Evening star., 1923-10-14
WEEK ENDS ABROAD
PREDICTED SOON
Admiral Moffett Sees AirIines
That Will Circle Globe
in Two Days.
What will the airship of the future

What will the airship OF the future
i be?
Rear Admiral William A. Moffett,
chief of the bureau OF aeronautics,
, United States Navy. ventures an
amazing prediction regarding the
aviation of tomorrow in the October
issue of Popular Science Monthly,
describing a dirigible as large as the
Leviathan, capable of sailing around
| the world in a couple Of days, manned
| by a regiment Of men and carrying
airplanes as ocean steamships now
carry lifeboats, so that passengers
| may be sent off to wayside destina-
| tions.
Ships of the sea have built en-
pires, he writes, altered the desti-
MES of nations and exerted a pro-
found influence on history through
uncounted centuries. With the dawn
of the twentieth century ships of the
/ air have comes as new challenger
of time and space, and their influence
upon the trend of world events is
] today one of the most potent factors
| in world progress and development.
Cities Drawn Together.
| Yesterday we crossed an ocean, to-
| day a continent; tomorrow we circle
! the globe. New routes for commerce
open up by way of the polar air
| routes. London and Toxic are drawn
| together as by magic, and man, creep
| ing on the earth, looks to the sky
and reads there the story of a new
| era.
| 1t requires no great tax on the
| imagination to picture some OF the
| developments of air transportation
( which we may expect to see even in
Consider a ship Of 100000 cubic
/ feet. Such ships are now being
planned abroad. They would equal
| length of~s00 feet and more and a
diameter greater than the beam of
! that great vessel They will carry
/ a weight in fuel and other useful
could cruise half way around the
earth without a stop. Airplanes could
be carried on them as are lifeboats on
going vessels. These planes could
| land on deck on top of the airship and
| be launched from il, carrying passen-
gers for wayside destinations. They
could be designed to. carry regiment
of troops, and a fleet of them could
transport all army to the ends Of the
earth in time that could be reckoned
in hours.
To Carry Planes.
Airplanes have already been carried
by airships, launched from them, pick
ed up by them. 1t is well within the
bounds of reason to predict that the
naval airship of the future will carry a
dozen planes that will be capable OF
defending her against air attack, and
in addition will mount battery of guns
that will command the respect Of any
F., enemy marauder. This country was
among the first to investigate the pos
sibility of airplanes being carried by
airships, and the experiment, conducted
| with a type of airship less than one
| tenth the size of those now building.
| proved the practicability of the scheme.
Until now one hazard in airship oper-
alton has always stalked like specter
at the heels of this development
Hydrogen inflated ships carry with
| them the ever-present danger OF fire.
Many aerial disasters have been trace
able to this
The United States. possessing as II
in the world, is particularly favored by
nature. Helium, an inert gas, Is not
inflammable. 1t has but little less than
the buoyancy of hydrogen and can be
than that of hydrogen, is inconsequen-
tial compared with the safety and de-
pendability gained.
Tse OF Helium.
The heiium airship will make this
| form of travel safe to a degree never
before possible. 1t will assure low in
surance rates on merchandise carried
| by airships
AS a basis for the future of airship
development in this country the Navy in
constructing the ZR-1 is building wisely
and well. This craft, the first rigid air.
ship ever built in the United States.
has just been completed at Lakehurst.
| n. ]. 1t is as large as ocean going
steamers. and 100000 cubic feet OF
gas will be required to initiate 1t. But
| withal II Is mediocer In size and infe-
rior in performance to similar ships
that may be expected to follow.
In the development OF aviation Amer
lea should be in a position to point the
way to the world.