Cost $14,400

Like their colleagues overseas and on the same day, airship pilots of the U. S. Army Air Service had their troubles with a huge gas bag, in this case the TC-3, a nonrigid twin-motored airship of only 200,000 cu. ft., scarcely one-tenth the volume of the R-33. Sailing from Scott Field, III., the TC3 broke her rudder at Caseyville, Ill., soon after going aloft. For two hours, she drifted at the will of the wind, then negotiated a landing at Black Walnut, Mo., little the worse for wear.

All the damage that Lieutenant Douglas Johnson had to report was financial. To make a landing, he had to valve his helium; the cost was about $14,400, since the gas is valued at approximately $80 per 1,000 cu. ft. Totally deflated, the TC3 was ignominiously brought back to Scott Field on an Army truck.