EXAMINING A WRECKED ZEPPELIN

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 100, 21 January 1918, Page 5

EXAMINING A WRECKED ZEPPELIN

INTERESTING TOUB OF-L49. "in tho tanks there was still a large amount of petrol, the alcoholised water (used for fluid ballast) was frozen in the reservoirs; and in the 19 balloons of goldi-beators' skin, there was a great lack of gas. The only conclusion to be drawn from these facts was that the Zeppelin's descent was caused by want of gas and tho impossibility of dropping Ballast owing to the freezing of tho water." Tho above is the theory with which fiio air expert of the "Chicago Daily News" recently returned from a visit to Ll9, one of tho raiding airships which French flying men forced to land at Bombone les Bains. He has given an account of his visit to Keutcr's Paris correspondent. "The means of communication in the interior of tho envelope," he says, "consisted of an aluminium bridge 4i inches wide, made of small pieces of aluminium and thin wood, with wire here and there to assist the passenger in keeping his balance. The sides of Hie 'bridge were merely waterproofed ,cloth—nothing' else betweon the passenger and the ground beneath. "Aft of the wireless room the engine room Ts reached by a ladder which leads to a narrow path five or six hundred feet long within the envelope. From this main motor-room, where the engine 13 twice the power of tho others, I walked inside the envelope along a frail, narrow path of littlo sticks mounted on aluminium to a point where two diverging paths led to the nacelles. On the way I passed a tube of balloon cloth enclosing an extremely light aluminium ladder, with rungs as far apart as possible, and leading to {his was a wooden ladder reminiscent of those used for tov dog performances, but probably much less strong. "I went uncertainly some forty rungs to the top of the envelope, where was a small gun platform for two men and machine-guns. I noticed here that the top of the envelope was almost white, shading gradually into black towards the lower part."