The airship that had a catastrophic accident was the LZ-20 type of Zeppelin, which belonged to a large airship according to the volume and load capacity, it was 160 meters long, 18 meters in diameter, and the airbag volume was 35,000 cubic meters, using 4 Maybach engines to promote, and the maximum speed in the windless state was 95 kilometers per hour, which was the standard airship ordered by the German army during the Great War, and after the war, Zeppelin launched a civilian model using a passenger pod, and Deutsche Aeronautics was the largest customer of this type of airship, until the summer of 1916, At least 11 hard airships of this type are active on European routes. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

At the time of the accident, the Zeppelin, known as "Heilingen", had just completed a voyage of more than 1,700 kilometers. Limmelik No. 1 crew is following the standard procedure for airship mooring, and in a minute or two, the airship gondola door will be connected to the empty trestle of the mooring tower for the airship crew to land. At this moment, a fire broke out in the tail of the airship without warning, and the fire spread rapidly, and in just over 40 seconds, the entire airship turned into a large ball of fire that fell rapidly, and 33 of the 38 crew members - 6 staff members and 32 passengers - fell to death, burned to death and were seriously injured, and only 5 survived.

With the Global Aviation Expo set to open the next day, reporters from several countries witnessing the crash, and Limerick gathering royal dignitaries and dignitaries, it is impossible for the Irish government to block news from the outside world. Half an hour after the accident, all the telegraph offices in Limerick were crowded, and this shocking news appeared in the newspapers in Germany and France on the same day......

Even before the Great War, Zeppelin had always given people the impression of stability and reliability, and now this exaggerated image has taken on its original form, and Zeppelin and the enterprises that use Zeppelin for air operations must have been hit hard, and 95% of Ireland's air transport is by airplane, which should not have been implicated, but this extremely bad aviation accident has cast a deep shadow on the unprecedented third Global Aviation Expo.

For this exposition, the Irish government has invested enough money to build a heavy cruiser, and if it is abandoned halfway, these funds will be wasted, and it will have a bad negative impact on the national image of Ireland. For this reason, after returning from the airport inspection, Natsuki hurriedly convened his cabinet ministers and administrative staff to discuss countermeasures.

At the same time, 600 kilometers away in London, at 10 Downing Street, British Prime Minister Boehner Law sat down in the conference room, surrounded by cabinet ministers and several middle-aged men in military uniforms around an oval mahogany table.

After the Army Intelligence Officer briefed him on the Haweringen crash, it was not the Cabinet Ministers who spoke first, but the Chief of the Army Staff, Sir Charles Douglas.

"Since the end of the war, the aristocracy, the wealthy, and even the middle class have been keen to fly and fly in airships, firstly because of freshness and curiosity, and secondly because of convenience and speed. Nowadays, the air transport industry in Europe, Germany is the only one, Ireland, Italy is developing rapidly, from the operation of the main aviation enterprises in these three countries, air transport profits are quite lucrative, according to this trend, in another two or three years, the British aviation industry will be far behind them, whether it is a direct outbreak of war or a diplomatic conflict, we will be in a very passive situation. So, gentlemen, while our adversary has been dealt a heavy blow by this air crash, it is imperative that we speed up the development of the aviation industry, and strive to catch up with Ireland and Italy within three years, and to match Germany within five years. ”

Douglas added, "This is the most basic requirement."

"Is a mere airship really a historic blow to the international aviation industry, which has developed rapidly in the past two years?" Sir Natgreen, Secretary of State for Industry and Chairman of the Board of Trade, voiced his doubts.

Field Marshal Kitchener, Secretary of War and the "Thorn King" who made his colleagues frown, said angrily: "If we do nothing and allow our adversaries to find ways to make amends, people will soon forget about this disaster, but if we take the initiative to guide public opinion and grasp the human fault that exists in this disaster, the situation will be different." Ladies and gentlemen, if we have enough courage and determination to revive the British Empire, we must go all out in this battle without gunpowder. ”

Kitchener's number one "defense friend", the upright Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lord Norris, was the first to jump out, shouting: "We are not soldiers, and we have to fight the enemy desperately at every turn." In the previous war, we lost too badly, the colonies were greatly reduced, and the military strength was much worse than that of the Germans. This time, even if the British officials do not speak out and the media and newspapers make a fuss, the too obvious direction will definitely arouse the vigilance and counterattack of the opponent, which will be very detrimental to ourselves. Our fragile economy can't afford to fight a war without gunpowder now! ”

Kitchener snorted coldly: "If you don't even have this bit of courage, what is there to talk about revival?" Let's just bow down to the Germans and ask for their military protection! ”

