Dearborn independent. [volume], February 07, 1920, Page 11, Image 11

About Dearborn independent. [volume] (Dearborn, Mich.) 1901-1927

Image provided by: Central Michigan University, Clark Historical Library

                
11
, oW. any more than in the (feigning of an ocean
ner) that this new ship, which Colonel Hensley hopes
ta to Miu v v me ci in ai uic
TO " .! A . A. I A. I f J
.l .I. Jin! milrs each. It is designed tn mrr kli
mx iiiuii-1" - - -
VC!
tio
of
hoped io
cago witl
roughly!
150 Irilon
hour; thi
i .
covered
I
ffiuator, witli Din I vim ihm i. m lour st.iK 's ot
..it ..c rn'M if iv; (iiviiiiiii t.. .
nasseri'1 s vv.ij ,,v , nan pei roi, on,
JJJ JJon roviding sleeping quarters, library, rti
taurant. cii rt)mi- lU' N"" Mnokmg is allowed
at nroeiii " tbese Zeppelins as the precautions neces
sarv for indttteencc have not vet been carried into
effect. The new ship will have all of the conveniences
midcomi of modern travel. Including a promenade
deck in lK Colonel Hcnsley, who lias heen in-
restigati teppciin construction and opera-
tlOn HI It" -HI"113 HM MVMWI SUIVt 1 1 If SlIllUg
of the a ttice, said to DM that the ship he
re could ny iron tseritn to Chi
t landing, a distance of 5,500 miles
at the average rate of speed of over
rt, OT in excess of ninety miles an
the distance to Chicago could be
58 hours, or about two davs and a
half: and that, with proper landing facilities and
halls, it 1 continue around the world, hack to
its origii starting place in ten days, j I had
another al flash of Balltn, as I absorbed this
itttemeni nd the Colonel icemed to kn m
what hi i talking iboUt He continued:
"I am ' adiny up on all the Zeppelin dope I
can get, and this new ship i far the greatest
thing yet nstructed. The Might across the t
lantic b) the English-made Zeppelin i no i
circuit! to the certainties OI what may be
done sritl this airship; indeed, excepting for its
theatrical aspect, the flight ol the English ship
cannot lj be Compared to Mights made by
certain Zeppelins during the war; notably, one
of which covered OVer SIX thousand kilometers
in a flight to the German South African Col ni
-an mi!: ished trip, as the ship was recalled by
wirele before she had reached her destination.
The Structure I am negotiating for is not sub
ject to indemnification claims against Germany,
and, ihould we eventually secure it, it will he
purely 01 a purchase basis." I learned that the
company has been at work, since the signing
Of tin ustice and the negotiation of
:he Peace Treaty, manufacturing Zep
pelin parts; but on account of the
vovisiOl 5 of the Treaty, these ships
have Dot heen finished or put to
gether. There is a great war
Zeppelin, one built for the pur-
pose ot o mDing raris or Lon
don, in tlu big hall at Fried
richshafen It has a capacity
oi 72,00 l cubic meters. The
French are claiming it, or en
deavurn ig to establish a claim
tor it, and the Zeppelin peo
ple leenv 1 indifferent as to its
final disposition.
"You e." said Baron von
Geflttttingen, "my uncle never in
tended the Zeppelins for war
purposes Thev were con
icriptcd, as were all the resources
i tlu i try, in our struggle for
defense. 1 he destruction of these
it i peaceful inventions in fact
their us in the war, as an offensive
weapon fas a contributing cause, in large
degree, I the death of my uncle. Count Zep
peltn, V had made hundreds of regular pas
senger flights before the war, and carried
thousan people. As a passenger conveyance, of the
highest most excellent performance, the Zeppelin
had ma demonstration the year before the war
broke md this terrible conflict quite changed our
plans i nstruction, diverting us from many de
termine ; movements, such as heating the passenger
quarte; very important item), doing away with the
noise ol motors, complete safety, and so on. All of
fee are now solved. We have carried over
'V11 ! s up to date ; look at the number of your
jjckct ! yon are number 8,420! You saw, at the
Berlin what the demand for reservations on the
Boden as. These reservations have to be booked
week Ivance. The popularity of this method
of travi indicated by this demand, and its safety is
shown 1 , constant lowering of the insurance rate,
, 1'cn 1 ''leu in three months from six dollars per
thousand . two dollars."
Ni the Baron responded to my inquiry, "we
aren,t rned with English rivalry. There is room
is F a ' air' a"d wc wish t,um wclI: but thc thing
s '1( 'j s'" Their conspicuous achievement in cross
ing the Atlantic with a reconstructed model of our old
jype Zepp ,ns onjy provcs what can be done by ex-
I nce(l rators with perfected structures.
ikl. i 1 rience in changing the construction of our
M,,Is has '...I, rt..on. Jj t Ji.fiit..
the utiiHst consetiuence. Enlargement,
diminution, strengthening here, or lightening there, are
all governed by the application of laws quite other than
multiplication or subtraction, and laws which can onlv
DC determined by repeated tests and the observation'
Of interrelated facts. During the progress of the
war we were able to commenr A Mm.h-t.. in
each one of our four different works, a fully
equipped Zeppelin airship m four weeks' time,
that is, four a month. I h v cott, or rather
were sold for. at that time, approximately,
:00,000 marks ($125,000) each; but, at pres
ent, this figure is greatly increased not sub
stantially so, however, when we figure the
Sicht u he rt ran bar.
Luftfahrschein Nr.sViO
Auf Omnd d AagtMi PiSjplSjl vop
Mark
ffliuil
7
w-mw AW
unlvr umjlchcndt.!) BcdinK.iMKe(. das Anrccht ?au MiHabrt In dem
Zeppelin Luftschiff Ci' " . -
mm Bl mW mm I
Person
aFri,
Atxahri0" der itsj,h.dif: Berlin-TJ t... ken
von aem i-jmdungpiit
.den
19 f
Hamburg Amerika Liaie
Ahtcilan Luilvtrkehr
1
Cnterv. r '
