Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-07-06
BUILDING OF AMERICAN ZEPPELIN1S
AWAITS CONGRESSIONAL ACTION
Air Liners Greater Than Graf on Blue
prints of Goodyear Corporation Now
Building Many Ships.

zRS-4, or Akron, now building, and the
ZRS-5, which will be under way next
year. Each of these new airships will
have q length of 785 feet, a diameter
of 1874 feet and gas capacity of $780,
900 cubic feet of helium.
The new Akron Zeppelin will be larg-
er than the Los Angeles and the Graf
Zeppelin combined. 1t will be the larg-
est thing ever flown.
The dock Is q marvel Of engineering
and constructive skill. 1t was designed
to accommodate airships almost three
times the size Of the Graf Zeppelin, rs
Mr.. Litchfleld believes that within the
next few years his company will be
building them Of 100000 cubic feet
capacity.
The supporting Orders Of this vast
semi-parabolic structure are not set on
piles, or even fmbedded in concrete,
properly speaking Rather, they work
on pivots, like the struts of an umbrella,
attached to sockets Of steel in the build
ing's foundation. This is to prevent
changing temperatures affecting the
steel frame and to allow for ample con-
traction or expansion.
Its shape is very much like an egg
shell with one end broken off. Around
this open end swing the huge doors.
They seem to peel back like the skin
of an orange, but actually run on a
semi-eircular railroad track, dividing at
the center as they open and propelled
around either side of the buildings end
by two 125-horSepower engines. And II
takes a financial outlay of SITS every
time these doors are opened.
This new dock cost more than
$2,000000," said Mr.. Litchfield, "and
the Navy airships we are building in 1t
will cost about $4,00000O each. How
much larger the commercial airliners
will be we have not decided. But we
certainly would not have erected plant
like this unless we had great faith in
the future of hghter-than-air craft for
commercial uses"
1t is no childs play designing and
building zeppelins. There are patent
rights costing millions to be protected.
We had to show passports to many
guards before We even were permitted
to get within speaking distance of the
big dock.
Bringing Europe Next Door.
Mr.. Litchheld is convinced that air.
ships within the next few years will
make Europe a next-door neighbor Of
the United States. He also firmly be-
lieveS that commercial airliners in the
not very distant future will cross the
Pacific at regular intervals and that
air passage overseas will become merely
matter of routine, both as regards
performance and financial structure.
1--WE have gone far enough to know
that dirigible can be made CONNER
cially practical system" he said. 1T Is
significant that We have associated with
us in the International Zeppelin Trans,
port Co. such firms as the National
CITY Bank and United Aircraft d.
Transport. as we'll as DR.. Eckener ana
the Zeppelin Co. of Germany.
I'VE also are organizing the PACING
Zeppelin Transport, and as evidence OF
the faith in this new era OF overseas
air transportation we have on our board
of directors a 100 per cent representa-
ton by the mail-carrying steamship
lines of the Pacific. Such men as Stan
ley Dollar, for instance, are on our
board as also are representatives OF
the Matson, American-HaWaii and the
Los Angeles Steamship Companies.
Steamship owners generally are quite
eager to cooperate with us, because
they do not feel that air transport is in
any sense competitive with their ocean
liners, but merely supplements them"
Concerning definite sizes Of the COM
mercial air liners and plans for opera
ton, Mr.. Litchfield said:
With an airship about 800 feet long,
we plan to carry 80 passengers, crew
of about so, and 10 tons of mail and eX-
press. We are confident that with such
a Set-up we can operate at passenger
rates approximately double those
charged by firSt-claSS ocean steamships.
So, in effect, we shall be repeating his
tory. Steam tripled the speed of ocean
sailing vessels. Certainly the airship,
even in its initial stages, can do as much
compared with steam. And saving OF
time invariably means a saving OF
money.
THE length of the new Navy dirigible,
the Akron, will be 785 feet and the
height of the ship 146 feet, as against
the Los Angeles length of $50 feet and
its height of 104 feet. while the useful
lifting power of the Akron will be 1922
900 pounds compared with the $4,000
pounds of the Los Angeles.
Our proposed passenger airships will
be even larger. They will have a range of
more than 10000 miles, as against 5000
miles for the Graf Zeppelin, and 1000
miles for the Los Angeles.
We are designing the Goodyear pas
Senger airShipS with at least 400 feet of
promenade deck, and other luxuries and
comforts of modern ocean liners in
comparison
will such huge airshipS be safe?"
Mr.. Litchfeld was asked.
Just as safe as an ocean steamship.
The gas used will be helium, which is
noninflammable. America has an abun-
dant supply. While helium costs us $25
a thousand cubic feet. against about SIS
a thousand cubic feet for hydrogen,
there is an untold advantage in helium
for safety's sake. And also it can be re-
purified and used over and over.
Then, Structurally, our new airships,
with their frames of duralumin, will be
stronger than any other dirigible yet
designed. Every part of the ship will
be accessible and there will be no place
in the hull that cannot be reached, even
while the ship is in flight Thus, in
Spection and repair work can be car
ried out at any time and minor damage
prevented from becoming serious"
But if the airship should be struck
by lightning?" it was asked.
There need be no fear of lightning,
contrary to general opinion. Records
show only two ships to have been fired
by being struck, and if they had had
helium instead of the inflammable n.y.
drogen, even they would not have been
lost. Any damage to the hull of an
airship such as we are building due to
a direct hit by lightning has been
proved to be remarkably small and To-
called. This is due to the fact that
every metal part of the frame is bonded
to another and the entire structure acts