Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-08-23

Lieut.. Howard Young, Ueteran pilot.
member Of the netU plane squadron.
INSIDE the hull Of the worlds largest dirigi-
bic. the Nays Akron, recently christened
by Mrs Hoover. is large, boxlike hole
vacant space.
Tnis vacant space Is Just behind and
above the big control cabin which tuts out
beneath the airship's belly. It Is about as Dag
as a Midwestern farmers barn.
what Is ii for? Did the Goodyear -zeppeim
Corporation forget to finish the great dirig1ble
on which it has been working two years. Was
there defect2 Was there an accident?
None Of these. me big vacant space Is the
etil diminished home Of the first airplane
squadron in the world that viii not only ny
in the air but come TO rest and live IN the AR
It is to be the home Of fve airplanes ana
the "a men who win operate them, and y mas
not been finished along with the rest OF the
dirigihle because the Navy hasn't decided yet
how Il wants to arrange the interior OF TINS
vacant space
Instead Of making q three-point landing
with their wheels and tail skid on some nice
smooth airport. these planes have 70 make
one-point landing by humping their wings
against the big airshipis belly
or At least that IS the way It looks from the
Ground In reality they have 10 ny 20 that
hook ON top Of the wing win connect with
trapeze hanging down from the airxhip.
Months ago It was decided to equip the
Akron with this squadron Of hcavier-tnan-an
machines.
Tbe idea OF launching planes from dirigibles
is mt new. The Navy first did II IN 1919, when
a small plane was released from . small nom
rigid airship ak the RockaWay On. " Naval
Air Station. Later the Army did It, too. The
launching Of gliders from the Los Angeles m
ie2s and 1899 while merely stunts. further
confirmed the idea that something along THAT
line was feasible.
Subsequent hooking-on OF airplanee 70
trapeze slung under the hun Of the Los Angeles
further proved the feasibility Of the idea. 50
in the plans for the new Akron space was left
for carrying q whole group Of airplanes
TIE Akron win be the FIRST dirigfble actually
70 carry planes inside its hull. The Los
Angeles has no such interior hangar, ana
planes which 1t picked up had 70 remain
suspended on the tTape1e, IN the open, UNIV
they were released again
Although the Akron itself VIII soon have
completed its flight tests the airplane squad
ron win not get aboard before next Spring az
the earliest. There are thousand things yet
TO be done to prepare for h-hundreos OF Things
even yet to be learned.
The entire Fan and Winter win be devoted
u experimenting and trying out various sorts
OF apparatus for launching and collecting the
planes for storing them for moving them about
the hangar. New-type airpIanes themselves
viii have to be devised for this squadron, be-
cause even the smallest plane now IN the Navy
A too big TO be handled with facility in such
cramped quarters
TWO cdicer pilots already are IN training at
TIE Naval Air Station at Lakehurst, N. j.. for
this work Already they have special airplanes
to experiment with, and every time the big
Los Angeles is taken out Of its hangar they
are up IN the sky, practicing hooking on" and
'sfaking Of" from the dirigible.
Prom these special airplanes with which they
are now workmg-they are small two-place
Consolidated Fleet training planes, with Kinner
nve-cylinder motoFs-the flyers VIII draw speci-
ncAtions for the planes that must be built to go
aboard the Akron.
-Four Of them win be tiny sngle-seater fight
ing planes One viii be two-seater observa-
ton plane
The purpose Of the aircraft squadron Is two
fold. First. for observation and recOnnOis-
sance; TO scout out the enemy and warn
the mother ship or land Or sea stations by
radio Of is approach. and TO observe enemy
positions and territory from q wider radius
than would be possible with the dirigible alone.
Second for protection and defense OF the
dtrigible. This work 10 not only secondary.
hat more or less theoretical, because It IL IN
conceivable that five airplaneg could be able
TO fight OF an attacking enemy group that
might have hundreds Of planes in It.
EoR defense In time Of war, the Akron win
keep cut Of sight and on the ability of It's
scouting planes 10 sound the alarm Of an
ensmy approach b time 10 cAn TO The rescue
ether planes from The ground or from aircraft
Asetoa The single observation plane on the
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