Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-10-19
BY HUDSON CRUNEWALD.

~UCH disaster rs recently befen the
N J worlds largest aircraft. when the
hydrogen filled British dirigible R-1O1
A y burst into q flaming inferno that
consumed 48 lives can be prevented In
me future now that it has been made clear
that the United States Government favors the
expectation of helium gas as humanitarian
measure Helum is the only non-hammaole'
Ii0fter- than-air gas known, and thus Tar no
other country In the world has been able TO
produce it in sufhcient quantities Tor aero
nautics
hydrogen, dangerously inf1ammable, fills the
German Graf Zeppelin and the R-1OO, sister
ship of the Inflated British dirigible, and
these monster Ieviathans Of the air and all
others to be built are to be operated with any
real assurance Of safety, it Is evident that
non-faamnable gas must be substituted TO pro-
vide their buoyancy. Helium is the only an
swer.
News Of the R-lO1 disaster precpitated agi-
tation for a change in the law to permit
helium expectation. Chairman Britten Of the
House Naval Affairs Committee announced that
he would sponsor legislation 70 remove the
export ban, and this action was favored by
Rear Admiral william A. Moffett, chief OF the
Navy Bureau Of AeronauttcS.
'The extent Of the disaster" said Admiral
Moffett in commenting upon the fate OF the
British dirigihle, els undoubtedly due TO the
R-l0l having been inflated with hydrogen gas.
The United States is the only country in the
world possessing helium, the non-infiammaobe'
non-explosive gas, in unlimited quantities.
1.-THE present law prohibits its expectation.
would urge repeal of this law and allow IT
to be sold in time Of peace to all nations, es-
pecially to Great Britain and Germany, winch
nations have had the vision and courage to
carry on with rigid airships despite disasters
and the handicap and danger OF hydrogen.
Additional sponsors were found in members
Of Congress industrialists and others who
came to the fore in favoring the lifting OF the
ban, but recent examination Of the law revealed
that 1t permits heliuHn expectation If approved
by the President with the joint recommended
lions of the Secretaries Of War, Navy and Com
merce.
President Hoover, at q recent White House
conference announced that permits VIII be
issued to any concern wishing to export the
understandable gas and that the United States
Government is encouraging its export instead
OF restricting It.
DR. Hugo Eckener, commander Of the Graz
Zeupelin is said to have expressed the opinion
that public confidence IN hydrogen-nlled air
craft has been severely tried by the recent dis
aster and that the commercial success OF the
dirigible now depends on the use Of helium.
IJKLIUM has been called the wonder gas the
absolutely ideal gas for use In lighter
tiaan-air craft In safe mixture, it has % per
cent Of the lifting power Of hydrogen, with
none of its dangers; 1t does not expand and
contract as readily as hydrogen and, while
hydrogen which has become contaminated by
diffusion with air must be replaced by new gas.
helium can be repurifled and used over and Is
thus more economical In actual operation.
When the helium-indated United States
Navy non-rigid airship CT circled over wash
ington ON December 5, 1921. making the nrSt
practical demonstration in the history Of air.
craft of the use of this non-dammable gas, the
Navy Department stated IN bulletin that
''the practical use Of helum as . gas for the
imitation Of airships has been demonstrated
beyond doubt. Helium, with the exception Of
the fact that it is slightly heavier gas Is
superior in every other respect to hydrogen.
In addition to the understandable and alb
solutely inert character Of heliun involving
no IRE risk whatever, the use Of the gas Il
advantageous from the point Of view Of the
operator, as It does not expand and contract
nearly as readily as hydrogen, characteristic
which makes for economical operation.
"Dr. Joseph s. Ames- chairman of the Ma
tional Advisory Committee for Aeronautics,
recommending that the Government acquire
and seal for future use the best helium-pro-
ducing gas fields; that experiments must b
continued in the development Of enacienj
helium. He states that with large reserves o.
heIiunn and the development Of types Of air
el1ins 10 fully realize the advantages IN tn
re- NJ helium America would possess resources
With which no other nation could compete"
The natural gas wells IN the United state
AFFORD a practical monopoly Of the know
eolrces Of supply, and the discovery Of thes
sources was heralded as contribution OF rev