'The fact remains, however, thab the world trip of the Graf Zeppelin has done for lighter-than-air crat' in the United States precisely what the spectacular trans-Atlantic trip. of Lindbergh did for the acroplany and flying generally.
Speaking a day of two ago, te one of the largest financiers on this Coast who has been known for his Keen interest in air development, was informed that there is ne dearth of money for whatever form of air craft that is proved to be superior for trans-Pacific flying which will produce dividends, Whether the dirigible, has commercial possibilities is at present a much-debated point among the many pro= moters who unpatiently feel that the time is ripe to undertake com: mercial flying—between Sam Francisco, Los. Angeles or some other Pacific Coast port and the ports of the Hawafian Islands and devond. It is pointed out that the gas which an airship uses ix enormously expensive, and for a ship like the Grat a crew of about 400 men is needed to berth her.
The cost of building one of these monster gas-bags, moreover, is tremendous in proportion to ite useful Jead, 1
All the same, interest_on_ the Pacific Coast is' very keen, said that Eekener was aproached while in Los Angeles by yre than one promoter who was anxious to secure the air skipper's interest in the formation of a company using "zeps" for trans-Pacific fight, but it is understood—that nothing was finalized, The great cost of the lighter-than-air craft, however, ix likely to be greatly reduced, however, with this new U, S. Navy all-metal type, At the present time little information is ailable for the purpose of raking comparisons of oat, but T have seen several reports Wl declare that what is dubbed trait's flying tin can" will cut costs considerably, and be able weather atmospheric dis turbances in a manner which no Zeppelin has as yet, showed possible. The new ZMC—2, however, is said to have cost a million. dollars. She is built of hundreds of strips of paper-thin metal running around the circumference of Fivetted together with a "sewing machine" which operates with very thin wire. She equipped with two Wright "Whirl wind" air-cooled engines of 200 hap.
Officially she is regarded as "the greatest single step in the development of the airship since Count Zeppelin box with, them thirty years ago". Up. to this time, it" may be ' recalled, dirigibles have been covered with cloth and rubber fabric, stretched over metal frames, but the metal covering is d to be more durable and less subject fire hazard, Heretofore, also, the trend has been in dirigible construction wards larger and longer ship but this U.S. Navy ZMC—2 is practically egg-shaped. The Navy designers declare that changed will enable her better to th stand the buffeting of winds much better' than her larger and more unwieldly sister ships, Definite Differences in Design It appears that, although natural secrecy has been observed while the ZMC-" was under construction, it obvious that several definite difforences in design have been introduced, The first of these is the covering of ts rigid framework. "A thin skin of alclad' an alloy of copper and aluminium," says one report, "has been substituted for the customary cloth fabric, The alloy is almost as strong as steel, yet sufficient not, to offer a handicap to the ship's buoyancy, which is afforded by the vse of 200,000 cubic feet of helium. gas." A second marked departure, T read, is its method of control, which differs radically from any in. use. Its "elevators and rudders, which regulate its manuyres vp, down and sideways, instend of being at the rear end, are in the form" ting projecting from the hull about thirty fect forward of the
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.