New Britain herald., 1926-02-19

as possible where il Is perfectly safe."
 Captain Henen spent more than two hours answering questions | after tho close of his address. In reply 10 many of the numerous queries he said, Tho Los Angeles has it all over any Pullman car for comfort and feeling Of safety. The Shenandoah never had an engine failure, except possibly the chang. Ing of a spark plug,
 Failure of the shenandoah
 The failure Of tho Shenandoah was due 10 ineXpcrience and failure 10 recognize ar conditions quickly enough, The .Nw absolute safety device had been removed --- auto matte valves which release under extra pressure. They could not get rid of their extra pressure. Tn. ship had maneuvcring valves which could be manipulated by hand. There they made their tragic mis- take. These upper valves are work ed with a lever so that they can be opened simultaneously. The on- rush Of air in the storm caused tho ship to rise to higher attitudes where the gas expanded. The man "uvering valves work simultaneous y only when the ship maintains lie bag expanded into q pear shape and the valves failed to act simul- laneously, They did not know this and the ship broke in the middle
 Four gas bags in the middle of the ship developed pressure no structure could stand, Without knowing it they were building up pressure all the time"
 Asked about the use Of helium gas, Captain Heinen said, "The use of helium now is the case of using something before 1t is fully devel- oped. If properly developed hclium is the one thing to be used but that timo has not yet arrived. ITy. drogen today is l,oOo times better than hclium."
 Asked about the prospects of
 north pole flights. the speaker an
 swcred, 'I would not hesitate to
 take the Los Angeles 10 the north
 pole and back tomorrow and l
 would take my little girl along. l,
 would be easier 10 fly 10 the pole
 and back than 10 cross Death val
 Icy in California. It is easier ia
 control the cold inside the ship
 even when it is down 10 40 or 5o below zero, than 10 conquer the
 heat"
 Asked about the ship which was lost over the Mediterranean sev. cral years ago, he said no one knows what happened 10 1t. but
 the theory is that the pilot miscal.
 culatcd in the fog, crashed into
 some high spot on land and later dropped into the water. He saiG this ship was equipped so that fl could have flown from France tc the north pole and back twice : without refucling.
 Speaking of the possibilities q,
 airships in war service and the criticism that they make d big tar. get. he said the Germans used
 them for scouting purposes, "anG
 at no time during the whole wal
 did they fail 10 keep the entir, North sea under the eye of tn, German navy"
 , "Coloncl Mitchell Knows" Near the end of the war Ger
 many had so perfected the airshiv
 that she could hide the ships il l banks of clouds and let observation f baskets down q distance of 3,60r , feet.
 , "A fleet of these ships can lay ir
 ambush, noisolessly in a cloud banl t and carry a war anywhere in tn, 9 world. Colonel Mitchell knows thi. s and he will tell you more about 1t r Ships were sunk during the war b, g bombs dropped from airships whicl Q never struck anything but the watc within 200 feet.
 f An air torpedo has already beer Q developed and tried, which is con |. trollcd automatically. They hav
 also developed a radio controle, |, airship.
 Y Such fleet can hide In a clou, - bank in ambush and can be carrie, n over any ocean and by chemical at f tack can wipe out a strip of 10 L 70 miles in any country within
 few hours. Within five hours the . could wipe out the whole state e ~ New Jersey and New York cit " without ever being seen. A fleet C .. 70 ships can carry 5000 men. an " land them over any distance in fly