Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-18
TRIP SPURS
SISTER SHIP PLANS
Britain Also Plans Several
Larger DirigibIeS for
Regular Service.
BY C. II. J. SNYDER.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
LONDON, August 10 (N.AN.A).-
Having completed a successful round
trip across the Atlantic, the British are
preparing to build a sister ship to
their great dirigible, the R-100.
In addition plans are already under
way for the construction of several
larger dirigibles which can carry on
regular service between this country
and Canada.
These are the chief results Of the
voyage which has made Britain a rival
of Germany in the airship field.
It was known here today that the
R-1OO is not to be permitted to rust
at her moorings. AS soon as possible
she will be made ready to go pack to
Canada and bring over r. B. Ben
nett, the new prime minister of that
country, to attend the imperial con-
ference in october.
False Stories Circulated.
As for the plans for the larger ships,
was told today by Sir Dennistoun
Burney, designer of the R-10O, that
vessels capable of carrying 100 pas
sengers and OF making IS knots are
necessary TOR a regular schedule and
he expects to see 1t established.
Crossing the Atlantic in the RICO
had its joys and its jokes. We thought
manning the pumps on the catwalk
was the biggest joke of the trip until
we reached London.
There we learned that on Friday a
story had gone the rounds in that city
that the R-10O had blown up III Mid
atlantic. Later in the day a variant
Of this story was that the ship had
burst one of her eight hydrogen bags.
We were able to assure everybody that
the only fnishap which occurred on the
R-100 during the 57-hour trip was the
wetting down of the electric stove.
The greatest hardship for me hap
pened just after our arrival at Carding-
ton. With Tom Wayling of the Winni-
peg Tribune ran down the landing
mast to file my copy for The Star and
the North American Newspaper Al
liance-201 feet of spiral stairs. Way
ling and l, covered with black grease.
reached the ground before the elevator
with Lord Thomson of the air ministry
and other passengers, but found 1t
didn't do us any good, for all dispatches
from Cardington have to be telephoned
to London before they can be cabled.
Fancy spelling out 1000 words over
an English telephonel
Passengers Like Pumping Fuel.
Our most interesting job during the
trip over was pumping fuel, for that
meant being allowed to walk over the
catwalk, a 14-incn plank leading from
the stem to the stern of the ship
Along the keel on either side of the
walk was an open space, vaguely de-
fined by struts and Orders and booms
below.
Beyond the confines of this narrow
passage bulged the bags of hydrogen
gas, flabby or full. Every one on board
was glad to get the chance to help pump
fuel from the storage tanks slung along
the bottom Of the ship up into the
service tank, from which 1t flowed by
gravity to the working engines OF the
six engines, one was a cripple and the
other five usually worked three on and
two OF, according to conditions.
The area Immediately below the cat
walk showed either glimpses of the
ocean or the envelope Of the ship. To
outsiders this looks like silver plate.
Inside daylight shows through in
Vulnerable chinks and holes. One might
get the creeps thinking that a false
step would shoot him down through that
fiimSy fabric with his next stop the
Atlantic Ocean, one-quarter of a mile
away. But 1t is not so. Apparently
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