San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1925-09-06

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.
"No accurate meteorological ar.
rangements are available for aircraft
in this country. The weather bureau
is Under the Department Of Agrlcul-
ture and primarily organized to turn
out weather reports affecting onions,
cabbages and other crops. While TINS
is very necessary, it is a complete
failure as far as we are concerned. l
say this after having flown across
mountains and bucked their storms
hundreds Of times.
A GRAPHIC PICTURE.
"The Shenandoah, so per cent over
weight in her structure, her 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 re-
duced, strikes n storm. She is caught
in an up-current Of air. Due to her
excessive weight, her reserve buoy
ancy is low. She is carried high up
by this current and her gas bags be-
gin to expand, due to the altitude.
The crew valves her in an attempt to
allow the gas to escape, but the auto
matte valves reduced in number do
not allow the gas to escape fast
enough = the pressure of the expand
ing gas on the structure tears the ship
to pieces. Some of her crew go to
eternity. Those that do not, escape
by miraculously good fortune. NO
notice Of the storm was received In
time to avoid it. Her survivors are
muzzled by the navy department,
pending q whitewash board. Are these
things SO, or are they not? I am
down here in Texas and have not ali
the data at hand, but / am sure the
facts are practically os 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 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 by the same course that the
Round the World Flyers took, to Ice
land, Greenland and North America,
whenever q country gets powerful
enough to undertake the operation.
What has the loss of a seaplane near
Honolulu and an airship over the
mountains to do with it?
FACTS HELD BACK.
"The impression is given !. to the
public at large that the Shenandoah
was a modern ship, properly con-
structcd, properly operated and COM
pletely equipped. This was not the
case. 1t shakes the faith Of the peo-
pie in airship transportation because
they are not given the exact facts on
the subject. This is not an argument
necessarily for the maintenance of
many airships by the government but
it is a 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 incon1-
petence in the navy department, and
the criminal negligence in the ordering
of this trip. If we took the safety
valve Of locomotive off to save water
in the desert and it blew up, killing
the engineer and passengers, would
we say that railways were no good IN
deserts and 60 back to camels?
THE ZR.2 STORY.
"An interesting sidelight might be
thrown on the development OF air
ships in this country. When I came
back from the war in 1910, attempt.
ed to get airships for the purpose 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. / obtaineu
permission Immediately from the then
chief of staff, General March, and the
then secretary of war, Secretary
Baker. / sent Major 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.
"AIysteriously the order was re-
scinded-all work was stopped--it was
said at the time that it was against
the provision Of the treaty, which
do not believe was the case. Work
had already been begun on the frames
by the Germans. This was the ZR-2,
rcchristened the Los Angeles, which
the navy obtained recently, six years
after ordered it. 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 carrier
may be done away with, Is this the
reason the navy has the Los Angeles?
1.-THE Germans are the only people
who have had real experience with air
ships. They had many disaster be-
fore they learned how to handle thom.
have seen German Zeppelins years
ago in terrific storms. A storm has
little effect on an airship properly con-
structed and ably handled.
what other thing has the navy
done this summer? After borrowing
some airplanes from the army, that
were entirely inadequate TO the work
in hand. they went on the Macmillan
trip to the Arctic. More propaganda !
As far as can be learned, from a dis
lance, they had a cat and dog fight
all the way up and back, between
Macmillan, the pilots and the Navy
Department, and of course got mo-
where and did nothing Is there an
airman who does not know that with
the little jitneys they took up there