The Baltimore Sun from Baltimore, Maryland • 32

10B TODAY WEDNESDAY, MAY 6, 1987 "SHE SUN THE SUN CROSSWORD Local doctor remembers Hindenburg 49 Rouse from sleep 50 Firm attachment 53 Leased property 57 Band instrument 58 Nephrite 60 Title for Joan Sutherland 61 Cast 62 River of Soviet Asia 63 Members of the CD 64 Recorded, in a way 65 North Sea feeder 30 Woodworking machines 33 Classifies 34 Out of bed 36 Food scrap 37 Takes to court 38 Utility measuring device 39 Make well 40 Ending with Japan or Siam 41 Car pool participant 42 buddies 43 Bivouacked 45 Dignified women of a "certain age" 47 Use your brain ACROSS 1 Abates 5 Auto racing name of fame 10 Old Irish alphabet 14 Pub game missile 15 Miff 16 Put pressure on 17 US Army Special Forces member 19 Youngster1 20 Menu item 21 Tractor adjuncts 23 Type of soil 25 Lorelei, for one 26 Containing silver i i4 ris i i i9 i i'6 1 1'5 -j 20 51 23 as pJ Irriir sr TryF't 55 57 -ST" 3 40 41 ii mmXmm Jf-' irTrH sr -4 a sTprnr3 57 58 1 S5 55 64 I IS Airship terms The word zeppelin is applied to lighter-than-air ships with a rigid frame. Blimps do not have rigid frames. The word dirigible, which includes zeppelins and blimps, simply means directable, and refers to vehicles that have a motor and a rudder, as differentiated from a balloon that has no means of steering. Dirigible construction began after Count von Zeppelin, as an artillery observer during the U.S. Civil War, saw Union forces using hot-air balloons for reconnaissance.

He conceived the idea of putting a motor and rudder on them and using them for transportation. Tuesday's Answer DOWN 1 Rim 2 Part of the country scene 3 Author Harte 4 Small sturgeons 5 Optimistic 6 Formerly called 7 Spanish painter and designer 8 Civil rights activist Medgar 9 Storekeeper 10 Type of store 11 "Growing" place 12 Ripener SHAGFlREEDSn aTG 0 MAIH A HI N.O.N.0. 0 1 A AX uTs 0 I 0 OF SH a SLlZ I CI I GO EJC 0 IB I LA 0 DIE SDR EJS nfTTR nk 1 0 TjD PlJG AIM I eTor A fTJe SON i0 A RUlJVA I NIZZl 1AIU.ME3-G0L1-NSO.ULIJ1 A 0 I TfTE" I TljS A 1 PIWS El IE A nXuaIsIkIeidTIsihieiai 50 River in Lombardy 51 Small amount 52 Certain tide 54 the line 55 Prince Charles' sister 56 TV producer Norman 59 Preholiday time 13 Store department 18 Nighttime signs 22 Mideast land 24 Stuck in the mud 26 Valuable belonging 27 Awaken 28 Gardener's gift 29 Referred to 31 Mistake 32 Flower features 35 Asian antelope 38 "Wishing hour" on New Year's Eve 39 In a believable way 41 Former money of Portugal 42 Makes muffins 44 Topics 46 Sounded an alarm 48 Asian land HtW V0HI 43 Item in Ali's rec. 44 Pale 45 Old Siamese coin 46 Suckling's forte 48 Business-letter abbr. 50 Houston or Browne 51 Windy City mecca 57 Be solicitous 58 Spooky 59 Placed 61 Prefix with body 62 Quick 63 Early domestic 64 Take five 65 Harmony part 66 One of the ages ACROSS 1 Booted 5 Census figs.

