AIRSHIP DISASTER

Hokitika Guardian, 8 October 1930, Page 6

AIRSHIP DISASTER

SOME STATEMENTS REFUTED.

(United Press Association—By Electric TolegrAph.f-Gopyright.) .<) LONDON, October 6.

An important contribution to tlie general discussion of causes was made by Mr J. D. Worth, ‘chief, engineer of the firm which carried out detail, design,' and manufacture of the hull. He declares that the suggestion that the airship revealed a weakness on its earliest flights is without foundation. The sole purpose of the lengthening Of the ship was to increase the disposal of the load. The statement that the ship appealed' to be heavier than usual when leaving the mast was not significants in 'order to turn, an airship md^t ; he in equilibrium. The story that the tail came off was not borne out ;as the photograph . reveals one satisfactory feature of the disaster.

WORLD-WIDE SYMPATHY. LONDON, October 6. Remarkable world-wide expressions ofisvippatky haye beeh received. Scar.jCgly /ith%t,4ia|r nbtj.caNed} London- or instructed its representatives' personally to ,its v German YHe '"disaster “2nd" recall -/that ‘"Germany also had to sacrifice valuable lives iot the'-aake o|j progress 'of aviation, adding still more nave made sacrifices for the benefit of humanity on whoso I*.behalf. Englishman died. . causes, were 'dismissed-in- considerable detail. The necessity for helium gas to replace .hydrogen was emphasised by all German aviation experts. The majority foresee the disaster will decide Englahd to abandon airships and concentrate on aeroplanes and flying boats, the type of Germany’s Dornier Dux.

t Captain Eckener announced Britain had invited, him to London to giye expert evidence at the public inquiry. , -- - -.eu) ■■ •' > 'V&iv THE FIRST DlPb -i .* ... ' <f' r,\'' “i..,- •? ' ■ |-Ml ' ' LONDON, . October; ; 7.-“ The “Morning Post’s’!,.; BeauvoiS correspondent ,asserts there ; has been no official 'statement",' -it' is admitted that a portion, of the structure’ of RlOl has been found a 'idqn(siderabile distance from the “wreck If'it had fallen off at the moment of i the'.; first. dip,’ the distance would ac-’ (?oun.t for the lapse, of a minute between the first dip and the second ! 6ne, which resulted in the crash.

NEARLY STRUCK A HOUSE,

“" i : i 'iX>NDON, Oct. 7,

T,lie ; ‘,‘JDAily Express” features a letter ~by iVlrs Shane Leslie, the wife of the author, j\lr .Shane Leslie, ' afitifbihg hOitv RlO] ’nearly struck her fiom^ ; ,.,. outride .the.,after its leaving 'Cardington. Her hoqae.. stands:.six. hundred -feet---u]>,7 winch is the highest point that RlOl had to pass, Mrs Shane Leslie describes how the, ship lit up, the .whole it came fstraiglpb towards the house. ;She coujd.see the peqple in,, its dining room/-and-'also the ", electric bulbs; on its ceiling. She writes: “I assure you that the whole household were horrified. Tlie ship , missed us by a matter of a few feet. Her engines appeared .to be Weak and unbusinesslike. The airship seemed unable to rise.” PRESS COMMENTS. LONDON, Oct. 6. In its editorial, on the airship disaster, the “Daily Herald” says:— —NotJ.since-ihe Titanic disaster, has peace time witnessed such an overwhelming catastrophe. Lord Thomson, the Air himself .-to inWking mipded fof Tthe purposes of peace hven- more than for national defence. His faith was as uAbounded as,;>his vision. t says: Britain has loki" ipLqt'.diily 'hei- latest .product of science in airship construction, hut the noble company of those who were the 1 repositories of .technical skill and knowledge of this branch of aviation. Thby Were engaged in no foolhardy venture Tlie fate of RilOl should not retard Iby one minute the development of aviation generally IUOO’S FUTURE A MATTER OF DOUBT.

.. :. -LONDON,. Oct. 7..,--. The question is asked; .What,will he the, future of Airship RIOO, seeing that she is preehidei from pioneer work toWards .India, because she lias pettol engines, and the Air Ministry cleciines to allow this .type of airship to go into tropical climates. 3 The answer depends largely on the .Government’s future airship policy, and whether RIOO will be equipped .with oil-h Urning engines to enable her, to complete the programme of . Empire 'flights that was laid down. DEEP FRENCH SYMPATHY. ALONG WITH SURPRISE ’ 14 ' TaRIS, Oct. 7. « Regarding the air disaster, the emotion. in France was evfcn . greater _to-

day than it was yesterday. Pages of thd newspapers are entirely devoted to the details and (photographs. The most striking aspect of the French reaction is the real and profound sympathy that is felt for England. It is safe to assert that on no other occasion since the war has there been so deep and widespread a feeling. There is general agreement in France that the airship should not have been flying so low, together with q surprise that she should have been allowed to" start when it was known, that a storm was raging in France directly in . her path.

