New Britain herald., 1925-09-03
First Constructed in T., z.

l '' VII Is lpIt i1ll'ildilipdll, Ell cd by the bureau of naval aeronau- 1 lie and constructed at the naval alrship station Lakchurst, N. J., was an improved version of the Zeppelin L-33 and the British R-33 class, of which she was very close dupi- cate in dimensions.
 She was the first rigid airship built in America. Six hundred and eighty feet in length, with a maxi | mum diameter of 7S.7 feet, she con | tained 19 gas cells with T capacity of ?,115,o00 cubic feet. Her power ! plant consisted of six 300-horse- l power Packard engines. capable of driving her at maximum speed of 60 miles an hour.
 The Shenandoah vas completed in the summer Of 1923, and her test flights were very satisfactory. While attached to her mooring mast at Lakehurst on January 12, 1924 the ship was torn loose in a violent gale while only a skeleton crew was ou l board.
 The whole mooring fitting and part of the nose framing were wrenched out of the ship, the for ward gas bag was ripped and the | following one was punctured, but | the crew had four of the six en- zines running within two minutes l of the brcakaway. Fuel and water was released 10 restore her trim, and she wcathered tho storm without further structural damage and was again housed in her shed after a few hours.
 Last October the Shenandoah was 1 given a remarkable test in the l form of 2 transcontinental flight. 1 Leaving the I.akehurst station on Oct. z, she cruiscd 10 the Pacific coast and return in 235 air hours completing tho round trip of S,10G miles on Oct 25.
 1 Last Time on Long Flight
 Including stay Of eleven days on tho west coast, she was away from I.akehurst for eighteen days. Her actual flying time between Lakchurst, Fort Worth, Tex. San Diego, Calif,. and Camp Lewis, at Tacoma, Washo and return, not counting tho time consumed in To- eating moorng masts through the fog on two occasions was 235 hours II minutes, against the fastest cX- tt.ni,, Jot points of 272 hours 30 minutes, de- i ducting time for connections.
 The Shenandoah was inflated with hclium gas, which is non-innamma- ble, nonpoisonous and the next l lightest gas 10 hydrogen. This gas. extracted from the natural gas Of certain fields in Texas and Kansas, Is not found in commercial quanti- ties elsewhere. II is extracted by government plant in Texas. The dirigible was recently equip ped with ten machine guns two in | the after car, two in the forward cabin, from which the airship was steercd, and one in each Of the six power gondolas. This armament, it was stated, was for use in repelling airplane attack in time Of war.
 The success achieved by the Shenandoah in her transcontinonta tour and other test voyages led to plans for her use in A. r. S. naval expedition 10 the Arctic.
 Planned Arctic Trip ! The plans as drawn up called for stationing vessels fitted with moor ing masts at Nome, Alaska, and Spitzbcrgcn, the Norwegian archi- | pelago.
 It was hoped she would be able to reach the Pole, and her crew was eager for the trip, but after her storm experience at Lakehurst, in which she was torn from the moor ing mast, plans for the polar fight were abandoned by order of Presi- dent Coolidge.
 The United States possess only one other diriGible, the Los Angeles, which was built at tho Zeppelin works in Friedrichshafen. Germany. The LOS Angeles, however. under the terms of the peace treaty by which she was constructed. can only be used for commercial and exper- mental flights.
 Tho Shenandoah was this Coun try's only dirigible of war
 The Shenandoah's metal frame composition of aluminium. copper and manganese. having the tensile strength of mild steel with only one. third It's weight. The outer sheath ing was of cotton fabric painted