10 But, to Juan 14 TV starter 15 Deloul or hageen 16 hygiene 17 Seed covering' 18 Scene in "Quo Vadis?" 19 Clothes chaser 20 New Orleans mecca 23 Kind of hea. 24 Medical sulfix .25 Staffs 28 Title of respect 30 Start of a Dickens title 34 Mine product 35 Jorge or Jose 36 Catches 37 Atlanta mecca 41 A Brokaw rival 42 Friendly touch 1 2 "ii 6 1U I11 I12 I13 15 21 22 mmmmm -jj 25 HT 27 28" in "30 3" 32 33 34 1 i-T 37 38 39 40 If "42 Ti 4S mm 46 47 41! 49 50 I SI 152 53 54 55 56 57 60 61 "61 "63 64 65 "66" landing, the gas was not dispersed. It was able to mix there with air where a spark somehow Ignited It. Many people wonder why the Hindenburg did not use helium, a non-inflammable gas. Dr.

Schirmer answered that helium has 12 percent less lift that hydrogen. Furthermore, he said, helium is 14 times more expensive than hydrogen. He said that later, after the Hindenburg disaster, Graf Zeppelin No. 2, a sister ship, was built for helium. It was for that ship that Interior Secretary Harold L.

Ickes refused to sell helium when he learned that the ship was being used for reconnaissance over Holland and Britain. After World War II broke out, the Graf II was dismantled on orders from Hermann Goering and its aluminum was used to build warplanes. At a Department of Commerce hearing on the explosion, theories were presented to explain the spark that ignited the hydrogen, Including St. Elmo's fire (brush-like tufts of electricity occurring during thunderstorms), sabotage and static electricity. No conclusion was reached.

Dr. Schirmer said his father's view was that when the ship was coming to land, there was a sudden crosswlnd that caused the skipper to pull around sharply on the rudder. In this maneuver, a connecting cable broke. That cable, flapping in the wind, could have generated static electricity. With the shutdown of zeppelin construction, the elder Dr.

Schirmer worked In the aircraft Industry and, when World War II began, on rocketry. He helped build the V2 rockets that were fired Into Britain, and at war's end was sentenced as a war criminal to work two years In the French aircraft industry. "He was depressed by the whole thing," Dr. Schirmer "and swore he would never wopk un another weapon. Wernher von Braun invited him to come to Huntsville Ala.

to work on American rocketry, but he refused His last work was in acoustics and In the automobile industry. He died in 1983." The Hindenburg was built and flew during the rising Nazi era in Germany, and there were some political ramifications in her career. The leaders of the company were anti-Nazi," Dr. Schirmer said, "and when they named the ship Hindenburg after the president of the Weimar Republic, Hitler was very displeased. On the other hand, he didn't want it named after him, either.

He didn't want anything named after him. "Once Goebbels the Nazi propaganda minister commandeered the ship to drop Nazi leaflets over Germany, and company leaders were furious. This got back to Hitler, and he fired the president. The new president, whose name was Lehman, was a good Nazi, and he went along unannounced on that last trip to America, to keep his eye on things. He died of burns he received in the fire.

The Hindenburg flew the swastika on her tail, and the German ambassador In Washington received threats that something would happen to her on that trip. But although there was some talk of sabotage, there wasn't any convincing evidence of it. Thinking about the Hindenburg. I'm reminded of the Challenger, that exploded in January 1986. There was such a good record of space launches.

The technology was proven. Yes, there were those rings, but there was no reason they should ever leak. "But then came a freak combination of circumstances and they did leak. And the leak led to HINDENBURG, from IB tor the day; but. in that era before television, most of the big ones (Including The Evening Sun) brought out Extra editions, and the new Wlrephoto services flashed on-site pictures around the world.

Or. Horst Schlrmer, a urologist at Union Memorial Hospital, has special reasons for remembering that day a half century ago. Hls father, Dr. Max Schlrmer, was the aeronautical designer of the giant zeppelin, and It was only by a fluke of history that he was not part of its crew on that fateful day. Just before takeoff, he received orders to demonstrate a new propeller design In Berlin.

