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Newspaper
Boston Post
Location
Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
Date
Aug 25, 1921
Page
6
The airship ZR-2 breaks apart at about 1000 feet over Hull during a test flight from Howden to Pulham. Forty four men die, including Brigadier General E. M. Maitland, with survivors and rescuers rushing to the Humber as flames and smoke envelop the scene.
Harry Bateman of Halifax, a ZR-2 laboratory assistant, recalls testing the ships controls when a midship girder broke. Petrol exploded as the craft nosedived toward the Humber. Bateman jumped, became entangled, and was rescued by a barge after being picked up at a police station.
In Howden England Aug 24 American officers face a doomed air voyage. Lieutenant Esterly describes emergency preparations including a balloon uplifted radio for help if the ZR-2 is disabled. British General Maitland praises the craft while commanders and families bid farewell as the dirigible ascends.
Howden in York county East Riding on the River Ouse is 22 miles west of Hull and sits on the Humber where the ZR-2 rose from its hangar before its notable flight and later disaster.
Official Navy despatches offer no definitive cause for the disaster. Hydrogen gas explosion in compartments is deemed unlikely due to design safeguards. The most discussed theory cites structural weakness or buckling near fuel containers allowing contact with engine exhaust. A remote possibility is brace buckling near the power eggs housing engines.
The ZR-2 began in November 1918 at Short Brothers in England and was handed to the Air Ministry in 1920. Designed by the Admiralty to endure long voyages with high speed, it was an all British design built for cooperation with the fleet. America would pay 2 million dollars for the vessel and it housed fifty petrol tanks containing 380 tons of fuel, water ballast bags, and gas bags with safety valves for automatic release.
The ZR-2 is described as the largest dirigible ever built with a length of 695 feet and diameter 85 feet. It carried 2,700,000 cubic feet of air, 83 tons lifting capacity, and six Sunbeam Cossack engines totaling 2100 horsepower. cruising speed about 60 mph, with a 72 hour transatlantic crossing potential and a 42 person crew. It features four gondolas for crew, onboard cooking, wireless contact across the Atlantic, a 2500 mile radio radius, and a telephonic system linking the pilot to all craft sections.
The text explains how gas pressure controls prevent over inflation during ascent and details that valves ballast tanks and control surfaces were operated from the control cabin. It notes that each engine car carried an engineer, and the bomb sight and release gears were also controlled from the cabin. The ZR-2 carried 14 guns including machine guns and one pounders, had bow mooring gear and a sea anchor, and could be moored by a three point cable system.
Air Commodore E M Maitland an official observer for the British air ministry in the R-34 transatlantic flight is believed killed in the ZR-2 explosion over Hull England. Maitland a pioneer filer learned to fly in 1900 and was among first pilots over the lines in World War I. He later logged the R-33 voyage to Holland and Belgium and was praised upon returning to America receiving the air force cross.
A London despatch states during the ZR-2 first trials the airship showed a tendency to hump. Girders bent and lattice work buckled under strain. Remedial measures included reinforced framework along much of the airship's length. Engine difficulty also hindered the craft.
The run of the ZR-2 disaster recalls the 1912 Akron crash near Atlantic City. Melvin Vaniman and four crew members perished as the gas bag exploded off Brigantine bar at dawn, while 8000 spectators watched. Vaniman had spent 500000 hoping to cross the Atlantic, his second such attempt.
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