Evening Star Newspaper, August 3, 1930, Page 85

BY WALTER B. GIBSON. IR-MINDED America is to experience a new claimant for the honors of aerial transportation. The “flivver blimp” is coming to compete with the airplane for popularity. The sponsor of this innovation is Capt. Anton Heinen, the German expert in dirigible naviga- tion who was connected with the United States Navy during the early days of the Shenandoah. In 1923 Capt. Heinen made the statement that in ten years we would be traveling across the seas in airliners. The Graf Zeppelin has paved the way for the culmination of that prediction. Huge dirigibles are under con- struction, ready to demonstrate their superior- ity over the airplane in long and sustained Cruises. But popular imagination, captivated by world tours of giant airships and anticipating regu- lar air voyages to Europe, has considered only one advantage of the dirigible. The fact that smaller airships have kept pace with the prog- ress of the Zeppelins and that the blimps have reached a high degree of safety and efficiency is something that comparatively few persons realize. ITH the same precision shown in the cruises of the Los Angeles, the smaller airships of the United States Navy are con- stantly making shorter trips. Riding by blimp has b:comi> a methodical and easy procedure. Capt. Heitnen has studied the blimps. While other experts in aerial navigation have visioned Jarger and stronger dirigibles; bigger mooring masts and the expenditure of millions of dol- lars, he has been planning smaller blimps— baby blimps with tiny gas bags and expenses cut to a miximum of $10,000 for a single ship. The airplane possesses two disadvantages which have not yet been overcome. First, its transoceanic flights are difficult and uncertain. Second, the airplane, on short trips, requires suitable landing fields and skillful pilots. Capt. Heinen's intention is to overcome thes: disad- vantages through the use of tiny dirigibles. Recognized throughout the world as an au- thority en iighter-than-air craft, Capt. Heinen was connecied with the works in tion with the Shenandoah from 1922-1924 will long be remembered because of his important role in the storm flight of that airship. Upon his return to private life, Capt. Heinen Bembelmtmmmmflhhedhh ambition. His first “flivver blimp,” which he 100 feet and its capacity is of lifting gas. Underneath yacht body, some 25 feet in constructed and inclosed, com- the principles of an automobile body with a 200-horse- The air yacht is designed as a tw-mnher craft; it is a ship built for pleasure, to enable its owner to forsake his automobile and make a direct flight to whatever destination he may choose. Motor trouble, if it occurs, will be merely an annoyance and not a catastrophe as with an airplane, for the air yacht does not d-°nend upon its motor to keep it in the air. With its engine shut off the ncw craft can float through the air as a free balloon until its operator decides that a landing is advisable. THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, AUGUST 3, 1930. Family-Size Dirigibles by the Thousands to Fill the Skies, Says Capt. Anton Heinen, Zeppelin Expert, Predicting Advent Soon of Quantity Production in Lighter- Than-Air Craft. A small blimp, but larger than those which Capt. Heinen proposes to build, landing on a store roof, proving its practicability where only a small space is available. ’l‘fllhndimotthe“MVverbump"ks problem which Capt. Heinen is said to have solved by the introduction of a new in- vention which forms part of the eguipment of the tiny lighter-than-air craft. In contrast to the large ground crews required to moor a huge Zeppelin, the air yacht, because of its Diagram showing compurative length of the proposed “flivver blimps” very small size, can be drawn down by a few men. But to render the air yacht entirely self-controllable, Capt. Heinen has included an anchoring device which can be operated from the dirigible itself. This consists of a cable set in the front of the gas bag, one end having a spiked anchor, Capt. Anton Heinen, German dirigible expert, is father of the baby-blimp air- yacht idea. the other terminating at the front of the body of the air yacht. Ready for a landing, the pilot releases the ancher. It drops to the ground and catches there. A small electric motor is started; it turns a winch and the little blimp is drawn to earth. Thus the roughness of the ground is an aid rather than a hindrance to the landing of this craft. Under ordinary circumstances, the pilot can depend upon persons on the ground to act as a volunteer ground crew. He can land in a field near a farmhouse, on a base ball dia- mond or any other place that he may choose. Blimps much larger than Capt. Heinen's proposed air yacht have been landed on the roofs of buildings. The new “flivver airship” will be tiny in comparison with the smallest dirigibles now in use, and it is a demonstrated fact that the problems of landing decrease in direct ratio to the size of a dirigible. The former Zeppelin commander is seeking to re- duce the difficulties of lighter-than-air navi- gation to the absolute minimum, and his plans are unquestionably based upon practical knowl- edge. The home port of one of Capt. Heinen’'s blimps will be a field about 200 feet square. Here the owner will have a mooring mast—a mere pygmy in comparison with the huge structures required for the Zeppelins. The mast need be scarcely more than a pole slightly over 20 feet in height. Beneath the air yacht will be a small car mounted on wheels, to which the craft may be strapped, gas bag and all. When winds blow the little blimp will revolve about the mooring mast, constantly heading into the wind. The practicability of mooring masts, as demonstrated with large air- ships, is quite as applicable to the “flivver blimp.” Enthusiasts claim that with its development all airports will erect mooring masts suitable for the baby blimps; that the owner of an air yacht will be able to go to the airport where he keeps his craft, start on his journey and park his blimp at the city of his destination as easily as a motorist travels from a garage in one city to a garage in another. With the proper facilities obtainable, an air- yacht cruise can cover a great distance, for the pilot will have only to stop at a small landing fleld long enough to pick up gasoline after his original supply has become nearly exhausted. Thus garage owners along motor highways may soon have the added duty of catching a moor- ing line and anchoring an air yacht when it calls for gasoline and oil. According to a statement issued by Capt. Heinen, the operation of the air yacht will re- quire very little skill. His anchoring arrange- ment is planned to make the release and land- ing of the ship a comparatively simple matter. ‘The navigation apparatus and the motor con- stitute the only necessary instruments. A hangar will be unnecessary. The blimp will be available during the cruising months of Spring, Summer and Autumn; when Winter comes, its owner will deflate it, fold up the Continued on Thirteenth Page and the Graf Zeppelin.