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Aviation History
1928
1928 - 1097.PDF
NOVEMBER 29, 1928 NEW RIGID AIRSHIPS FOR THE U.S. NAVY Two huge dirigibles of 6,500,000 cub. ft. gas capacity costing approximately $8,000,000 will be constructed for the United States Navy by the Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation, a subsidiary of the Goodyear Tyre and Rubber Co. Contracts for the construction of these airships were signed recently by Curtis D. Wilbur, Secretary of the Navy, and Paul W. Litchneld, president of both Goodyear organisations. The contract calls for the completion of the first ship within 30 months after construction actually has started, and completion of the second one within 15 months after the first. They will be called the ZRS-4 and the ZRS-S and will be inflated with helium gas, which is non-inflammable. The Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation recently won first, second, and third places in design competition under the United States Bureau of Aeronautics against a number of American and European competitors. The two Navy ships when completed will be about two and a half times larger than the United States dirigible " Los Angeles," and also bigger than the two British " R " ships and the German " Graf Zeppelin." A comparison of the ZRS-4 with the Navy's only rigid airship in service follows :— at present, cub.Nominal gas volume,Length over all Maximum diameter Height over all Gross lift Useful lift Number of engines Total horse-power Maximum speeds, knots Range without refuelling at 50 knots cruising speed, nautical miles the ft. ft. 3S. " Los Angeles," is as Los Angeles. 2,470,000658-3 90-7 104-4 153,000 60,000 5 2,000 63-5 ZRS-4. 6,500,000785 132-9 146-5 403,000 182,000 8 4,480 72-8 3,500 9,180 It is particularly striking that the new airships will be able to go more than two and a half times as far as the " Los Angeles " without refuelling. Since the function of naval airships is long-distance scouting at sea, the great range of the new ships is of utmost value. Probably the most outstanding novelty will be provision of a complete aeroplane hangar within the hull of the airship, capable of housing five scouting aeroplanes. The aeroplanes may be lowered on a trapeze swinging through large sliding doors in the bottom of the hangar. Aeroplanes intended for use with the airship will be equipped with special hooks above their wings for attachment to the trapeze, so that they can be caught while in motion and returned to the hull. Similar experiments, it will be remembered, were carried out with the British rigid air- ship, R.33. Externally the new airships will appear fuller and less slender than the " Los Angeles." The lines of the hull will not be disfigured as in past practice by external cars con- taining the engines. The engines and the engineers will be housed within the hull, reducing the resistance and improving the safety. The propellers will be supported on brackets from the hull, driven by the engines through transverse shafts and bevel gears. The hulls of the new airships, like their predecessors, will consist of duralumin longitudinal and transverse girders, with steel wire bracing. The girders will be of a new type, stronger and more efficient than hitherto used. The outside will be covered with the characteristic alumi-nised fabric, drawn smooth and tight. A notable improvement will be the provision of no less than three longitudinal corridors and passageways completely around the circumference of each main transverse frame, giving access to all parts of the ship, so that inspection and repairs can be carried out in flight with a facility never before possible. In the design of the new airships particular attention has been given to the comfort of the crew. Being naval vessels, they will have no luxurious passenger accommodation, but in habitability for their crews they will compare favour- ably with cruisers and destroyers. Each will carry a crew of 45 men. Ships of this size, if built for passenger service, would be capable of carrying more than 100 passengers in addition to the crew. The first step in the construction of the ships will be the erection of a hangar which will be the largest in the world. It will measure 1,200 ft. long, 200 ft. high, and 360 ft. wide. The plans for the airships were drawn by Dr. Karl Arnstein, vice-president of the Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation and former chief engineer of the German Zeppelin Co. During the last 12 years the Goodyear Co. has constructed more than 100 airships for the United States Army and Navy. In 1924 the company obtained the American patent rights of the German Zeppelin Co. ADVANTAGES OF AIRSHIPS Lecture to Barrow Engineers AN interesting lecture on " Airships " and what the R.I00 will do, was delivered to the members of Barrow and District Association of Engineers in the Technical College Lecture Theatre, on November 9, by Mr. B. N. Wallis, of the Airship Guarantee Co., Ltd., Howden. Mr. Wallis referred to the great interest which had been aroused by the trans-Atlantic flight of the German airship, Graf Zeppelin, and alluded to Dr. Eckener's remarks on the conclusion of his return voyage to Germany. He was reported to have said that in his opinion the Graf Zeppelin was neither fast nor strong enough for the Atlantic service, and he was appealing to the German nation for funds to build a still larger and better airship. The continued failure of the rigid airship to carry out all that its more optimistic supporters claimed to be possible had led to a formation of a very oonsiderable body of hostile opinion both in this and other countries to the continuation of any further experiments with that type of aircraft. Mr. Wallis said he would try to place the position fairly and impartially before the association with a view to enabling them to form a judgment as to the justification for the expen- diture of public money on such projects. It would be generally agreed, he said, that the need for some improved means of communications between the outlying parts of the British Empire and the home country had been established, and the question arose as to which was the most advantageous form of transport to develop for that purpose. The supporters of the heavier-than-air craft must admit that the radius of action of the best passenger-carrying machine was today too small to permit of their operating long-distance air transport lines. As an example, he stated that the extreme radius of action of a modern large passenger-carrying aeroplane did not exceed some 400 ot 500 miles under favourable conditions, and that radius was not sufficient to enable them to begin Empire lines without alighting on foreign territories for the purpose of refuelling. On the other hand, the airship possessed the great advantage of having an immense radius of action, the Graf Zeppelin having actually flown on her journey out to America over 6,000 land miles, her actual distance flown through the air, 1019
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