Airship News.

[maddox]

OOC, Paris temps is getting too crowded.

June 6th 1917, Blimp base IV at Guernsey.

Blimp S'aéronef IV is railed in the hangar.  But, the wind is playing a game, and the envelope is pushed against the hangar doors. 

The hangar master sergeant yells "Who forgot to secure the aft railcar?"

But a ripping sound, and the metalic smell of escaping hydrogen fills the hangar.

MERDE

A gentle "POEF", and an instant inferno is created. No big explosions, no heavy smoke, just the fabric envelope that ignites like a lampion.

The aftermat, 1 blimp an operational loss. 1 hangar damaged. And 2 dead.



September 18th 1917, a beautifull late summer day. Airfield Paris , the brandnew rigid airship T2 No° 28  "Madox01" is being filled with hydrogen for the first time.  The new gasbags, carbonated synthetic rubber coated silk, emit squeeky noises.

2 airship spotters looking trough old ship telescopes.
"Is that squeeking normal?"

No, it isn't. Unless.  The idiots, Santos did prove that rubber ain't the right material to coat a gasbag. It gets static loaded. And can spark. That is why goldbeater's skin is used, even if it's a lot more expensive.

Oh, you say this one could  explode any minute?

Yes

Why would Le compagnie des Diregibles allow that, if it's unsafe?

I can imagine 1 idea. Somebody got an idea to reduce the static charge in the rubber.

BOOM

Nope, if I was right,  it didn't work.

[Borys]

OOC

OOC, Paris temps is getting too crowded.

You really should split Paris temps into chunks. Maybe of 5 years duration?
When I ripped the old board parts of the Paris Temps were lost as the thread was too long.
Borys

[maddox]

During the high of the Kolkatan war , airship T2 N°13 "Triska", never loved by its crew, takes off from the airship base at Suez, for the 2 weekly run to Djibouti. 6 nurses and a much needed cargo load of medical supplies compliment the crew.


Under a sweltering sun, not a cloud to be seen the silver colored gaint of the air glints like a huge sigar shaped mirror

A speaking tube in the control car wistles. The small man at the wheel aknowledges contact.
Captain, I can't fix engine n°3, the crankshaft is broken , and that's far beyond our repair capacity. But that gives us the carburator to fix engine 1.

Make it so, this ship is a bitch to handle with the engines on port all out. Our speed is reduced to 25 kts ,flat out, with 18° rudder to compensate.  

The navigator mutters
Who could imagine that the 2 spare carburators we have are incomplete, both missing the same parts as the broken one on n°1 engine.

Simple, it seems the previous mechanic found it easier to replace the slides and pins than to pull the entire carburator. But why he didn't put it in the maintenance logs escapes me.

Ain't that carburator not a tripple version of what is used in the Panhard Towncar? If I'm correct, I guess the somebody pulled the parts for sale. So the "misplaced" parts ain't obvious. As we notice , those are high wear parts.

I wish I could say it can't be like that.


In the mean time, between the gasbags, 2 crew members are tightining some of the rigging.

Parbleu, that's the 6th time in 3 days we have to tighten these cables. That can't be normal. The cable tensioner is almost at its max.

According to the manual, it ain't, but the maintenance logs it's a problem on this airship.

We should replace it. I do not trust this at all.

That's a big job. And it's a primary, something that shouldn't be replaced in flight. But I think it's possible, if we get 6 hours windless time,and our captain is willing to drift for that time. I doubt he's willing atm, now we're limping on 2 engines.

True, but we'll tell the captain, fill in the log, and then it's out our hands.

For now, it'll do.



Yes , I agree with you, we should have a closer look at that ring 8 primary, but we're only 15 hours from Djibouti. Get a watch on it, and if the situation changes, get a warning in.

C'est ça mon Capitaine.


A few hours later, in the cool night.

Captain, the primary on ring 8 has gone slack again, and the tensioner is at it's end. We can see deformation on the frame now, we need to tension it, but with engines 1 and 2 pulling at it, we can't.

Ok, cut engine power, keep the engines idling. And get to work to replace the primary.



Unfortunatly, mother nature is playing a cruel joke.
The gasbags of the airship are warm, the soaked heat of days in sweltering sun. And now a cold front approaches.  Fast.

N°13 Triska is floating on idling engines at a comfortable hight of 1500 feet. Suddenly the airship lurches. Men at work to replace the ring 8 primary grab hold to wires twanging like  Pizzicato'ed violin strings. 1 can't hold on, and falls into darkness. A muffled scream, a damped "BOEF" followed by the sound of panty ripped from the ladies buttocks.

3000'   4000',  the Hydrogen overpressure valves wistling. The captain , half dressed, takes over the wheel.  Engines that were idling roar open troathed horsepower building.
The nose of the ship, pressed down by the combined action of movable balast, the elerons and the power of the big Bavarian Motoren Werke engines is counteracting the sudden rise. Unfortunatly, ring 8, what supports  engines 1 and 2, already weakened by the construction fault that caused the slackening of the now removed primary tension wire gives way, and engine 1, the only one on port that can do the job, rips off  together with a part of the frame .

The reduced power and the changed aerodynamics pull the airship in a tight corner, too tight, as the gentle giant of the air was not ment for such aggressive manouvers.  The frame groans, rivets pop,  tension wires go slack or snap under the strain. Gasbags ripped open by the giant steel wire wips.

Captain Dela Plàtgome feels his ship going and uses every ounce of will and foul mouthed curses to keep her aloft

You will fly you pig, you'll get us to Djibouti, even if I have to sell my soul ...

to be continued.

[Kaiser Kirk]

A muffled scream, a damped "BOEF" followed by the sound of panty ripped from the ladies buttocks.

ooc : not the best way to enhance customer satisfaction...