The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1935-02-15
Bigger But Not Better


It may be that never again will this
country sponsor another queen Of the
skies to take the place OF those which
have brought us such misery and
disillusion.
Our experience in the dirigible field
has been distinctly bad. The shenan-
doah. the Akron and now the Macon
have taught US that bigger Is not
necessarily better and that We lack
Whatever it takes to make such ven-
tt,re successful-at least on the basis
upon which we have essayed 1t.
The picture Is further darkened by
the experience Of England. which
abandoned experiments with dirigibles
after two great tragedies. Germany
alone has been successful in this field.
Her skill In constructing and oper-
ating such craft has proved superior
to ours. Either that or her judgment
Is better.
Some facts may be deduced from
the history Of the Zeppelins. as the
German balloons are known, As COM
pared with our own. The Graf Yep
pelin, for example. has flown more
than q million miles. It has invaded
the polar regions and the tropics. It
has flown around the world, here,
there and everywhere and still Is In
service. It has been . distinct sue.
cess and the presumption Is that It
has encountered and conquered con-
dltions similar to those which result
ed In the destruction Of our ships.
Certainly 1t isn't all luck.
Our experience with the Los An.
geles, received from Germany - one
of the war repsrations, also teaches
us something. It was built Ut Fried
richshaven and flown to this country.
It has had . long and eventful career
and still Is available for service. Con-
Gitions which destroyed tho shenan.
Goah, Akron and Macon were not too
strong for 1t.
While in service with our navy. 1t
was commanded by American officers
aud manned by American sailors. Thus
vas demonstrated that we have the
skill necessary for successful opera
ton Of such vessels. On this basis
it would seem that errors In design
or faulty construction have been the
cause Of this series OF disasters.
In this connection, 1t should not Be
overlooked that there was some ques-
ton about the Macon before she went
into service. Charges were made that
she was = jerrybuilt craft. that many
of the specifications had been ig-
nored in her construction. The plain
inference, at the time, was that she
had been "skimped' to fatten the
profits Of the company which built
her. These speculations recur with
startling force. now that she also has
come to an untimely end.
The pressure now will be to aban-
don further experiments In this field
certainly the record IS discouraging
enough-yet there Is no good reason
to abandon all hope.
America, OF all the nations, Is best
endowed by nature to continue In this
field. Our military position Is such
that the dirigible could be Of more
use to US than to any other nation
In addition we have the only COM
mercial supply Of helium gas In thu
world. Thus We eliminate at the BE-
ginning the tremendous hazard Of
destruction by fire which constantly
threatens hydrogen-filled bags.
The plain fact Of the case may b
that our ushter-than-air aviation haa
suffered from . peculiarly American
passion. that for mere bisness. It 4
entirely possible that, II We conceu.
trated our attention on quality rathes
than size, and limited the size until
We have more successful experience
We still could make Z 90 Of Il.