THE DIXMUDE’S FATE.
By Our Aviation Correspondent.
Some confusion has arisen as to the identity of the unfortunate French airship which sent out an S.O.S. call last Saturday, having exhausted her fuel and being unable to reach harbour. The “Dixmude” was formerly the German Zeppelin L 72, a sister ship of the L 71, which was handed over to Great Britain after the war, and is now lying dismantled in a shed at Pulham. The “Nordstern,” with which the “Dixmude” has been confused, is much smaller, and is a sister ship of the passenger-carrier “Bodensee.” The “Dixmude” is 743ft in length, and has a capacity of about 2,400,000 cubic feet of gas (the R 34, which crossed the Atlantic, was 1,950,000 cubic feet; and the R 38, which blew up over Hull, was 2,720,000 cubic feet). The “Dixmude” was driven by six 260 h.p. Maybach engines.
When it was known that she was drifting on the wind eastwards, with the length of the Mediterranean before her, and without fuel for her engines, there was but little hope of saving her; and the best that could be done was to send succour for her crew, for in a rough descent at sea they would be in great danger. Such a vessel coming down to land in the ordinary way, with her engines working and in full control, requires a landing party of at least 150 men. If, however, there is a mooring mast half a dozen men suffice. But, drifting with the wind like a spherical balloon, and alighting either or land or water, she would almost certainly drift broadside, and even with a very gentle breeze would be seriously damaged. On a wind of twenty miles an hour she would almost certainly be a total wreck. But her crew might even in such a case escape, at any rate with nothing worse than a few minor injuries. It was, however, just possible that the wind might die away and the descent be delayed until calm weather. Also, the crew may have been rescued by a ship.
The lesson of this misadventure is that until there are harbours, or mooring masts, situated at small intervals all over the regions of airship travel an airship must carry a big margin of fuel over and above the quantity necessary for the voyage. Absolutely perfect weather forecasts for all regions, with reliable information about the wind at various altitudes, would make it possible to reduce that emergency margin of fuel; but such forecasts are not yet always available. It is for this reason, if for none other, that the British airship programme, providing at first for one big airship, and neglecting all opportunities for building up further experience during the long period that must elapse before that ship is ready, is open to grave criticism.