The young Horst grew up in Friedrichshafen near Lake Constance, seat of the zeppelin industry founded by Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin. Accompanying his father, the boy frequently had walked the promenade of the Hindenburg. He was acquainted with all the principal crewmen flying It on that last day of its existence. Now 58, Dr. Schlrmer has made it his business to know all there is to know about the Hindenburg.

The walls of his suite of offices on the second floor of the hospital's South Building are decorated with dirigible photographs; and in his inner office he has a model of the Graf Zeppelin. guess I've read everything been written about zeppellns," he said. "And about the Hindenburg, I've followed it from just a conception on my father's drawing board to its end in New Jersey." Today Dr. Schirmer Is a tall, slender man with graying hair, who, on duty, wears a white smock over blue hospital togs. He speaks English wilh a slight accent.

He lived In Friedrichshafen until 1951, when he departed to study medicine at the University of Frei-butg. After graduation he came to the Johns Hopkins Hospital for a residency with Dr. Albert Blalock in surgery, and the Baltimore County resident has remained here ever since. He says he can attribute his becoming a doctor indirectly to that great fire-explosion in 1937. it weren't for that, I know I'd hare gone into zeppelins," he said.

"I grw up completely steeped in it. It was the life of everyone we associated with in Friedrichshafen. After the fire, everybody had to reorient himself." But he has never given up his fascination with that nearly extinct branch of aeronautics. He keeps as a souvenir a container of oil used on the Graf Zeppelin and a patch of the cloth of her outer covering. He has a fragment of one of the four 1 8-foot propellers of the Hindenburg.

One of his most precious mementos is a book written and illustrated by his father which explains the difference between German zeppelin construction and that of other countries and why, he said, German construction was superior. Britain, the United States, France and Italy had all tried their hand at dirigible construction but had given it up after their creations crashed. The dirigibles In all these other countries had crashed," Dr. Schlrmer said. "The United States built three famous ones the Shenandoah, the Macon and the Akron and they all broke up In storms.

Germany, on the other hand, had never lost a ship or a man until the Hindenburg. difference was in flexibility. All the others used rigid construction. The Hindenburg was flexible. It would bend in the wind, the way a DOWN 1 RR stop 2 Jacob's ladder, eg.

3 Vaudeville entr'acte 4 Reason for Ham's lam 5 Strikebreakers 6 Tropical plant 7 HemsieyTV vehicle 8 Muscle that stretches 9 Shortstop Marion's nickname 10 Mariner's guide 11 One of five "Greats" 12 Carry on 13 Cheer in Toledo 21 Ethiopian title 22 Laughing 25 Dried coconut meat 26 Neighborhoods 27 Under, to Bryant 28 Patriotic org. 29 Awkward 31 Valor or virtue 32 Onions' cousins 33 I am, to Pedro 35 Riv. boat 36 Fast plane 38" the cops!" 39 Hair rinse 40 "The pig was 45 Cite skyscraper does." The elder Schirmer, as aeronautics physicist in the zeppelin works, was responsible for that flexibility, as well as for the size and shape of the airships. The Hindenburg, with a maximum speed of 84 mph, was not only the largest but also the most luxurious of the more than 150 airships built by Count von Zeppelin since making his first dirigible flight in 1900. It had 25 staterooms similar to those on ocean liners, equipped with folding desks and showers using water condensed from the air surrounding the aircraft.

There were a dining room, a lounge and a smoking room, enclosed in a pressurized air envelope. A 1 50-foot-long promenade was enclosed by unbreakable glass. The walls were adorned with silk tapestries. The chairs were so light a child could lift them with one finger. There was a special Bechstein piano, built on an aluminum frame.

Said Dr. Schirmer. "Everything was made as light as ingenuity could make it, except when It came to passenger comfort. There, the instructions were, nothing but the best." He said that along with Its human cargo, the ship carried 245 pounds of mail, shipments of airplane spare parts, tobacco and textiles, two fertilized partridge eggs and two dogs. The zeppelln's lift was achieved by the use of 7 million cubic feet of hydrogen, which, of course, was the gas that exploded and burned.