Lord Norris was not at all angry at the War Secretary's ridicule, he sneered and said, "Then please ask our Army to show a convincing performance in the next war!" At least don't toss away your sharpness and confidence before you have even confronted a real enemy, as you did in the two Boer wars. ”

The success or failure of the Boer War was the responsibility of the military commander at that time, and it had nothing to do with him, so Kitchener was not annoyed, but replied with a "we'll see", then cleared his throat and returned to the topic: "Except for one or two for the use of royal dignitaries, almost all the zeppelins are filled with flammable and explosive hydrogen, which is actually a well-known thing." From a safety point of view, riding an airship is no different from sitting on a powder keg. Life and death, the difference is just a little spark. It just so happens that there are British people on board the airship - it is not clear whether it will be two or three, and we can have the families of the victims sue Deutsche Shipping and the German government, making huge claims against them for knowing the danger and failing to take effective protective measures, and demanding that they must suspend all airship routes until the safety concerns are resolved. The media and newspapers seized on this civil lawsuit to cover it, and even if the Germans knew that we were behind it, there was no reason to retaliate and sanction us, as long as we attracted enough attention to raise questions about the safety of airships and planes, we could deal a catastrophic blow to the aviation industry. When people's enthusiasm for flying in the aircraft subsides, the operation of the aviation industry will naturally slow down, and it will be much easier for us to use government funds to support the development of the aviation industry in our country. When the technological development of the aircraft makes up for these safety problems, we may never find such a good opportunity again! ”

Most of the cabinet ministers present were moved by Kitchener's profound analysis and meticulous planning, and most of the British military's air forces are now under the command of the army, and Kitchener does have great authority in this regard. However, with the lessons learned from the previous failures in the confrontation with their opponents, the ministers are still cautious about this "war without gunpowder", because not only the economy and finance, but also all areas of Britain are basically in the post-war recovery period, and it is really fragile to withstand new blows. Prime Minister Beaunar-Law advised: "The Secretary of War is so subtle that we can proceed immediately, but for the sake of safety, we should not provoke public opinion attacks first, and wait to see how the outside world reacts and the actions of the Allies before we take the opportunity to attack." ”

Although Kitchener was dissatisfied, he was not as angry and angry as before, and he said coldly: "The best opportunity is in front of us, and if it is missed, it is also destiny, and we will do our best, no matter what the result is, there is no need to be harsh." ”

At this point, the meeting was dismissed, and Prime Minister Bonner-Law hurried to Buckingham Palace to report to King George V. As night fell, Kitchener did not return to the War Office, but had the driver drive straight back to his accommodation, and when he got home, he turned on the radio, but instead of the British radio program, he tuned into the frequency of the Irish National Radio. The Kingdom of Ireland established the official language of Irish Gaelic in its constitution, but it was the habit of the Irish National Radio to broadcast every news story several times on a rolling basis in Gaelic, German, French, Spanish and English. Theoretically, the signal of the shortwave radio station can achieve the effect of covering the continent, but under normal circumstances, in addition to the main island of Ireland and the adjacent United Kingdom and France, only the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, western Germany and northern Spain and other regions can receive a clear and recognizable signal through the radio, and the stability of the signal cannot be guaranteed further away.

Before 9 p.m., the Irish National Radio was still introducing the next day's Global Aviation Expo, and also explained the rules of the air competition section, and the sprint, trick and team competitions all set up a single championship prize of 2 million marks, which is a temptation that is difficult to resist for the vast majority of aviation sports enthusiasts.

In this day and age, there are not many families with radios, and the radio programs that can be listened to are very limited, and families often stay in front of the radio to listen to the radio for a while after the lunch break or all work and party activities, so one o'clock in the afternoon and nine o'clock in the evening are considered prime time. At nine o'clock, Kitchener, who was sitting at the radio and drinking, finally waited for a serious and heavy voice, the Irish National Radio broadcast the news about the "Heilingen" air crash that day, at this time nearly eight hours have passed since the incident, many people have been informed of the news through various channels, and this broadcast news is equivalent to the official announcement of Ireland, with undoubted accuracy.

There was a momentary pause in the sound of the air crash on the radio, and since he was not proficient in Irish Gaelic, he could not figure out the many words that followed, so he had to wait patiently for the final English announcement—and after hearing everything clearly, there was another pause in his movements, and for a much longer time than before.

The contrast between air accidents and car accidents, horse crashes and other accidental casualties is indeed very convincing, and the concept of aviation compensation and aviation insurance has a good weakening and diversion effect on people's fears.

(End of chapter)