The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1929-10-02
CHAPTER XII

A T LAST, the Graf Zeppelin,
IN the GROWING achievement of
the great Zeppelin works, was COM
pleted. Test flights, one of which
was over England, convinced DR..
Eckener that it was ready to demon
tsrate to the world the feasibility OF
long Zeppelin flights for peace-time
purposes.
+ Careful plans were made for the
first passenger flight across the At
latte - from Friedrichshafen to
Lakehurst. With his son, Knut, as
one of the crew Of forty aboard, and
with twenty passengers in the corn
Portable cabins, the start for Amer
lea was made on Oct. 10, 1928. Sew
eral tons of mail and freight also
were carried.
A storm was swinging across mid
Atlantic and DR.. Eckener headed
across France, Spain, Gibraltar, and
as far south as the Madeiras to
avoid it.
But another small storm was fol-
lowing, unobserved, unreported, and
this caught the Graf the second
morning out almost without warn
ing. The disturbance was so severe
that great liners were three or four
days late in making port that week.
The storm hit the Graf just at
breakfast time and struck it like a
boxer swinging to the chin. The nose
of the ship pitched up, then down,
throwing the helmsman off balance.
The ship, after jolting two or three
times more, settled down to even
trim with no damage apparently ex-
cept the breaking of the breakfast
table dishes.
TIME wind was still roaring, rain
Il was falling, skies were overcast,
but the ship moved forward easily
and smoothly. However, a wrench
of the ship had ripped loose a small
section of the covering of one of the
Crafts great fins and the wind was
busily engaged in tearing off more
of it, leaving a great gaping wound
which was not discovered until later.
A mechanic in one of the egg
shaped engine cars at the rear OF
the ship was making his first trip
as a member of the crew. His first
though was that there was a rope
hanging down from the great hori-
zontal rudder overhead. He called
the attention of one of the older
enginemen to what he had seen.
"Rope?" the engineman shouted.
That's part of the fin covering"
Already he was halfway up the
ladder, swung in through the port
hole, dashed down inside, began
running down the cat walk, caught
Beuhrie, assistant chief, told him
the story, and hurried on forward
toward the control car.
Flemming and Lehman looked
grave as the engineman broke in
with his story.
"Cut the motors" roared Flem-
ming, and signals flashed to the
gondolas.
The roar of the great engines died
down, the ship slackened speed. The
passengers looked from one to an
other queStionably.
ATOW the fins on the Graf Yep
~ pelin have a spread of eighty
feet out from the ship and are
thirty-five feet across at the widest
part The duralunin framework Of
the fins is built into the frame of
the ship itself.
The fin covering of doped alumni
niZed fabric is most difficult to at
tach securely over fin because it
is fiat surface.
The wind had worked it's way I'M
der the fabric, tugged and jerked
till it loosened a seam, then ripped
off a section of it.
Knut Eckener, off duty, was aft
in the ship when the news came
He was one Of the first to reach
| the scene of trouble. 1t meant
crawling between two Of the great
gas cells and out on the framework
which connects the fms with the
/ body OF the ship.
Never in the history of 127 Yep
pelin airships had an accident hap
pened like this one.
- #es
| GONE 400 square feet Of covering
~ had been ripped from the under
side Of the fin. Shreds and lengths
of it were lashing back and forth
pulling more of it loose.
Wind and a driving rain were
roaring in through the aperture
threshing the sides Of the nearest
hydrogen gas cell.
This threatened q new danger.
The outer cover on an airShIp is