BRITISH AIRSHIP

Hokitika Guardian, 10 June 1929, Page 1

BRITISH AIRSHIP

11101 NEARLY READY. SIZE IMPRESSES VISITORS, LONDON, May 26. Members of the Royal Aeronautical Society paid a visit to the airship R 101 to-day, taking advantage of the last date before the tilling of the gasbags and the pumping in of 5,000,000 cubic feet of hydrogen. The visitors were impressed Iby the luxury of the accommodation, and tiie many amazing features in the design. The airship is at present housed in a giant shed, 812 ft. long and 157 ft. high, at Cardiugton. The fact that nearly all the sections of the outer cover have been installed enable a magnilicent idea to lie gained of the airship’s smooth-flowing lines and the actual size, 724 ft. from nose to tail. Both of the tails are 80 ift. from the floor, causing the upper rudder, npw installed, to appear small, until the visitors discovered on the floor a huge tubular, strongly-braced structure 40 ft. long, which is the companion low or rudder.

The visitors were also surprised at the spaciousness of the passengers’ and public rooms. The dining-room only seats 50, and the smoking-room is also restricted in size, but the main lounge is a line apartment, 69ft long, extending across the full width of the airshop with a verandah each side, 7ft wide.

Leaning on the handrail of the verandah, passengers will get a wonderful view through the safety glass' panels. Gracefully-shaped pillars, with clusters of electric lights, hide the essential structural members. Comfortable settees line the walls, and the centre is furnished with dub chairs and tables.

The visitors, looking up to where the deck was not covered iii, to the massy mass of girders, bracing and suspension wires, found it difficult to adjust their preconceived ideas of ocean travel in steamers to the requirements of airships, where low structural weight and large volumes spoil efficiency. Passengers rising in tile lilt installed in the mooring tower, and entering the airship through a long enclosed corridor, will probably be surprised at her apparent solidity, although when they arrive at their berths they will recognise that, solid wooden or steel partitions arc* impossible when every extra pound of structural weight means a pound les> of paying load. They will appreciate, too, how in-geniously-painted fabric can make a nartifion, or a slight give in the flooring can he permitted in threeply suitably stiffened, and weighing only three or (our pounds to the square loot, yet able to stand a uniform load of 17011).