Aircraft : $b its development in war and peace and its commercial futureDavid, Evan John
History
Aircraft : $b its development in war and peace and its commercial future
David, Evan John
Aeronautics; Airplanes
The crew followed them to land, on which none had set foot for nearly
five days, all the members being in good health and spirits, except one
man, who had suffered a smashed thumb, the only accident of the cruise.
THE OFFICIAL LOG OF R-34 TRANSATLANTIC FLIGHT BY BRIGADIER-GENERAL E.
M. MAITLAND, C. M. G., D. C. O., REPRESENTING THE BRITISH AIR MINISTRY
Atlantic flight by rigid airship R-34, from East Fortune, Scotland, to
Long Island, New York, via Newfoundland:
Distances covered were as follows: East Fortune to Trinity Bay,
Newfoundland, 2,050 sea-miles. Trinity Bay, Newfoundland, to New York,
1,080 sea-miles.
It was originally intended that this flight should have taken place
at the beginning of June, but owing to the uncertainty of the Germans
signing the peace terms the British Admiralty decided to detain her for
an extended cruise up the Baltic and along the German coast-line. This
flight occupied 56 hours under adverse weather conditions, during which
time an air distance of roughly 2,400 miles was covered.
At the conclusion of this flight the ship was taken over from the
Admiralty by the Air Ministry, and the airship was quickly overhauled
for the journey to the United States of America.
The date and time of sailing decided upon was 2 A. M. on the morning of
Wednesday, July 2, and the press representatives were notified by the
Air Ministry to be at East Fortune the day previously.
STARTED AHEAD OF SCHEDULE
At 1.30 A. M. on the morning of Wednesday, July 2, the airship was
taken from her shed and actually took the air 12 minutes later, thus
starting on her long voyage exactly 18 minutes in advance of scheduled
time.
1.42 A. M., Wednesday, July 2.
The R-34 slowly arose from the hands of the landing party and was
completely swallowed up in the low-lying clouds at a height of 100
feet. When flying at night, possibly on account of the darkness, there
is always a feeling of loneliness immediately after leaving the ground.
The loneliness on this occasion was accentuated by the faint cheers of
the landing party coming upward through the mist long after all signs
of the earth had disappeared.
The airship rose rapidly 1,500 feet, at which height she emerged from
the low-lying clouds and headed straight up the Firth of Forth toward
Edinburgh.
A few minutes after 2 o’clock the lights of Rosyth showed up through
a break in the clouds, thus proving brilliantly that the correct
allowance had been made for the force and direction of the wind, which
was twenty miles per hour from the east.
It should be borne in mind that when an airship gets out on a
long-distance voyage carrying her maximum allowance of petrol, she can
only rise to a limited height at the outset without throwing some of it
overboard as ballast, and that as the airship proceeds on her voyage
she can, if so desired, gradually increase her height as the petrol is
consumed by the engine.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account