San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1925-09-05

find him, either. All they did was
smash his plane, when it was turned
over to them by the fisherman.
Then the disaster of the Shcnan-
doah-killing Captain Lansdowne, the
last of our really experienced airshlp
captains, a splendid man. with his
companions, following in the wake OF
Captain Mabry and Captain Maxfield,
our airship commanders who have
gone before.
SAYS SHIP OVERWEIGHT.
81 do not know exactly what hap
pened TO the poor Shenandoah. She
was an experiment ship, built in this
country. j believe she was about %
per cent overweight in her structure.
She had broken away from her moor
ing mast, an inefficient way Of han
ding airships, anyway, last spring
and her whole structure was badly
strained.
IL believe that the number of
valves in the gas bags containing the
helium had been diminished so as to
save hclium gas, which is expensive
in money, but which made the ship
more dangerous to the crew. The
Shenandoah was going West on
propaganda mission for the Navy, to
offset the adverse publicity caused by
the failures in the Pacific and the
Arctic. Note: Propaganda, and not
service, is the keynote in these I'M
dertakings."
What business has the navy over
the mountains, anyway" Colonel
Mitchelrs statement asks. Their
mission is out in the water, not only
out in the water, but under the
water, out of sight, away from the
| land-that is why we have navy.
STEAMBOATS, FATE.
"The Shenandoah, 80 per cent over
weight in her structures, her members
strained last spring. possibly some OF
them disintegrated from the action OF
the non freezing compound in the ra-
diators of her engines, wherever this
liquid dropped on them, and with the
valves of her helium gas bags re-
duced, strikes a storm. She is caught
in an up-current of air.
"Due to her excessive weight her re-
serve buoyancy is low. She is car
ried high up by this current and her
gas bags begin to expand, due to the
altitude. The crew valves her in an
attempt to let the gas escape, but the
automatic valves, reduced in number,
do not allow the gas to escape fast
enough; the pressure of the expanding
gas on the structure tears the ship to
| pieces.
"Some Of the crew go to eternity.
| Those that do not escape by mi
| 6
of the storm was received in time to
avoid it. Her survivors are muzzled
by the Navy Department, pending a
whitewash board. Are these things SO
or are they not? / am down here III
Texas, and have not all the data at
hand. but j am sure the facts are
practically as stated.
what results?
WHAT 1T PROVES"
"The Navy Department announces
that this shows that America cannot
be reached by hostile aircraft. What
has that to do with it? The way that
| America will be reached from Asia is
by way Of Alaska. The water that has
to be crossed is scarcely wider than
the English channel. The route from
Europe is the same course that the
round.the world fliers took, to Iceland,
Greenland and North America, when
ever country gets powerful enough
to undertake the operation. What has
the loss of seaplane near Homo.
lulu. or an airship over the noun
tains. to do with it7
"The impression is given the pub
lie that the Shenandoah was a mod
ern ship, properly constructed, proper.
ly handled and competently equip.
ped.
SHAKE PEOPLES FAITH.
This was not the case. 1t shakes
the faith of the people in airship
transportation because they are not
given the exact facts on the subject.
IF we took the safety valve of a
locomotive off TO save water in the
desert and it blew up, killing the
engineer and passengers would we say
that railroads were no good in deserts
and 60 back to camels."
Colonel Mitchell points out that he
ordered the ZR-2 the Los Angeles"