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Aviation History
1909
1909 - 0324.PDF
JUNE 5, 1909. ZEPPELIN'S LATEST RECORD. BY the remarkable trip made with " Zeppelin II" at Whitsuntide, when a distance of some 800 to i,coo miles (said to be 940 miles) was covered before returning to earth, and when the vessel remained in the air from the Saturday eyening until the Monday morning, Count Zeppelin once more established a record for the dirigible balloon. This performance is all the more creditable in view of the strong winds which prevailed during the trip, for although a change in the direction of the wind was evidently responsible for the return journey being commenced on Sunday evening at Bitterfeld, when only within a hundred miles or so of an anxiously waiting Kaiser and public at Berlin, yet a considerable amount of battling against the elements must have been involved hour after hour at a stretch. Even the unfortunate accident which was met with when endeavouring to effect a landing near Goppingen for the purpose of replenishing the supply of fuel for the motors has by no means neutralised the moral effect inevitably produced by so notable a journey in the air. The worn-out condition of the crew is quite likely, as alleged, to have been fully accountable for the collision wiih a tree when coming to earth, and it is said that the steersman utterly failed to notice that it stood in the way. That repairs should have been effected to the stoved-in bows, and that a restart should have been possible after the loss of so much gas from the torn envelope, thus enabling the ship to struggle on the following day towards her home at Friedrichshafen, with a reduced crew, with but one motor, and in other ways lightened, proves at least that a huge dirigible of this character is not nearly so vulnerable as has been assumed by many people, even if it will be .some few weeks before the whole extent of the damage to "Zeppelin II" can be made good. The total time given for the trip from the start on Saturday up to the moment of reaching the ground on Monday is given as being 37 hours 55 ruins. ; and apparently the course which was followed was in a more or less bee-line from the factory on Lake Constance towards Berlin— i.e., in a N.N.E. direction. It was not generally known that any long- distance journey was under contem- plation, and indeed the new vessel had only left the stocks two or three days previously. Some kind of an endurance test was thought to be intended, and to this end the crew was diminished below its normal complement of ten men in order to enable more fuel, stores and ballast to be carried. After getting away at 9.45 p.m., the town of Ulm is said NORTH ; SEA - • "'•" Hi t WURZftURQ HEILBRoNN j> STUTTGART 4 QOPftNQEN ^ LaWetoidto\3^ SwtTlERLANO " jjjjjIBftfeTlC SEA^g^^ ^O HAMBURG KRLIN NV ® BVTTERFEU) X ft LEIPZIG w> NUREMBERG TRl£DRlCH5HAF£N "> during the morning to veer round from south-west to the- westward, and to be accompanied by some severe down- pours of rain. Then it would seem that a stiff contrary wind must have begun to be encountered, for it was half-past seven1 before Bitterfeld was reached, and that was the nearest point achieved in a northerly direction. Then, too, it was that all Berlin was scampering out to the south-western' fringe of the city, where the Kaiser was in readiness on the Tempelhof ground with his mobilised troops and the German airship battalion. But Zeppelin was by now heading almost due south-west, and by nine o'clock that night was passing over Weimar. It had evidently become a question of making for home as speedily as possible, and also of obtaining a fresh supply of petrol if opportunity presented itself. Travelling with the wind all night, Wurzburg was passed at 4.45 a.m. on Monday, and Heilbronn was reached shortly after eight that morning. Appearances go to show that that was about the spot where the situation became sufficiently serious for some drastic measures to be taken. To con- tinue along the same line would be to pass far away to the west of Lake Constance ; but to strike off on a south- easterly course would be to expend a considerable quantity of the fuel which had now become so precious. The latter plan was evidently that which had to be adopted since there is good reason to suppose that the wind was freshening rather than abating from the N.E. Fortunately the worst of the flight was over shortly after the ship arrived over Stuttgart, and indeed, at that town, one or two skilful manoeuvres seem to have been executed for the delec- tation of the assembled populace. A more easterly course still then became possible, and it was at one time thought that a descent was about to- be made on the sandy ground at Untertiirkheim. After descending close down to the river in this " Mercedes " suburb of Stuttgart, a quick ascent was again made to a height of some 250 ft., and the ship then travelled on up the valley of the Neckar, past Esslingen at 9.45 and Plochingen at 10.15. But little later the attempt to land was made just outside Goppingen, and then it was that the mishap occurred which resulted so seriously. Some accounts . attribute the collision to a sudden gust of wind, while others blame the steersman for failing to observe the pear-tree into which the bows of the ship crashed with terrific force. Whatever the cause, two of the sections-of the envelope were torn open, allowing the gas to escape;. and the aluminium framework in the bows was smashed away for a con- siderable distance back. Help was to have been passed at 2.30 a.m. Sketch map showing the route of the Zeppelin soon forthcoming from the immediate on Sunday, Nuremberg to have airship, which started on Saturday evening last neighbourhood, and the work ol been reached by 8.30 a.m., and about 9.40, and travelled as far north as Bitter- effecting a temporary repair was put Leipzig by 4.45 p.m., the wind ie *> wh,e" .h commenced its return journey, in hand without delay, but it was j^c^ig yjj ty ^.D v , ultimately being damaged at Goppingen, about during this time having been more mld-day Monday, when within a comparatively or less favourable, although inclined short distance of its home on Lake Constance, after 326 y frnm thp fir<!t that onlv thefro tne first that on y m motor would be available for -
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