Shortly after the disaster, a Sun editorial commented. Traveling in a lighter than air ship Inflated with hydrogen Is like traveling on a surface vessel loaded with nitroglycerin. It is too appallingly dangerous to become very popular." But that was hindsight. Dr. Schirmer said that hydrogen by Itself will not explode, that it has to be mixed with air and that the designers of zeppelins had taken this into account.

He noted as evidence of safety the faultless record of the Graf Zeppelin, launched in 1928. It made 590 flights, Including 144 ocean crossings, without a single accident. In 1929, it flew 21,500 miles around the world in 21 days, making four stops. The Hindenburg itself, the year before the disaster, had flown .10 round trips from Germany to Lakehurst without incident. The trip ending in fire was the maiden voyage of 1937, with 17 more trips scheduled.

Dr. Schlrmer said German zeppelin crews had become experienced In using hydrogen. Although gas was constantly being released or escaping, it never ignited or exploded because, with the ship in motion, it always blew away. The Hindenburg explosion was a freak accident. Hydrogen had collected In the tail, and because the ship was almost still as It came in for Tuesday's Answer 46 Stock-market word 47 Fluffy fare 1 49 Rope fastener 50 Guide 51 Stripon a track 52 Beaux 53 Shamrock land 54 Spot for a missile 55 Simplicity 56 Prong 57 Cord or Javelin 60 Haunt J.ZG I.

A MR GO 1A.U I NUMB A r1 ALAS A 7t rTa I A AJh I au os cTa AT a a I 2E 1 1 RK AliEi I WOMEM ONSTR I el raw ri; VI 1 1 EOF cTT sr em HO HE NEVE New York Times Edited by Eugene T. Maleska COMICS BEETLE BAILEY mort walker I II. I I LlrlT 1 1 THE GENERAL 1 1 Ho I XTH HAS HAP MB 1 1 THAT SIK cc BRENDA STARR "adon a scmmich ff MOW, MY CUTE LITTLE KICCARDO'S MOT IN HIS In ilfiniirri'rwiidi nnnin lBLINE PEFORTER. OFFICE CR HIS Ty 1 AND THINK "THIS NUMBER'LLy- Cartoonists not laughing over Pulitzer nan FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE lynnjohnstow Iffe BEEN HELPING- I SHE'S EVEN KEff I iteSOfTlEDlftfWUGH I'VeSEENR The stuff she's rtyn mD-M gEcftS with between 175 to 200 wielders of wicked pens in the country. This Is in contrast to the state of the art when the cartoonists' association held its first meeting, also In Washington.

In May 1957. "I think there's a world of difference now," said Richard Samuel West, editor of Target, the Washington-based quarterly that covers the editorial cartooning field. Thirty years ago, "there were remarkably few figures of national stature" among the cartoonist who are syndicated In more than 100 papers." The work of today's artists also Is far livelier than ever before. There's a lot of young blood, a lot of new techniques and styles," says Art Wood, a former president of the group. "Certainly more dynamic work is being done now." Jules Felf-fer, the long-time cartoonist for the Village Voice, agrees.

He believes that when the rest of the press "went along passively for the most part" with the initiatives of the Reagan administration until the Iran-contra affair, "often the only people making strong political comments on Reagan and his minions were the cartoonists," Mr. Felffer said in a telephone Interview. The membership of the association is limited to those artists, such as The Sun's Tom Flannery and The Evening Sun's Mike Lane, who work at the trade full-time, are published on a regular basis, and get the majority of their Income from It. On ly a half-dozen or so women work as editorial cartoonists in this country, among tnem Etta Hulme, the cartoonist for the Fort W-rth Star-Tele Pulitzers have been handled and to urge that persons with a better understanding of the profession be appointed to oversee the awarding of the prize. The complaints about the Pulitzer notwithstanding, this year's con vention of cartoonists promises to be celebration of an art that is experiencing renewed vigor and growth.

