into a roaring furnace Of blazing hy-
drogen gas in which at least "a OF her
army crew and passengers perished.
The "a dead includes officers OF the
army air service.
Her contact with the high voltage
wires which she tore asunder started
her gas bag afire, and the explosion
followed as the nose Of the craft
struck a pile of car material q few
feet beyond.
The explosion sent flames 800 feet
in the air, as eight Of her survivors
leaped from the deck" Of the ship.
Three others were dragged from the
mass of wreckage and flames.
Only those in the forward part Of
the operating compartment OF the ship
had a chance for their lives. Several
were injured severely by jumping, but
three came out practically unhurt and
were. discharged from the hospital
within few hours after the disaster.
Lieutenant Burt, who with Captain
Reed was the principal pilot of the
Roma, was one of these. He jumped
when the ship was only a few yards
from the ground.
At nightfall, many hours after her
fall, the ship was still mass OF flames
from one end to the other OF her 40
foot mass. The fire was feeding on
the million cubic feet of gas that had
distended the great bag for the flight.
Barely a dozen or more than two
score men aboard had been picked up
alive. One died en- route to a hos
pital All of those who survived the
fire escaped by jumping as the ship
struck. The others, pinned in the
hull beneath the fallen bag, were
burned to death.
Heat of the fire fought back res
cuers for hours.
Three fire departments fought the
flames with chemicals and by Z p. m.
it was out. Derricks began picking
up the wreckage as the flames were
driven back There was scarcely
more than the aluminium frame work
and six Liberty motors to move.
Within the wreckage lay the bodies,
many of them charred beyond direct
recognition. Thirty-one bodies had
been taken out at 7 o'clock. Three or
four more were thought to be still in
the charred mass that alone remained
OF what had been the largest ship OF
her type in the world.
Eye witnesses who watched the
smash agreed that the huge kite-like
structure Of the stern rudder, itself as
large as a bombing plane, had slip
ped to one side as the Roma drove
along a thousand feet above the army
base.
So swift was the fare Of the gas
flame that rescuers were driven back
D6IOT6 lIS uCdl' lhCJ "otShSu
helplessly as the great bag shriveled
In the fierce blaze of the liberated
gas. The Roma was wall Of flames
a city block long and until the thou
sands Of gallons Of chemicals and wa
ter had checked the holocaust. 1t was
i'm mpossible to reach the comrades
mangled and dead in that fiery fur
mace.
OF the forty.fve men who left the
Langley Field air station this after
noon, eleven found their way, alive.
to the United States public health
service. Those men, some more dead
than alive. lay on their cots, with
burned and broken limbs swathed in
bandages. Some had their faces
smeared with cream to relieve them
of their intense suffering, while 9TH
ers lay asleep or unconscious with
only their closed eyes visible. All who
were able to talk were suffering from
shock. Several of the victims. 1t is
believed, were instantly killed.