Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-10-21

day, but may have to be delayed for
day or two, Capt. Lehman indicated.
Weather to Govern.
Earlier yesterday Capt. lehman had
said that weather conditions would de-
termone the time of departure, once
the repairs had been completed, and
would largely influence the course to
be followed by the dirigible in its good
will tour. He said that DR.. Eckener
hoped to fly over st. Louis, Chicago,
Detroit and Cleveland and other cities
and towns along this general route.
DR.. Eckener said just before boarding
the train that he had invited Henry
Ford to be his guest aboard the dirigi-
BILE on its flight from Lakehurst to Scott
Field, Belleville, ILL.,, where it is plan
ned to moor the dirigible overnight at
the end of the first day of It's tour
No reply had been received from Mr.
Ford up to the time of leaving WASH
ington, DR.. Eckener said.
DR.. Eckener asked that all kilograms
receive here for him tonight be for
warded to him at Akron, where he will
arrive at TBS am Monday. The Ger
man dirigible expert will confer with
Paul w. Litchfield, president of the
Goodyear Zeppelin Corporation. This
American rival of the German Zeppelin
Works at Friederichshafen. has just
been awarded the contract for con-
struction of two 100000 cubic foor
dirigibles for the Navy.
Son Making Trip West.
After leaving Akron Dr. Eckener will
go to Chicago for a brief visit before
| nf4,t- ,s,1,Y T-Ir IL {c
panied on this trip by his son and
Capt, Lehman of the Zeppelin crew
, and Count Alexander Won Brandenstein-
Zeppelin, son-in-law of the inventor Of
the type of aircraft bearing his name
and passenger on the transatlantic
i trip.
The final honor paid DR.. Eckener and
his party by this city was testimonial
luncheon by the National Press CLUB
yesterday afternoon. At this luncheon
DR.. Eckener made the only formal
speech of his Washington visit. He
began his address In English but, find
ing himself handicapped, reverted to
his native tongue, with Capt. Lehman
| acting as interpreter.
The recent flight of the Graf Zeppelin,
DR.. Eckener declared, had illustrated the
reaSonablenesS and safety of trans
oceanic transportation by lighter than
| air craft He said that the flight
marked only the beginning of the de-
velopment of airship transportation.
| Even under the worst possible con-
ditions and with ships of no more ad-
| vanced design than the. Graf Zeppelin,
he said, it will be possible to establish
safe, dependable transatlantic coast-to-
coast transportation in two-and-a half
days, approximately half the steamer
time
The Graf Zeppelin's fight was in
turtherance of program to establish
! confidence in lighter-than- air craft, a
type which has been thrust temporarily
into the background by the remarkable
achievements Of pilots of other types OF
aircraft during the past year, Dr. Ecke-
ner said. AS part of this program 1t
was decided nearly a year ago that the
Graf Zeppelin should be taken on her
transatlantic trial trip, regardless OF
weather conditions, as soon as COM
pleted and tested.
| Started In Bad Weather.
LAS a result of this decision we start
ed out in the face of the worst possible
weather conditions we ever expect to
encounter" he said through Capt, Leh-
mann. "Frightfully bad weather pre-
vailed on the North Atlantic and setam-
ers were being held in port "a hours
waiting for the storms to subside wheA
we left Freiderichshafen. Had we
lplunged into these stormSv over the