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The Beatrice Daily Express
Beatrice, Gage County, Nebraska
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Philadelphia, March 24: Navy's ZR-1 dirigible, 75% complete, set for July flight; may reach poles and circle globe. 680 ft long, helium-filled, 5,000-mile range. Sister ship ZR-3 from Germany arrives Chicago in May after Alps trial and Berlin stop.
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Philadelphia, March 24--The mammoth airship ZR-1 under piecemeal construction at the Philadelphia Navy Yard and at Lakehurst, N. J., will probably be ready for flight by July 1.
The huge ship may eventually fly to the North and South Poles and around the world, according to Rear Admiral William A. Moffett, chief of the Naval Bureau of Aeronautics.
Starr Truscott, aeronautical engineer of the navy department predicts that the ZR-1 will be one of the wonders of the world.
The dirigible is now 75 per cent complete, according to Commander R. Weyerbacher, who is in charge of construction.
The ship will be 680 feet long (more than 100 feet longer than the height of the Washington monument) and it will be 79 feet in diameter.
Its gas bag is divided into 18 compartments and these will hold 2,000,000 feet of non-inflammable helium gas. The gas bag is made of "gold-beaters skin" fashioned from the intestines of cattle. The frame is duraluminum.
With this tremendous "lifting power" to keep the ZR-1 afloat, six 300-horse-power engines will drive it through the air. Tests of the six cylinder engines have been satisfactory.
Carry Tons of Gasoline
The giant ship will have a cruising radius of 5,000 miles and will be able to carry ten tons of gasoline. A special composition applied to all parts of the ship will, it is believed, help reduce air frictional resistance.
For the first few months after its completion, the ZR-1 will make only comparatively short flights. It will then be given its head for a flight across the Atlantic with a crew of twenty.
Another great air ship will be seen floating over the country before the end of summer, as a sister dirigible the ZR-3 is being built at the Bodensee Works in South Germany for the United States. This ship will be completed about the first of May.
A trial flight for the ZR-3 over the Alps is scheduled for May 1. The German built dirigible will then fly to Berlin, where it will be inspected by Ambassador Houghton.
From Berlin the ZR-3, manned by a German crew but flying the American flag will head for Chicago.
Members of the American inspection commission will be aboard the ship as guests.
The ceremony of transference to the American government will take place in Chicago.
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Philadelphia Navy Yard, Lakehurst N. J., North And South Poles, Bodensee Works In South Germany, Alps, Berlin, Chicago
Event Date
March 24
Story Details
The ZR-1 airship under construction at Philadelphia Navy Yard and Lakehurst is 75% complete and expected ready by July 1, with potential flights to poles and around world. It measures 680 feet long, uses helium gas, duraluminum frame, six 300-hp engines, 5,000-mile range. ZR-3 built in Germany to be completed May 1, trial over Alps, then to Berlin and Chicago for transfer.