NEW LIGHT

Hokitika Guardian, 15 October 1930, Page 6

NEW LIGHT

! ON RlOl disaster: (Official Wireless.) RUGBY, October 13. Doctor Eckener, the Commander of the Graf Zeppelin, who attended the; funeral of the victims of RlOl on Saturday, as the official representative of the German Reich, left Croydon for Germany by aeroplane this afternoon. Before leaving, Dr Eckener, called at the Air Ministry, and was received by the Under-Secretary for Air, Right Hon. F. Montague, and Air ViceMarshal Dowling, member of the Air Council for Supply and Research. important statement concerning the ■ very rapid barometric changes Which took place during the night when RlOl was wrecked is made by Dr. Eckener in an interview in “The Times.” The Graf Zeppelin, he says also made a short voyage in the early morning of October sth, and when she landed at Zurich, after a flight of only, four hours, her alimeter showed a height of 400 feet,, though actually she was at ground level. In his 30 years of;air-ship operation,' said Dr Eckener he had "never known; an area of low pressure to come in with such aston-ishing-rapidity. •; .* .: . . " , Dr Eckener indicated his intention of giving the Air Ministry a detailed report of his experiences. 1 The Prime Minister, in a telegram to Dr. .Eckener, has thanked him, and through him, the German nation, for the deep sympathy extended on the disaster to RlOl, saying: “The presence of yourself and Captain Aon Schieller at the ceremonies in London and Bedford was a clear proof of the bond which unites the airmen of all countries.”

WRECK OF THE AIRSHIP. MOSTLY USELESS. ' LONDON, October . 13. "A message from Beauvois .states that the work of cutting through the Rl(ji wreckage is proceeding for the purpose of removing' the'* engines . The indications however, are that the great bulk of the airship is a twisted mass, and is useless. Unless some firm purchases it, the Government may be faced with the pros pect of paying for the removal of the wreckage, and for restoring the farmland. THE EFFECT OF RAIN. MAY HAVE WEIGHTED 11101. DOWN. PARIS, October 13. Reports appearing in “Le Temps” credit one or two of the investigation experts with having expressed the belief that the disaster to RlOl was due t 6 its being weighed down by rain which would have been averted had the ballast aboard been discharged near Beauvois. This, liow-ever, might have necessitated a return to England. “Le Temps” has also stated that the experts have also discussed the piloting.

BRITISH GRATITUDE. TO FRENCH PEOPLE. LONDON, October 13. The “Daily Mail’s” Paris correspondent states that the King has conferred a knighthood on M. Laurient Eynac, the French Air Minister in appreciation of his services in connection with the RlOl disaster. The Government is considering the most suitable maner in which to recognise the signal services of the French local population of Beauvois.