Meanwhile the ship was tugging on the mast, with a strong south wind, anxious to get under way. The pilots held a conference. Maybe, utilizing the tail wind, they could make it non-stop all the way to Washington, 700 miles north and have Lange's crew land them. If they ran short of gas they could stop at Ft. Bragg, N. C., a convenient half-way point. The Army had a motorized observation balloon there, and was always willing to lend a hand to fellow airshippers. It was Sheppard's turn to take the controls. He sent a wire to Ft. Bragg.
"If I run short of fuel, I'll circle the field as a signal. Could you land my ship, lend me enough gas to get on to Washington?" The answer came back promptly, in the affirmative, and the ship left at midnight.
Roaring across the Carolinas at mile a minute speed the Reliance sighted Ft. Bragg before daylight, with plenty of gas left. An entire company was lined up ready to land the ship. Sheppard flew low, cut his motors, thanked them, flew on for Hoover Airport, arriving before noon. He averaged 66 miles per hour over the 700 mile trip, and landed with enough gasoline to have gone on to New York.
By utilizing helping winds, throttling his motors to cruising speed, Sheppard had effected most economical use of his fuel supply.
Fickes used the same technique more strikingly in the delivery flight of the larger Navy K-5 in 1941, when he flew in to Lakehurst from Wingfoot Lake at 100 miles per hour speed, again demonstrating that greater cruising radius than that for which a ship was designed may be effected, whenever it is possible to pick departure times that are most favorable.
[Illustration: Ships like these, off New York City's great harbor, might afford warning of the approach of enemy submarines, or the laying of mines to endanger its shipping.]
[Illustration: Operating from a base across in Jersey, the blimps became a familiar sight around New York City during the World's Fair.]
[Illustration: While throughout the middle west, the long afternoon shadows marked the arrival in one city after another of strange visitors from the sky.]
Other improvements in construction or operating technique grew out of the fleet's experiences in flying in all weathers. A trip made by the Defender in 1930 from Miami across to Havana brought home the usefulness of the radio. The insurance underwriters insisted on a two-way radio being installed, along with pontoons on the ship, as safety precautions. Neither radio nor pontoons were needed during the crossing, but the pilots sensed the desirability of being able to communicate with their home station and their airport objective. Shortly after a short wave frequency was granted to the ships, one of the early ones in aircraft, and two-way sets were later installed on every ship, on the ground-crew buses and at Akron.