Evening Star Newspaper, July 12, 1931, Page 69

With DR. HUGO ECKENER Germany’s Famed . Designer and Com- manderof the Much- Traveled Graf Zeppelin Outlines Working Plans for Nezw Transatlantic Air Service to Be in Operation Iithin the Next 1wo Years. Another Flight to the North Pole Is Contemplated. BY DR. HUGO ECKENER., BERLIN. INCE its memorable trips to America and around the world, the Graf Zeppe- lin airship has not been idle. It has already carried out—including its last journey to Egypt—159 flights of va- rious lengths, in the course of which it has covered 225,000 kilometers. It has flown pver eight oceans, braved all kinds of winds and storms and overcome the most unfavorable at- mospheric conditions. I think these results should be sufficient to convince those who had any doubts as to the safety of the Zeppelin as a means of transport that it was sure not to be a toy of the elements and was suitable to regular traffic. This is why we have started to build at Friedrichshafen an- other airship, larger than the Graf Zeppelin. It will be the first of the airships which, be- ginning in 1933, will, as we hope, carry on a pegular service between Europe and America. When the Graf Zeppelin was built the lim- ited size of our workshops obliged us to make -the airship smaller than we could have wished, but we nevertheless succeeded in proving what we set out to prove. S FAR back as the first trip to America I had many practical indications of the great interest taken by Americans in our air- ship. A syndicate was formed consisting of eminent financiers and bankers, who, after having seen that it was quite practicable to run an airship service between Europe and the New World, appointed a committee to go into de- tails. According to present arrangements it is in- tended to nave four of the latest type of Zep- pelin. Each will have a capacity of 200,000 cubic meters, with a length of 240 meters and a breadth of 40 meters (against 30% meters in the present Graf Zeppelin). The engines will develop 4,000 horsepower (against 2,400). The traffic speed (and not the top speed), which is the most important point, will be 130 Kkilometers an hour, against the present speed of 120 kilometers. This difference of 10 kilo- meters an hour will be very useful, especially in the case of contrary winds. With a wind blowing against us at the rate of 50 meters, the speed of the new airship will be 80 kilometers instead of 70, as at present—an appreciable advantage. The principal change on which we decided after the disaster to the R-101 was to fill the new airship with helium instead of hydrogen. This change will delay the building to the ex- tent of about a year, as the Zeppelin now on the stocks should have been ready at the end of the present year, but under present circum- stances it cannot be finished until the end of 1932. This is due to the extensive nature of technical alterations in the gas-filling arrange- ments and other parts of the airship. As far as our negotiations have gone at pres- ent, we have no reason to think that any diffi- culty will be placed in the way of our obtaining a sufficient quantity of helium. The assertions that the United States Government will pro- hibit the export of this gas are an echo of the wartime situation, when it was thought that the quantity of helium in the United States was limited and would have to be kept for the Army and Navy, but it has since been learned that the supply of helium can be increased vir- THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, JULY 12, 1931. Gigantic dirigibles, larger and with greater passenger capacity, will make oceanic round trips in a week, says noted German tually ad libitum and that there will be mo trouble about obtaining what is needed for our airship service. Moreover, this service will not be an exclu- sively German, but a German-American enter- prise, as two of the four Zeppelins will be built in Germany and two in the United States. The cost of construction in Germany will be about $2,000,000; in America it will probably be more, though I cannot say the exact amount. We adopted this course so as to show the inter- national character of the enterprise even more clearly than before. N N MY opinion, the accident to the R-101 does not in any way prove that airships are un- safe. Examination has shown that the root- cause of the disaster was too great a loss of gas following the leaking. I attribute this to the fact that the English adopted an innova- tion intended to do away with the loss of gas to which airships of the Zeppelin system are theoretically liable. This innovation was not a success, and ex- perience has shown us that this loss of gas, which is very small, has no practical impor- tance, inasmuch as it did not cause us any trouble in the course of our 159 trips. We, therefore, prefer to adhere to the old system, with this difference: That we replace hydro- gen by helium, which does away with all danger of fire. This change raises another set of questions. To fill an airship only once with helium will cost at least $100,000. We must, therefore, try to operate more economically than with hydro- gen, which is much cheaper. It has sometimes happenz2d, while maneuvering the airship, that several thousand cubic meters of gas have es- caped. This did not make much difference to a total volume of 110,000 meters, but it was, nevertheless, enough to make us fill up again before starting. We shall have to be more economical with helium and adopt a different system of maneuvering. According to my calculations, the cost of each voyage, including the installations on the American side, amortization of plant, etc., will work out at about 200,000 marks. WE intend to fix the passenger fare at $800, which is not a great deal in comparison with the rates charged by the big liners. At the moderate estimate of 50 passengers per trip, we shall almost be able to cover expenses. Later on we shall be able to carry a larger number of passengers without making any great Zeppelin expert. structural changes, as the extra weight of 20 or 30 passengers would make little difference to the 40 tons of deadweight carried by the airship. The greatest chance we have of mak- ing a profit is by the conveyance of mails. Reckoning 1 mark per letter, this works out at 80,000 marks a ton, and we shall be able to take 10 or 15 tons of mails and even more, at lower rate. I have no fear of not obtaining enough pas- sengers. At the present time the total of first- class passengers traveling between Europe and America is 260,000 annuall®® Out of this num- ber we may fairly suppose that some thousands would prefer the Zeppelin, because it would take them across the Atlantic in one-half or one-third of the time required by the fastest sea liner. As at first there would be only one Zeppelin on the service, making one return journey a week, this means, at the rate of 50 trips a year, 2,500 passengers per year per Zep- pelin, which is not a high figure for our esti- mates, especially when it is remembered that every new form of locomotion invariably at- tracts a néw clientele. The American business man who at present cannot make up his mind to take a journey to Dr. Hugo Eckener. Europe because it wonld occupy 15 days of his time and who prefers to arrange his own af- fairs oy cable, which is costlier in the long run and much less certain, will be much more in= clined to make the journey when he sees that an airship will take him to Europe and back in a week. o In regard to terminal points, we think of Friedrichshafen in Germany and either Chesa- peake Bay or along the Delaware Bay or River, where an airdrome is to be laid out in the United States. In the course of my last stay in France, however, I negotiated with the French authorities about an airport in France. Apart from technical considerations, this would have considerable advantages from the material point of view. In the traffic between America and Europe at least two-thirds of the French passengers pass through French ports on the way to the old continent. It would be a great mistake to ignore tlis fact and also the need for an airport for mails from France. The Zeppelin would, of course, remain at the French port only about half an hour, or jusé enough time to embark passengers and mails, We hesitate between two ports in France; one near Paris, at Orly, which already has & suitable modern aerodrome, or another near Tours, where everything would have to be done from the beginning. Tours, of course, is much farther from the capital than Orly, but has better atmospheric conditions, which is very important from our point of view. PART f{rom regular traffic over the Atlantic, I have been giving a great deal of thought to plans for a contemplated voyage over the North Pole this Summer. This is an idea of the late Dr. Nansen and the object of the journey would be to carry out ‘a scientific expedition to the unexplored regions of Francis Joseph Land, We reckon that the flight would take from five to six days. We could make for Francis Jo= seph Land via Leningrad. The flight over the Arctic would take from 50 to 60 hours, whichy would be sufficient for useful scientific observa~ tions. The proposed flight does not frightem me at all. The tragic fate of the Nobile expe« dition was, according to my belief after discus« sions with Capt. Noble and others, due to faulty navigation. I already have been in the Arctic with the Graf and know what the ship will do under Arctic weather conditions. (Copyright, 1§31.) 4