The Dixmude

While the polar trip of the American Shenandoah is being decided upon, the loss of the French Dixmude serves to emphasize the dangers of the project.

The Dixmude, originally known as the L-72, was completed at the great airship works at Friedrichshafen, Germany, at the signing of the armistice. It had a cruising radius of 9,500 miles, a tank capacity of 11,000 gallons. Turned over to the French by the terms of the armistice, it was the pride of the French Air Service and held the world's duration and range record (TIME, Oct. 8).

Undertaking a long trip over Northern Africa, starting from its base on the South Coast of France, the giant dirigible apparently had used up most of its fuel when adverse winds blew it back to the African shore on the fourth day of its flight. With only fuel enough to run two motors, the dirigible was able to maintain intermittent wireless communication with French naval authorities for two or three days, while its Commander sought desperately to find a landing place in Tunis. The French authorities, with British and Italian cooperation, covered the sea with destroyers, the desert with systematic flights of airplanes and parties of cavalry and camel mounted troops.

Conflicting reports of the dirigible being sighted now here, now there, speculations as to the possible escape of the crew by means of parachutes or a desperate forced landing, all hopes of saving the ship or its crew ceased when on the ninth or tenth day from the date of departure the body of the commander, Lieutenant du Plessis de Granadan was found in Sicilian waters by the net of a fisherman. No log among the few papers in his pockets, the failure of any carrier pigeons to return, a gleam of light seen off the coast of Sicily about the time that de Granadan's watch stopped led to the supposition that the disabled airship collapsed and exploded suddenly at her end, carrying 48 brave men to their death.

Perhaps the faithful commander would have done better to desert the ship and land the crew via parachute, perhaps he fought too long. The mystery is not likely to be solved. The sole technical lesson is that four bases over the vast Mediterranean are insufficient; airships to be truly useful must be supported with numerous landing facilities and hangars.