Watauga Democrat. [volume] (Boone, Watauga County, N.C.) 1888-current, 1922-03-02
AiRSHlP ROMA PLUNGES 1000
FEET, HITS HiGH.TENsloN
WIRE AND BURNS UP.
FIRE BURNED five HOURS
Most Of As Men Aboard Giant AIrshlp
Arc Caught In Roaring Furnace
Of Burning Hydrogen.

Norfolk, Va.-Flung earthward, pre-.
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 q
high tension electric Line and burst
into 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 pile Of car material 4 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 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 few yards
from the ground.
At nightfall, many hours after her
fall, the ship was still mass of fam ca
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 fight.
Barely q 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 escaled by jumping az 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 7 p. m
1t was out. Derricks began picking
up the wreckage as the flames were
driven back. There was scarcely
more than the aluminium frame worh
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 o'clock. Three OF
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 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
fame that rescuers were driven back
before its terrific heat. They watched
helplessly as the great bag shriveled
In the fierce blaze OF the liberated
gas. The Roma was wall Of flames
city block long and until the thou
sands Of gallons Of chemicals and wa
ter had checked the holocaust, II was
impossible to reach the comrades
mangled and dead In that fiery fur
mace.
The ship left no passenger list be
hind her when she set out for brief
trial run from Langley. She is known
to have carried many officers and
men as passengers, however, in addi
tion to her operating crews.
As she rose from the field. hel
commander leaned out to signal that
he had "A persons on board. It is
believed he did not include one civil
ian on the ship and that she actually
carried As.
OF the forty.five 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 swatheA 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, it Ia
believed. we're instantly. killed,