Dieter FahiUiein l nur lusammcn mil dun koniroilabsiboitt KQ!llx
Kraft wajen Nr. iicdinguitirtrt unneitla.
"KcxJensec" leaving berth
for cmisc in Sw lcrlnnd.
literati
Mr. Thompion's Zeppelin airship
ticket. The amount of five hundred
and seventy -five marks was equal in
value at the time to $20.
p r e-w a r value of
money. What we did
during the war in the
way of turning out
these ships, would
now require six months
time ; but, once condi
tions are again favor
able to our industrial
life, we can finish a mod
ern perfected Zeppelin in
half that time; that is, we
can construct and put together
an airship that can travel around
the world in four or five landings
and make the journey in two hun
dred and twenty-four hours ten
days."
"How about strong gales and
storms?" I asked him. He replied: "We can navi
gate the air in any weather, that will permit of our
getting out of our hangars or halls, and can make
fairly high speed against practically any wind, ex
cepting hurricanes or cyclones, and those we can
avoid. In moving out or into our halls, it is the
side winds that trouble us. This will be solved,
however, by constructing hangars which may be
turned, like a locomotive turn-table, according to the
direction of the wind. Xone of these has yet been
built, but their construction only awaits the freedom
of action incident to settled conditions which should
come with peace."
I AM asked most frequently regarding the sensation
of such an experience as an air-plane or Zeppelin
flight. For my part, this is difficult to describe. It
is certain that the feeling of anxiety and nervousness
is entirely missing indeed, there was an utter absence
of apprehension or fear on the part of my fellow
passengers. Two travelers, however, were so sea-sick
during the voyage that they lost interest altogether
in the thrilling moving picture reeling off beneath us.
I did not sense any such disturbance, personally, at
all, though 1 am not what is called a "good sailor."
The rocking and pitching of the "Hodensee" was due
to its flying at a very low altitude (about 450 feet above
the ground) and the consequent variations in the
Interior of passenfer gondol.
density of the air as we Hew over a forest and
then a sandy field. The effect on the air of
different kinds of vegetation, and the nature of
the soil of the earth, is marked and noticeable
in flights at such low heights; hut higher up
the air density is so uniform that movement
is imperceptible. At three thousand feet, if you
could not see the mountains and fore-ts running
away from you. the sensation of motion would
would be altogether abent. Yon would have
the illusion of standing still.
On the "Bodensce." you stand up and move
ahniit vrti luL- int f tli rtw4s atwl ilL-
; i j "- -,. iiiv h iiiuwn j uiiu lain.
j: If you talk too long, yoor sub-conscious mind
suddenly brings you back to the window and
you become dumb once more with the wonder
of the whole thing. Meantime the motors of
the ship are driving her like a wild duck, arrow
like, straight on in its course, over exactly tin
same track she had traveled before.
We veered, once, several miles out of our course
while passing over the mountains of the Thuringen
forest, to run around and avoid a snow storm. Al
the sun became over-clouded the air turned icy cold,
and blankets were brought into requisition. Tea was
served, and in half an hour we were again in the sun
shine and the storm was behind us.
Von Gemmingen told me the ship always passes
over precisely the same route. "Our course is like a
tunnel, cut through the air," he said. "It is laid upon
our navigation chart, according to certain landmarks,
such as conspicuous buildings, hills, mountains, and so
on. It is not varied, excepting for storms."
Germany is a great winter-cabbage country, and
this vegetable becomes blue as it ripens. In looking
at these fields, they appeared like beds of mignonette
Tame pigeons were flying about below us. and as we
pasted over villages, pigs and ducks, chickens and
sheep could be seen and identified. A wild deer broke
out of a forest and dashed for a moment into view.
A farmer, at the plow, would stop and wave his hat
to us doubtless thinking, where the hat had formerly
rested, something about "ueber alles" as we roared
past. And speaking of this roar; it is deafening, to
be sure, if you are below or behind the motors; but
racing away from the noise at the rate of seventy
miles an hour, as we were doing, only a dull dreamy
sub-tone comes to you and the voice does not have
to be raised in the least for agreeable conversation.
As we approached the Svis frontier, the far-away
Alps could be seen, with their white snow-capped peaks
reaching into the clouds. As we came up to the
Zeppelin hall at Friedrichshafen on Iake Constance
(Bodensee), the engines stopped. There was dead
quiet. I was told that the action was to test the buoy
ancy and determine the loss of gas. It was only for a
moment and the motors were again started, with
the ship steering for the ground at an easy angle.
In five minutes, as I timed the thing, we were down
and safely anchored in the hall. It was four o'clock
We had made the flight in five and a half hours.
The trip had given me a taste and fairly fixed
comprehension of the method of fast travel of to
morrow; a reflectiem too, I am pretty sure, of an
unexpressed dream of that remarkable Jew and super-ship-builder,
Albert Balltn, whose great brain and
heart gave way under the loss of the Leviathan, the
Imperator, the George Washington, etc., into the
insatiable maw of Mars.
I m B&fl mmA mm HBlti rfriirrtfmir ifo P g
00 Vo Gemminien. of the airship
company.
Loading hatsage UP into hold of the Zeppelin
The IIM horsepower motors of the "Bodensce.
A motor photographed from window of airship.