Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1907-02-16
BALLOON IN WAR
An Important Aid to The
Military Strategy.
Extensive Tests Being Made in
Many Countries.
Training School for Aeronauts Es.
tabIished In Germany.

| the Promotion of Flight, which hopes
to stimulate interest in aeroplanes In
this country and impress the govern
| ment with the necessity of keeping
abreast of foreign government in this
| respect, was recently formed with a
| strong provisional committee as fol-
| lows: Hon. c. A. Parsons, T. Il. :. (of
steam turbine celebrity); Hon. Arthur
| Stanley chairman Of the Automobile
| Club; Major Is. +. s. BaGen-POWcll
| president Aeronautical Society; Sir
Hiram Maxim: Mr.. S. F. Edge: Colonel
Capper, r. L. director Military Bal
loon Department.: Colonel Fullerton,
II. Z. Council Aeronautical Society;
| Sir William Crookes, f. r. s.; Mr.. II.
Walter Staner Ghe Autocar); Mr.. +.
| Caesar Hawkins (Aeronautical So
ciety).
| One of the foremost aims of the as
ISOLATION is to coordinate the expert
ments in aerial navigation Of various
inventors, and bring them 50 far as
possible under one control. 1. is not
| founded as commercial scheme, bat to
provide those most suitable to conduct
| experiments with sufficient funds 10
| enable them to bring their experiments
| to Il successful conclusion. 1t is pro-
posed that il the event of the success
of any invention which the association
| has financed, the enormously valuable
| assets. such as facility for constructing
practical flight machines. shall be
handed free of cost to the nation. The
program states that it viii not be de-
| MED that five consecutive attempts
under one control would do more TO
advance the subject than twenty indie
pendent attempts or that S125,00O eX
pended by the society on the consecu-
| tive experiments would do more to ad-
vance the science than 100000 spent
on the separate independent expert
ments.
Particulars Of the steps which the
| great continental powers have taken
| to utilize developments in aerial navi-
cation as an adjunct to military STRAIT
egy are printed below. France is
ahead of her rivals on the Continent.
Most of her attention has been con-
centrated on testing the use of the bal
| loon for surveying the defence works of
! 4 beleaguered town.
The following is brief summary Of
the, steps taken towards aerial warfare
by foreign powers:
France has a school at Chalons where
experiments are carried out and bal
looms manufactured and repaired. In
addition there are 4 number of lnstf-
tutions known as secondary balloon
establishments" at the various head
quarters of the engineer regiments,
where technical knowledge of the sub
ject is impaired. A recent decree di-
rected that each school shall have COM
piete balloon equipment and transport
ready to take the field in time of war.
The Lebaudy airship was taken over
last summer by the government, and
| remarkably successful experiments
were made on the German frontier in
the neighborkood of Metz.
ARRANGEMENTS have just been COM
rleted to establish at Chennitz. Ger
many. training school for aeronauts
and constructors of airshipS. A SINH
lar school has been in operation in
Paris for a year past. The ChemnltZ
institution will be the second enter
Prise in the new pedagogica! field.
one years course is contemplated for
the present, the school to be opened
| in May, 1907. This course, at the out
set. is limited to the construction and
Use of balloons. 1t will be enlarged SO
as to include aeroplanes, as soon as
| practical working types have been de-
veloped. The successive divisions of
instruction during the years course are
as follows: Calculation of volume of
ba Moons; methods Of cutting the ma
toral; methods of rendering the ma
terial impermeable; construction of
nets: gases used for imitation; the gen.
craI theory of balloon construction and
use: scientific instruments used in
balloon ascensions; meteorological OBJ
Sc rvations: ascents alone; ascents with
passengers; special instructions for
passengers; methods Of landing, and the
applications Of airships. The tuition
for a years course is 600 marks, or
S1i3
The Austro- Hungarian empire pos
sesses a military ballooning establish
ment attached to the First Fortress Ar
tillery Regiment at Vienna, and has
some sixty commissioned officers
and men who are becoming experts in
the work The balloon in use is
cylindrical and has an interior balloon
filled with hydrogen. The car is hung
from q belt sewn round the centre OF
the cylinder
The War Department Of the United
States has been conducting experiments
with balloons and is making preparl-
tions for further extensive experiments
with airships, and aeroplanes, with the
view to settling upon some system Of
aerial navigation for use in operations
of the army either in times of peace or