SHENANDOAH DISASTER

Hokitika Guardian, 7 September 1925, Page 3

SHENANDOAH DISASTER

SOUVENIR 111'NT EH S ACTIVE. [Australia A* N.Z. Cable Association.] NEW YOUK, Scplcmlier I. Thousands of souvenir hunters swooped down with saws and hatchets, piliering and wrecking. Two companies of militia who were sent to guard the remains of the airship found nothing left, to guard except t lk* gigantic motors. The cabin furniture had been chopped out. the silvery fabric cut up, and lengths of the superstructure hacked away. Various theories are advanced to explain the accident, hut there is nothing; to support the idea that lightning struck her, or that she broke by striking a tree. The leading opinion is that the di.xaster occurred over a thousand leel up, the violent wind currents breaking her as a man breaks a stick across his knee. James Collier, the Chief Aviator Rigger, one of the survivors, believes that the helium expanded when the airship was sent aloft, too fjuiekly. after a siptall had struck her. and that the coMseptteot strain cracked the girders. Captain Onion lleinen, the chief builder of the Shenandoah, said that the death of the heroic fourteen men. was murder. Against his advice, eight, of the eighteen safety valves in the gas cell were removed recently. 'I his was done for the purpose oi saving helium, ami possible leakage. The flight over Ohio was made against the wishes ot (. ommatider Lansdowne, and was made on Washington's orders, to gratify politicians as a spectacle tor a string ot country fiii'rs. This fliarjvc- is being . openly made bv the widow of the eonimander. who declares that she sought for weeks for cancellation of the order, knowing, as a native of Ohio, the danger of , electrical storms at this period, hut Secretary Wilbur insisted. .Mr Wilbur, however, -cave this allocation a denial saving that ( ominan- | del* l.ausdowne was allowed to choose , Ids own time. I

The Navy Department will investigate the charge of Captain On ton lleinen that the removal of eight ol the eighteen safety valves in the gas cells of the Shenandoah was the direct cause of the disaster. He said that in an attempt to save the precious helium gas, the men gave their lives foolishly, and he declared that the number of valves was insufficient to allow of the escape of the gas necessary when the storm suddenly forced the ship upward, causing a rapid expansion in the gas cells, which broke the ship in the middle, lie pointed out that twenty valves have been installed on the I.os Angeles tor safety. Captain lleinen crossed the Atlantic on the I .os Angeles, and he was the construction expert for the Shenandoah. The Navy Department’s inlormation indicates that Commander l.ausdowne authorised the valve changes recently, as tin* result of previous cross-country Hying with the Shenandoah. I’ItKSKNT DESiCN TOO WEAK. LONDON. September I. Commander Rurne.v asserts that the airship Shenandoah disaster has not shaken his faith in airships. The Shenandoah he said was ten years old. The design was almost the same as that of the British airship “R.-'l-'L” He did not think that such long ships were sufficiently strong to enable them to weather abnormal conditions, lie was most confident that scientists, boforo long, would succeed in designing a • large and perfectly safe airship. It was realised that tin* present ships were not strong enough, and care was s. being taken that the Empire airway service ships would he twice the pres- . vnt strength. It must lie remembered that, like all things, an airship must have its birth pangs. All the aeroplanes once crashed, owing to their wings breaking in mid-air. ’J no first navtil destroyers broke their hacks in the North Sea.

CHARGE OF NEGLECT. LOS ANCKLKS. Sept. .). ,Lieut. Den Farrou, l nited States aviation reserve delegate at the National radio exposition here, hlanied the obsolete radio equipment for the plight of the missing seaplane P.N. 91, which carried the antenna under the plane, which was useless when in the water, lie accused the Navy Department of neglect and red tape in adopt111radio improvements. A CONDUCT HEIGHTENED. WASHINGTON, Sept. 0. The destruction of the. Shenandoah has heightened the conflict, battleship v. aircraft, over Mr Coolidge’s economy programme. The President desires a new dirgihle and .Mr Wilbur considors the maintenance of a surface deed at the present standard is more important, while navy chiefs favour dirigible development, lint unless Congress grants three million annually needed for other purposes, the spending of two million on dirgihles is thought to l,e foolish. Also while both army ami navy lack service planes, the expense on tln> more hazardous dirigible operation is considered folly. Mr Wilbur is anxious to retain the dirigible I.os Angeles for training and experimental pur|coses, instead of leaving it to a private corporation lor commercial service as suggested. The Los Angeles was bought from Germany on condition that it was employed only for peaceful purposes. COLLI) UK AVOIDED. BERLIN, Sept. (i. Kckener, who flew J5.R.3 to America, expressed the opinion that disasters like the Shenandoah could lie avoided b v the use of hydrogen instead of helium ga.s, as the former can lie more rapidly released.