Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1925-09-04
THE SHENANDOAH
BREAKS TO PIECES
Pride of the Navy and Christened for
the Valley-Part of Grew Killed
Fails to Ride Out Storm

: The giant of the air, the Naval air
ship Shenandoah, which on Octobe
! 81, 1923 thrilled the citizens of tn
Shenandoah Valley by a fight owe
r this area. broke to pieces in an Obi,
storm on Wednesday morning, ant
Ia of the crew are dead as a result
of the mishap-
The Shenandoah was the first o.
Americas big dirigibles and was bull
: in England, and former Secretary Of
the Navy DENLY, who was a visitor
at the sham battle of New Market was
so struck with the beauty of the Val
ley, and the appropriateness of the
ne me-, Shenandoah, Daughter of the
Stars" that the great airship was
named for this part of Virginia.
i The thrilling story of death. and
! miraculous escapes therefrom, as il
GENES from Col C. G. Hall, U. s.
Amy observer aboard the Inflated
aigslip epitomizes the tragedy
Col. Hall says:
We were travelling west at an
al itGde of about 5000 feet, when we
encountered the storm" Col Hall
said in describing the accident.
'Iy changing our course a dozen
or more times we lodged it, only to
encounter the line squat, which sent
us to an altitude of $500 feet before
we realized what had happened.
I'VE opened the valves to let out
gas, and lowered the ship. and were
drawing away from the storm at a
rate of so miles an hour when the
storm enveloped us and broke the
ship into three pieces
Il excl m to Commander
Landsdowne, Everyone beat it,
When the crash came. l was on
the ladder leading from the control
cabin to the rear portion of the ship
AS it started to fall. l clutched the
girder to which l hung suspended
finally swinging my body over it and
crawling 40 or so feet along the ship
when we reached the ship proper
we found other members of the crew
preparing to open the valves in or
/ der to bring about a descent.
Here we found Lieut. Roland c.
Mayer, loading officer, and Lieut. j.
4 B Anderson, aerologist The latter
had made his way to the rear on the
catwalk. Col Hall said all three
descended safely.
Col. Hall said the catastrophe was
in no way attributable to any defect
in the ship. At the time of the crash,
he continued. four of the six engines
which propelled the air monster were
going at full speed. The craft sim
ply met air currents which it could
not survive. Col Hall voiced high
praise for the Naval crew of the dir
igible Immediately after the crash.
Behavior of Men Remarkable
Their behavior was remarkable. .
he said. Each man took the stu
alton quietly. deporting himself as
if on a free balloon and attempting
to bring the craft to the ground in
the best manner possible"
In all, there were eight men who
made the perilous trip to the side of
that portion of the ship on which
Col Hall found himself.
+ 1t drifted the better part of half
an hour and covered a distance of
10 miles or more before coming to
earth.
Details of Disaster
After battling the elements for sew
eral hours near Caldwell, Ohio, the
4 huge aircraft suddenly shot upward
TO an altitude of approximately $500
i feet from a 3,000-foot level, where
i the dirigible buckled amidship The
pressure and twisting was so great
that it broke the ship in three sec
tions.
/ The control cabin swung beneath
the fore-section of the ship proAer,
broke away and crashed to the
ground while in an altitude of sew
eral thousand feet. 1t carried most
of the crew who were killed
& Relieved of the control cabin, the
fore-section, measuring about $50
feet and bearing seven survivors,
free-baIlooned for more than an hour
J and finally was landed near Sharon
I12 miles from where the control
cabin crashed near Ava.
! The main section, carrying &c sur
vivors, landed with a crash which
sent several of the crew diving
: through the outer covering A mid.
die section of some 90 feet settled
J down in pieces over the countryside
: Those aboard the nose-sction had
a wild and thrilling ride and landed
IL miles from the place where the
cabin compartment crashed
Several of the officers had just lefr
: the control cabin and were climbing
up the ladder into the catwalk of ths
I ship proper when the cabin brok.
loose
4 Suspended in midair and hanging
. to giraer. they crawled or wer,
. pulld to places of comparative safety