Lighter-than-Air

"As commonplace as a steamship crossing" was considered by many a fairly far-fetched prediction for dirigible travel in the near future. Yet last week, with so little fanfare that few in the U. S. were aware of it, the Graf Zeppelin visited Rio de Janeiro with passengers & mail on her fifth voyage from Friedrichshafen since Aug. 28. At the same time in Akron, Ohio an important milestone was passed in U. S. dirigible development. On the strength of a radiogram from the Secretary of the Navy, Lieut. Thomas G. W. ("Tex") Settle, naval inspector of construction of the airship Akron at the Goodyear-Zeppelin dock, wrote his signature on documents that meant "preliminarily accepted." At that moment she became Navy property and the contract for construction on her sister ZRS-5 became effective.

Designer Karl Arnstein sat at a window of the Akron's control car, a proud smile on his moon face, his hands folded complacently across his stomach as the ship floated up over her birthplace and turned her nose to the east. It was not yet dawn next day when the ship dropped her landing lines on the Lakehurst field but Dr. Hugo Eckener (whose beloved Graf Zeppelin is currently under command of Captain Ernst Lehmann) was on hand to see her and to chat with his old friends, famed Commander Charles Emery Rosendahl and Designer Arnstein (who also designed the Graf Zeppelin). He watched with them while the ground crew "squeezed" the Akron into the dock alongside the Los Angeles with only 15 ft. to spare. Side by side, the Akron made the doughty old Los Angeles look nearly as small as the little J-ships used to look alongside the Los Angeles.

The airplane hangar within the envelope is yet to be equipped. Five pursuit planes are to be installed. Armaments are to be emplaced. And the propellers are to be exchanged for new ones to step up the speed. For six months the Navy will have the ship technically "on approval."

Critics of the Navy's lighter-than-air policy, notably the New York Sun, made much of the facts that the Akron is 20,000 Ib. overweight and that she can fly only 79 m.p.h. instead of 84, as specified. Of the overweight, Navy & builders replied that they foresaw and announced it last summer (TIME, July 20); that it was caused by deliberate increase of strength and safety factor, partly by changes in Navy specifications; that it amounts to only 3% of the total weight and will not materially affect the ship's performance. The $25,000 penalty provided for that overweight will not be collected by the Navy. As for speed, Designer Arnstein and Commander Rosendahl declared there was no doubt the fault would be remedied by the new propellers which will take a "bigger bite" of the air. But the builder may be penalized for the shortcoming.

The day after the Akron went out into the world, workmen in the dock at Akron began laying out jigs on the floor in the form of great rings into which the main frames of the new ship, ZRS-5, are to be assembled. So confident was the Goodyear-Zeppelin Corp. of the Akron's acceptance that as early as mid-summer President Paul Weeks Litchfield gave orders for the duralumin sheets for the new ship, and on July 1 fabrication of segments was begun. By last week much of the material had been fabricated and delivered to the dock. With main problems of design already behind them, and with the benefit of Akron experience, the builders expect to complete the ZRS-5 early in 1933.

The ZRS-5 which will be nearly identical to the Akron, is to cost $2,450,000, of which $1,100,000 has been appropriated by Congress. (The Akron cost $5,375,000).

Meanwhile builders of heavier-than-air craft were devoutly thankful that the Government was not stinting on new planes & engines. Some recent Navy contracts:

Chance Vought Corp. for 15 observation planes, $280,650.*

Glenn L. Martin Co. for 16 bombers of the new type which will deliver a 1,000-lb. bomb from a vertical dive, $534,662.

Berliner-Joyce Aircraft Corp. for 18 of the new two-place observation plane, convertible seaplane & landplane, $463,700.

Some big Army contracts:

Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Co. for 100 Hornet-B engines, $612,854.

Curtiss Aeroplane & Motor Co., Inc. for 13 attack planes, $427,615.

Detroit Aircraft Corp. for 10 low-wing Lockheeds to be used as pursuit or attack planes, $338,332.

Douglas Aircraft Co. Inc. for 28 observation planes and seven bombers, $718,875. This company, operating mainly on Government contracts, reported an estimated profit of $548,000 for the first nine months of 1931.

*All prices cover spare parts.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.