The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-08-24

| to New York, refueled and returned to British Isles The voyage of the ZR-3 is not looked forward to so much as a feat as an indication of what may, be- come a commonplace occurrence. N
 The ship will be United States Navy property upon acceptance at Lakehurst, It has been suggested that it be used as presidential yacht, to take the place of the present Mayflower, or as a naval flagship, or be handed over to the mail service. H It probably won't be used for another transatlantic voyage, as Zeppelin of, ficials say it is too small. For regular service of such distance an airship should be nearly twice the size of the ZR-3.
 Too small, it is said, and yet it is an eighth of a mile long.
 Plane Is Bird, Dirigible Is Fish
 As the ship takes the air it resembles nothing so much as n giant fish. As the lines for the airplane were taken from ! birds, SO those for lighter-than-air craft were taken from the sea. It has its lats eral and vertical wings, like the fins of fish, while it's cloth-cOyered body, painted silver color, seems like scalF fish,.
 On first appearance it seems impossi- bly, clumsy. Only when an expert points out the reason for every foot of struc- ture does one see its grace and begin to realize its possibilities. The engineering problem of it's making is expressed by the statement : its weight is that of q tiny fishing trawier, its volume greater l than that of an ocean liner. Just there's where the difficulty comes. Everything must be so very light, yet so very strong. Its outside, instead of the steel plates that ship has, is but thin sail-cloth, it's framework the ligha a.st of aluminium, its floors-thoroughout the control cabin -ply-wood no thicker than cigar box material.
 From fore to aft, or from head to tail Git can better be described in the terms of fish) runs what would cor only that it would be on the fish's belly On this is a foot-wide board- walk. On either side of it, again from head to tail, stand huge cans for oil, gasoline and water. Runways lead out to each of the five engine cabins, two on either side and one at rear. Even when she ship is filled a man can walk from head to tail as the 13 gas com partments do not extend down to the walk along the belly. As one stands in the bow, inside, close to the moor. ing pivot, the whole has the appear. ance of skeletonized cone-or perhaps as the whale looked to Jonah. tf:. The forward portion of the under structure, which is fixed to and com. municates with the main body, is the control cabin, containing all the de- vices for the piloting of the ship. Then cofnes the radio room, with a radio that has a reach of approximately B. 900 miles, it's power being generated by windmill overside. The strength of this radio is such that, should wealth CT conditions be favorable, the ship may be able to get in touch with Amer 1 ica before she is out of sight of Flu rope Behind the radio room are the passengers quarters washrooms, din l ing room and kitchen, with an electric -stOve, power for which is also gen erated by a dynamo operated by q windmill Overside. Each stateroom, more comfortable than a railway Pull man, its walls of cloth, has four berths. Beyond the passengers rooms are quar- ters for the crew-hammOcks slung along the center gangway. = 1,5SS Passenger Flights Made A seagull would find scant pickingT should it follow the wake of the ZR-3;; for nothing on board when the ship takes into the air can be thrown over board during the flight. All garbage and waste materials must be retained. Bags are fitted underneath the back bone, between it and the bottom cover ing, to contain such waste.
 Now, as America appears to be go- ing in for the commercial development of lighter-than-air craft. what about their commercial possibilities? In Germany, before the war, they had been proved both practical and prof itable. As long ago as 1910 there was organized in Germany a commercial airship transport company. From that late until the outbreak of the war, when all available Zeppelins were comman- deered for military uses, this concern, operating five ships, carried out the following table without mishap to a single passenger:
 Aggregate number of flights. 1,5SS Duration of flights in hours. 3,167 Total mileage, 172,535 kilometers, or 10A835 miles.
 Number of passengers trans-
 ported ................. 34,2SS
 These five ships, however had no regular routes. It was not until after the war that the first r""''''~. daily. passenger service was opened.
 The bOdensee, caned after the Ger man name for Lake Constance, ran daily route between Friedrichshafeh ton the Swiss border) and Berlin in five to eight hours. The fare. was about 80 marks. the present charge for a first-class railway ticket between those two points, which requires 16 to
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