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Aviation History
1919
1919 - 0942.PDF
JULY 17, 191.) THE RETURN VOYAGE OF R 34 THE R 34 now has the double journey across the Atlantic to her credit. She made a somewhat hurried start, as it was reported that a storm was approaching from the Great Lakes; she arrived safely at Pulham, the airship station in Norfolk, early on Sunday morning after a voyage which had taken 75 hours and three minutes. The Air Ministry state that the airship was first sighted on the north side of Pulham at 5,56 G.M.T., her position being about 15 miles away, and her course almost due east. Turning south towards the Airship Station she circled over Pulham about 6.22, flying at 800 ft., landing safely at 6.56 G.M.T., exactly an hour after she was first sighted. The landing at Pulham was thus described by The Times correspondent:— " The British airship R 34 landed at Pulham aerodrome, 14 miles from Norwich, this morning a few minutes after 8 o'clock. She had accomplished the flight from Long Island in 7; hours three minutes. Maj. G. H. Scott, R.A.F., commander of R 34. " We began to watch for the airship at 6 o'clock. Reports through the night indicated that that was the earliest moment at which she could arrive. Towards 4.30 the R 34 had been reported over Derby, and it was nearly 7 o'clock when we saw her at last coming out of the mist. " She might have been a cloud herself in shape and hue and seemingly slow movement. She was creeping out of the north-west, flying at r,5oo ft., and not until she was almost overhead could a sound be heard from her. At a quarter to 6 parties of men had brought out the guide ropes and placed them in readiness on the ground. As the airship began to circle the aerodrome the crews were mustered and took up their positions on the ropes, forming a lane. The airship dipped and headed for it, but rose again suddenly and swept overhead as if unwilling at last to come to earth. " There was a rapid exchange of signals by flashlight between Maj. Scott and a signal party on the ground respecting barometric pressure and then the R 34 swung round again, dived rapidly towards the ground, and flattened out. A rope was flung out from her; a score of orders were shouted through a megaphone ; cable ends were joined ; and in five minutes the landing party had the airship under control and were hauling her nearer and nearer to the ground. " The sudden ejection of her water ballast and the emptying of her water storage tanks occurred at the moment when the R.A.F. band, much depleted by week-end leave, struck up " See the Conquering Hero comes.' A moment later the airship was being walked by the guide rope crews, still directed through Capt. R. A. Cochrane's megaphone, to her shed, and Gen. Maitland leant from the forward gondola and handed me a letter addressed to the Editor of The Times, the first to be delivered on English soil from an airship. Upon the envelope was written, ' By kindness of the officers of R 34.' " Not for a second did the airship get out of control. Steadily and without a hitch she was moved across the wide meadow, always entirely in hand. Then her bow was turned and stern first she was brought into the shed and moored. " Gen. Maitland, who was wearing the blue uniform of the R.A.F., was the first to disembark. He was followed by Maj. Scott. They were met by Lieut.-Col. Boothby, commanding the air station, and the officers and crew were taken to the camp for breakfast. Pulham aerodrome is vast and flat. " The R 34 came home to-day on four of her five engines, and finished the flight with 1,000 gallons of petrol to spare. Half-way across the Atlantic the engine in her stern gondola went wholly out of commission, the connecting-rod breaking and going clean through the crank-case. Otherwise she shows little sign of the severity of the test she has just undergone. The repairs to her envelope can be detected, but the damage itself was trifling." The story of the progress across the Atlantic is thus told in Gen. Maitland's log, which was issued by the Air Ministry an hour after the airship landed :— The Log of the R 34 It is a dark night, and a gusty wind is blowing from the S.W., strength about 30 m.p.h. We steer straight for New York, and stop, as promised, to fly over the city before heading out into the Atlantic. It was an extremely good " get-away," considering the gusty wind and difficult conditions generally. We find we have 4,600 gallons of petrol for the return journey. New York at midnight looks wonderful from above. Miles and miles of tiny bright twinkly lights—a veritable fairy land. The searchlights at first make a very unsuccessful search for us, but finally get us fair and square. We are over Fifth Avenue. The Times Square and Broadway present a remarkable sight. We distinctly see thousands of upturned faces in spite of the early hour, 1 o'clock in the morning, and the whole scene is lit by the gigantic electrical signs which seem to concentrate about this point. One in particular, the Overland Tower, illustrates the enormous 944
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