AMERICA WILL EXPORT IT

WASHINGTON, October 7,

Voicing the opinion that the disaster to the British airship RlOl would not have occurred had non-inflammable helium gas been used instead of hydrogen gas, Mr Britten, Chairman of the US'.A: House Naval Affairs Committee, announced that he would sponsor legislation in the next Congress to permit tlxe exportation of helium from America for use in the dirigibles of foreign governments. He said that he favoured either permitting the foreign governments to establish plants in the United States, or increasing the facilities in the country so that the productcould be sold at cost. The present law prohibits the export of helium.

FORTY-SEVEN BODIES. i/ 1 : . : ' ' IN STATE AT BEAUVOIS. LONDON, October 6. !. rA Beauvois message says: The heroes of 'RIOI lib in state in. the historic Town Hall,' in which hall, according to an inscription on its walls, General Bliss, Mr Lloyd George, and M. Clemenceau agreed to entrust Marshal Fpch with the supreme command of the Allied. Armies in the war. There is a Chapelle Ardehte at Beauvois Town Hall, which is draped in black from the ceiling to the floor. There are forty-seven coffips, including Radcliffe’s, placed ofi trestles along the walls, each hearing the townspeople’s wreaths. The middle of the floor is occupied, with a pile of wreaths, of which three rare from the British Navy, Army, and Air Force. Crepe-draped national flags hang on the walls. v|rhe arrival of the coffins there occupied three and a-half hours. There iMds a French .guard of honour, who Were repeatedly presenting arms, and the townspeople stood, remaining bareheaded despite the prevalence of thunder and hail storms. The local ex-ser-vicemen, gendarmes and Red Cross nurses have been carrying on a guard of honour throughout the night. There were affecting scenes as the residents of Beauvois filed past the open door far into the night. A movement has been started in tlie local newspaper to acquire the scene of the crash for a permanent memorial. ' .

“ ;; some identified,

LONDON, October 7

An official Beauvois message states: -'Five-of the bodies have been identified, those of' Assistant Coxswain Potter, wlio Wiis si sflrVivor of R3B; Engineer Blake, Engineer King, Engineer Scott and Rigger Rudd. It i s also announced’ that it has definitely been established by the counting of the skulls that the number of bodies in the wreckage was forty-six, and the total of the deaths, with Radcliffe, is forty-seven.

THE OBSEQUIES. FULL FRENCH CEREMONIAL. LONDON, October 7. A message from Beauvois states that a Special Committee of Identification, including a senior Air loree officer, with a Cardington officer who knew all the Cardingtonians on the airship, : and another who knew some of the deceased, after having been working all day long with them, have been unable to establish the identity of the majority. All of the bodies ave now been endlosed in lead-lined cqffins, which have been screwed up to spare tlie feelings of the relatives, who will be shown the clothes, articles, rings, and keys taken from the bodies in a further effort to secure identification. The ■bodies were to-day taken in motor lorrieis to Beauvois, amid due military honours. They were covered with wreaths, and were placed in the •Ohappelle Ardente, in readines s for their removal to England to-morrow, when full ceremonial will be observed.

-’ Those present; to-nioyrow will include M. ‘ Tardien (French Premier), M. Laureht-Eynac (French , Air Minister), reresent-alives .of the French Ministers of War and Marine, besides parties Irann. the French Artillery, Cavalary 1 , Infantry and Air Force.

Tlie . bodies will, be removed on gun carriages, amid a salute of 101 guns; while fifty areoplanes will circle overhead.

A special train will take the bodies to Boulogne, w.lience ; they will be conveyed to England in the destroyers Tempest and Tribune, in readiness for the interment, which, the Air Ministry have suggested to the relatives, should, owing to the impossibility of recognising many of the bodies, be a general burial, probably near Cardington, where a single memorial will be erected.

: LORD THOMSON’S WILL. LONDON, October 7. The “Daily Mail” says, just before leaving on board RlOl Lord Thomson hurriedly scribbled his will on a slip of notepaper, as though lie realised at the last moment the danger of the flight. The will rei\d.s —“I am .setting out on a. flight to India, and in case anything may happen to me T leave all my, property and possessions to ’my brother,. Colonel Roger Gordon Thomson.”