VIVID DESCRIPTION OF FALLING ZEPP.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 219, 19 December 1916, Page 2

VIVID DESCRIPTION OF FALLING ZEPP.

680 FT. LONG, 2,000,000 CUBIC FEET OP GAS. A special correspondent of Reuter’s Agency, describing a visit to the super Zeppelin that was brought to earth on September 23, and whose crew are now prisoners, writes: We had, of course, all seen photographs of the fallen Zeppelin, but no camera picture can even convey an adequate idea of the monster. Although bent and twisted, the trellis alluminium frame shows quite clearly the general lines of the ship. One neutrai journalist said that the

mass looked like the glassless roof of Olympia after being dented by a huge hammer, while another, after penetrating into the interior of the frame, said that the view was much the same as that obtained in regarding the Crystal Palace from the floor.

What inspired everyone, next to the dimensions of the airship, was the extraordinary lightness of the structure, and we were surprised to find that a length of the trellis framework of ten or twelve feet could be raised and held quite easily with the little finger. The Zeppelin proved to be L 33, one of the largest in the German service built lately. The gondolas, of which there are four, contain six Mercedes' engines, each of 240 horse power, working 1600 revolutions to the minute. One gondola contains three engines, the remaining three each carrying one engine. There are five propellers. It has been estimated that she carried some two thousand gallons of petrol in her various tanks, and that her colossal enxelope was filled with two million cubic feet of gas.

We were shown the “cat walk,” a narrow scorched platform, giving access to various parts of the ship, and the apparatus for dropping bombs. She is fitted with sixty bomb droppers. Right forward is to be seen the captain’s cabin, with three control wheels, while in close proximity is the wireless room enclosed in a casing of cotton wool to ensure as much silence as possible.

Lying on one side 'of the Zeppelin itself was a small cane or basket coracle, the use of which is not quite clear. It may have been intended for use in case of descent on the water, or for lowering me n for the purposes of observation.

An officer informed me that everything of any practical value is intact, and that we have all the information requisite to construct a replica if necessary.

The length of the ship is 680 ft., and her total weight, with her crew of 22 officers and men about fifty tons. She is supposed to have occupied a year in building and to have cost anything between a quarter and half a million sterling.

She carries seven or eight guns, in eluding five ordinary Maxims, the re mainder being somewhat heavier.