Evening star., 1925-09-06

the camera which was smashed i'm the
rive i'm Washington, and he made the
and her whole structure was badly
strained. ! believe that the number
of valves in the gas bag containing
the helium had been diminished so
as to save helium gas, which Is eX-
pensive in money, but which made the
ship more dangerous to the crew. The
Shenandoah was going west on Il
propaganda mission for the Navy De-
partment to Offset the adverse pub
licity caused by the failures in the
Pacific and the Arctic. Note-Propa-
ganda and not service is the keynote
in these undertakings.
Sees Navy or Path.
What business has the Navy over
the mountains, anyway? Their mis-
sion 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 the Navy.
mo accurate meteorological ar
rangements are available for aircraft
is under the Department of Agricul-
ture and primarily organized to turn
out weather reports affecting onions.
cabbages and other crops. While this
is very necessary, it is a complete fail
ure as far as we are concerned.
say this after having flown across
mountains and bucked their storms
hundreds of times.
The Shenandoah, so per cent over
weight in her structure, had members
strained last Spring. possibly some Of
them disintegrated from the action Of
the non-freeZing compound in the
radiators of her engines wherever this
liquid dropped on them. and with the
valves in her helium gas bags reduced,
strikes a storm. She Is caught in an
up current of air. Due TO her ex-
cessive weight, her reserve buoyancy
is low. She is carried high up by this
current and her gas bags begin to ex-
pand, due to the altitude. The crew
gas to escape, but the automatic
valves, reduced in number, do not
allow the escape fast enough; the
pressure of the expanding gas on the
structure tears the ship to pieces.
Some of her crew go to eternity.
Those that do not, escape by miracu-
lously good fortune.
Storm Warning Not Given.
mo notice of the storm was re-
ceived in time to avoid it. Her sur
partment, pending a whitewash board.
Are all these thing so or are they not?
] am down here in Texas and have not
all the data at hand, but l am sure
the facts are practically as stated.
What results? The Navy Depart
ment 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
A Gil ic hx- ho of lo
THE water that has to be crossed
is scarcely wider than the English
Channel. The route from Europe is
by the same course that the round
the-world flyers took to Iceland, Green,
land and North America, whenever a
country gets powerful enough to
undertake the operation. What has
the loss of a seaplane near Honolulu
and an airship over the mountain
to do with it?
1.-The impression is given to the
public at large that the Shenandoah
was modern ship, properly con-
structed. properly operated and COM
pletely equipped. This was not the
case. 1t shakes the people in air
ship transportation because they are
not given the exact facts on the sub
ject This is not an argument neces.
sarily for the maintenance of many
airships by the Government, but it
is demand for the facts in the case
so that we will not be hindered in
the commercial development of this
splendid aircraft on account of the
accident to an airship due to incom-
petence in the Navy Department, and
the criminal negligence in the order
ing of this trip. If we took the
safety valve Of a locomotive off to
| save water in the desert and it blew
up, killing the engineer and pas
sengers, would we say that railways
| were no good in deserts and go back
to camels?
Tells of Own Experience.
"An interesting sidelight might be
| thrown on the development of air.
ships in this country. When came
back from the war in 1919, I at
tempted to get airships for the pur.
pose of making them into airplane
carriers. That Is, having airplanes
take off from them and land on them,
so that they could get out in the
middle of the ocean If necessary and
attack hostile vessels in case of war.
I obtained permission Immediately
from the then chief of staff, Gen.
March, and the then Secretary of
War, Baker. 1 sent Maj. Hensley to
Europe with money to get the ships.
We had even gone so far as to order
the gasoline to Germany for the voy-
age of the ship to this country.
"Mysteriously the order was rescind-
ed-all work was stopped-it was said
at the time that it was against the
provision of the treaty, which I do
not believe was the case. Work had
already been begun on the frames by
the Germans. This was the ZR-3,
rechristened the Los Angeles, which
the Navy obtained recently, six years
after l ordered 1T. What has it been
used for? Nothing but parading
around the country. 1t Is evident
that whenever an airship is developed
as an airplane carrier the necessity
for any naval surface airplane car
rier may be done away with. Is
this the reason the Navy has the Los
Angeles?
THE Germans are the only people
who have had real experience with
airships. They had many a disaster
before they learned how to handle
them. / have seen German Zeppelins
years ago In terrific storms. A storm
has little effect on an airship properly
constructed and ably handled.
What other thing has the Navy