An oral history project to chronic the changes in the profession over the past 30 years will be launched today by Ohio State University, which houses a collection of 30,000 original cartoons in its Library of Communications and Graphic Arts. Briefings by Cabinet members are planned for tomorrow, as are a meeting with Mitch Snyder, the advocate for the homeless, and a tour of a shelter for street people. Tomorrow evening an exhibition of cartoons In the Cannon House Office Building will coincide with a reception for members of Congress and remarks by Speaker Jim Wright. D-Texas. Friday will start with a talk by Meg Greenfield, editorial page editor of the Washington Post; panel discussions on the state of the profession and syndication business, and an awards luncheon featuring a speech by Gov.

Mario Cuomo of New York. The association's annual banquet Saturday will feature an address by Pat Oliphant. the acerbic, stylistically influential cartoonist whose 1964 migration here from Australia is seen by some as a turning point in the history of American editorial cartooning. Editorial cartooning never has been a large profession, but it nov is xlieved to be at an all-time tnuh. CARTOONISTS, from IB aroused April 16, when this year's prize was awarded to Berke Breathed, creator of the comic strip "Bloom County." "Mr.

Stein said "shock, disbelief, and outrage" were the reactions of many of the editorial cartoonists, whose work usually appears by itself on the editorial or opinion pages of the newspaper, not among the comic strips. "It's news to all of us that Berke Breathed is an editorial cartoonist," he said. Stein said the editorial cartoonists have no animosity toward Mn Breathed think he does a great but they believe the off beat, sometimes whimsical social commentary in "Bloom County" is a far cry from the politically oriented drawings frequently produced by the editorial page artists. Only once before in the 65-year history of the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning has the award gone to a comic strip artist in 1 975 for Garry Trudeau's 'Doonesbury," a highly controversial comic strip that many papers run on the editorial or commentary pages. Mr.

Stein said that awarding the Pulitzer to Mr. Breathed suggests that the award's selection committee and the Pulitzer board, which are appointed by Columbia University, "don't understand the trends in the editorial cartooning profession," which he said is "more dynamic now than ever." He said an effort will be made at the convention's annual business meeting Saturday to "draft some sort of resolution to express our concern about tl-f wav BRIDGE: ALFRED SHEINWOLD North dealer North -South vulneraoie NORTH KQ4 vK7 A86 A8542 WEST 1087 7J9642 09732 EAST J6 VAQ105 OQJ 10 4J1076 If West lets dummy win the ace of clubs, East will get a club, and then the defense will also get either a trump or a diamond. You hold: 6 A 10 5 10 10 7 6 Partner opens one spade, you respond two clubs, and he rebids two diamonds. The opponents pass. What do you say? Bid two no-trump.

This describes your hand well and lets partner place the contract. You promise about 11 high-card points, at least one stopper in the unbid suit and no great desire to play in spades or diamonds. Avoid a two-heart rebid. which might cause confusion. If partner has five spades, four diamonds and four hearts, he will bid hearts next and you can then rais Most players think that trumping partner's ace is the worst possible defensive blunder.

Readers of today's column know that West's error was just as serious. East took two hearts and then led the queen of diamonds. Declarer won and correctly led the king and a low club before drawing trumps. West triumphantly ruffed South low club, but this hasty play gave South an unmakable contract. Declarer won the diamond return and drew trumps in only two rounds.

He then led a club to the ace, ruffed a club, got back to dummy with a trump and cashed the fifth club, throwing his losing diamond It's seldom right to ruff in when declarer or dummy can follow with a loser. Since South failed to draw Irumps right a wav. W-- tp'! ha out" wo' SOUTH 4)A9532 VS3 OK54 K93 E.jI Sou lb Pass 3 All Pass Wel Pass North 1 NT Opening lead 10 do arid will be helped if Vi'Cii.