OCR Text |
Show Monsters of The Air Eid.s were recently received by the Navy Department for the construction of two monster dirigibles, to have a speed of 72 knots an hour and capable of cruising 10.000 miles without refuelling. refuell-ing. These airships will be about three and one half times as large as the Los Angeles, and will have a capacity of 6,500 cubic feet, inflated by helium They will cost, about $1,000,000 each. Among the bids received were those of three German firms, besides a half dozen or more American firms. It will take several weeks to analyze the bids, it is said, but construction will probably pro-bably begun, within a few months as $2,000,000 for commencing the work is already available. While the building of these great airships air-ships may be considered a necessary addition to the nation's defensive e-quipment, e-quipment, the disasters which have over taken such aircraft, even in time of peace, cause the layman to speculate cn their probable length of life under war conditions. The fate of the Shenandoah, which broke in three parts while battling with a storm in September 3, 1925, the recent re-cent Italia disaster, and dozens of others, illustrate the relatively fragile nature of the dirigible when pitted against the fury of the elements, to say nothing of the dangers of war. Whether size of the proposed new Navy aircraft will add to or reduce the dangers attending thir navigation remains re-mains to be seen. |