The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-10-01
The Zeps Are Coming

The worlds latest and largest airship, the Graf
Zeppelin poised, fgurativey speaking, for an
epoch marking series OF round trip voyages between
Germany and the United States
The first trip across the Atlantic is scheduled to
begin about the middle of this month, from the
Zeppelin works at Friederichshafen.
Meantime the great air liner is being put through
a series of tests Her latest jaunt over Lake
Constance Switzerland, and the Rhineland for $40
miles, with eighty-two people aboard
En- route hot meals were served from the we'll
equipped kitchen to the privileged passengers who
Travelled surrounded not only by the comforts, but
the uxuries, of well-ordered hotel
The scheduled flights of the Graf Zeppelin back
and forth across the Atlantic Ocean not for stunt
purposes. BY them Dr. Hugo Eckener, the late Count
Zeppeln's successor, expects to demonstrate the
ability type craft to span the seas on schedule
time as dependably as ocean-gong steamships.
DR.. Eckener is the man who built the Los An
geles now used by the United States Navy and flew
it from Friederichshafen to America He will be in
command of the newest product OF the Zeppelin
works when it starts for the United States about
Oct. IL.
- The world apparently is on the eve OF tremendous
q important developments in aerial navigation, de-
- pments which may revolutionize the present out
' look.
Los Angeles. 1t has a capacity OF nearly 100000
Subic feet. Standing on end it would be half again
4 S high as the Washington Monument, and still
bigger ships are nearing completion. In England,
next spring. two dirigbles the L-100 and L101 will
Aake the air. They will have capacity Of 100000
4 eubic feet and accommodations for 100 passengers
BIN addition to of about fifty officers and men.
Not to be left entirely behind the procession, the
stUnited States has opened bids on two dir1gibles
= bigger even than these. Ours call for a capacity
Lot 100000 cubic feet.
81 Experts declare there is engineering limit to
the size OF a dirigibe, inasmuch the bigger the
ship the greater the useful load per ton of weight
it can carry-a fact which is not true of airplanes.
4 But the experts deny they have any quarrel with
airplanes The Tighter than-air and the heavier
\ than-air types each have their proper place. The
@dirigble is ideal for distance flights such
flights across oceans, while the plane is in its ee
rnent on fast short hops over land or small bodies
of water.
In war the dirigble would act as an a1rplane
carrier launching forth vast fleets of planes to do
the fighting.
The great rigid airships Of the Zeppelin class
are increasing both in stability and safety constantly
New metal alloys have strengthened the framework
immeasurably Even steel is being used.
Improved motors, some using heavy oil instead OF
gasoline have contributed while in the United States
at least the use of helium gas instead Of hydrogen,
has meant a stupendous advance
In recent times the dazzling stunts of airplanes
have served 20 put dirigibes into eclipse But
perts believe that before another year has passed. the
less spectacular, but practical flights of lighter
than-air craft will put them permanently on the
map--not to take the place of planes but to fit into
the picture beside them, the as the complement
of the other.