Rigid Airships

The Los Angeles, pride of the Navy, only rigid airship/- in the U. S., is going to have two sisters. Last week, a judging board of the Navy announced that the designs submitted by Goodyear-Zeppelin Corp. of Akron, Ohio, a subsidiary of potent Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., are better than those of a half dozen competitors.* It seemed almost certain that Goodyear would be awarded the contracts for the two airships, that work would begin this autumn and the first new giant silver cigar would take the air in 1930. Goodyear quoted $7,950,000 as the price of the two airships, or $5,450,000 as the price of one. The Navy board gave this design a figure of merit of 91.9.

The plans are a government secret, but it is safe to say that the new ships will be longer and possibly more efficient than the Los Angeles (built in Germany as Zeppelin ZR-3). They will have either Maybach or Packard engines. The top speed of the Los Angeles is 70 m. p. h. and she has made a non-stop journey of 5,060 miles. She carries a crew of 45; but she is capable of carrying 100 passengers, who can stroll her length (656 feet) in "cat walks" built inside her envelope.

/-The word dirigible is popularly and inaccurately used to refer to a rigid airship. Correctly, dirigible is an adjective describing any lighter-than-air craft with a propelling and steering system. *One of the competitors is American Brown Boveri Electric Corp., which employs famed Capt. Anton Heinen, designer of several Zeppelins and the ill-fated Shenandoah.