Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-10-12
u. S. AIRSHIPS CONSIDERED
AS SAFEST In THE WORLD
Helium Gas Protects
Americans Element Blamed
for R-lOl Holocaust.

many or the United States stands on
| rigid dirigibles.
OF the three major contributions 10
the science of lighter-th aerial
navigation Germanys was the first
Count Zeppelin's invention of the rigid
frame airship England's has been the
mooring mast and the United States
helium gas
! Santos-Dumont in France and Bald
win in America did surprising things
with non-rigid airships, simply elon-
gated balloons with a long car slung
beneath: the Lebaudy brothers In
France and Parseval and Gross in Ger
! many had some success with semi-rtgid
types; but it remained for the famous
German cavalry officer, Zeppelin. who
| f1rSt came to know the balloon well as
young military observer from Ger
many with Union troops during our
| Civil War, and who made his first bal
loon ascension in this country in 1855,
to bring out the mighty airship of to-
day-the rigid-frame dirigible, 80 year,
ago.
Scott First to Cross the Atlantic.
England went into airships-at least
of the Zeppelin type-much later, in
thu final days of the World War. and
has had by no means as much success
in this field. She has made notable
/
many men, but, nothing daunted, has
carried on. Maj. George H. Scott, who
| developed the mooring mast, was lost in
the R-101. One of the leading British
airship authorities and her most noted
airship commander, he was passenger
on this voyas, to India. as he had been
on the Canadian trip of the R-100
few weeks earlier; but he had previ-
ously commanded both airships. He
was the commander of the R-34, first
| airship to cross the Atlantic, when In
| 1919 she made her historic round trip.
Moored to SCOTS mooring mast. which
Is in use in various places in America,
airships have been known to ride out
in the open an 80-mile gale, and they
| can be moored by a ground crew Of q
| dozen men, where the German method
of having the ship handled by man
power alone takes half, a regiment.
Even then a ship can be moored to q
mast safely in weather in which 1t would
be impossible for any number Of men
to walk it into hangar.
U. S. Has Monopoly on Helium Gas.
Americas contribution of the trio
above mentioned. the safe helium gas,
has somewhat less lifting power than
hydrogen, but is non -inflammable. The
R-l01 holocaust could not occur with
the Los Angeles, inflated with helium,
a product of American natural gas lett
after the liquefaction of the hydrocar-
bons in the gas, because helium Will
not liquefy. And we have monopoly
Of helium gas, because ours Is the only
natural gas in the world containing 1t
in other than negligible quantities. An
| appreciable amount goes to waste an.
nually in the City Of Denver, for in
stance.
If for no other reason than our COM
L Ai-1- 81 I'D
| as I said at the outset, are the safest
in the world. But there are other i'm
portant reasons. In this country we
have stuck more closely to the Zeppelin
design and construction methods than
has England, but have improved On
both.
Swiveled Propellers for ZRS-k.
The newest American airship, the
ZRS-4, greatest of the worlds aircraft,
now building at Akron, and to be
turned over to the Navy next April
1855 feet long and 146 feet in diameter,
with a capacity for 100000 feet OF
helium gas-has a new feature which
adds tremendously to her factor Of
safety and maneuverability. Her eight
propellers are swiveled on brackets out
side the hull in such q manner as to
be operated at various angles. AL
eight can be made to push straight
1 uONn Will q tOI1 6Il0 q Ildk1 4llb "
each, which adds a novel third means
of increasing her gross lift of 200 tons
to her dynamic lift and fraa balinnn-
ing.
Her engines are inside her hun for
the first time in any airship, ana taSeEU
is ample room for two men to work
around each instead of the oramped
conditions which heretofore have pre-
vailed In crowded engine gondolas
slung beneath the ship, where there
was no possibility Of repairs while IN
transit.
Then, too, as in the case of modern
steamships, her forward control room Is
duplicated completely In the front end
Of the lower vertical aft, and there
will always be some one on watch there
as a precautton against steering gear
break forward All vital means of con-
troll in the ship are duplicated. I've
spun the wheel and she won't arswerl"
goes out Of vogue on an airship like
the ZRS-4, which Is relatively stronger
to face an emergency because so much
larger.
safety Is the fact that Americas latest
mighty airship Is to have the human
element in her equation fortified against
the possibility of breakdown to the
limit for she will be operated by ON
GERS and crew who have had seven
years of all-around experience on the
Los Angeles. They have operated the
Nays pride all about the Western
hemisphere north of the Canal Zone,
have been in all climates In all kinds
Of weather and in all manner of emer-
| genctes. The Los Angeles has developed
| experienced men, and her chiefs have
been in the Graf Zeppelin on all her
long voyages, across the Atlantic, 70
South America and North and around
the world. The United States would
never have dared embark upon the con-
struction of the greatest airship In the
world but that 1t was known before
hand who would handle her.