The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-12-01

SAeaJ D. tSduSn-EoNeltt IN the London
Daily Mail
have seen the airship under the care
Of Col Capper. but l cannot. Of course.
divulge the secrets Of its construction. II
is sufficient TO say that l have seen the
French and German creations Of tho same
kind, and think that we are not being
left behind by the foreigners
The French first brought out a diriglble
balloon about 1852. which was won
derful success, considering all things. but
after working it for several years they
dropped il for some reason. and have
not done anything more with il until
now. Probably they were unable 10 hit
on means OF Improvement before. One
thing that has made the possibilities
greater in the matter is the coming of
the petrol engine. Formerly trials were
made with electric engines. which were
very heavy and not too reliable. The
lighter petrol engines. which are safe and
easily constructed. have enabled great de-
velopments 10 be made l was very
pleased with the French airship that I
saw. II is a beautiful and strongly made
machine. OF good ship-shape style. and
not OF the gimcrack. temporary character
as many of them have been.
English Ship May Not Fly.
1t is difficult to say if the English one
is as good until II has undergone proner
trials. 1t may look all right. but for
some reason or other 1t may be found
mat 1t viii not go. From what l have
seen and heard of il, however, / think il
VIII he found to be satisfactory. We are
gong ahead, although we have not got
much money TO spend over the expert
ments. but what little we have is being
well expended. Other ships are being
laid down, and the trials will show Us
what can be done with them.
The largest airship Is the German one
OF Count Zeppelin. which is over 400 feet
long. 1 have seen II out twice. Although
II is of such an enormous size If &c o,,i,o
correct theoretically. but IN practice IL
Is big thing to manage. Il has gone
thirty miles an hour. but not much has
been done with 1t lately. Building an
airship is something like constructing an
Atlantic liner with no small steamer huDt
IN advance from which 10 gain experience
The English airship is not built on tbe
lines Of that OF Count Zeppelin. The lat
ter Is Ike ship with a big frame. coy
cred In with stuff 10 make il rigid. and
there are several separate balloons in
side. II is much larger than any others
nave seen. and weighs several tons.
Air Currents n Menace.
The machines steer pretty wen. but the
wind. Of course, is bound TO affect balloon
airships very largely. and their practical
use would depend upon the direction OF
the currents. They are propelled In the
same way as a steamer. but the great
difference between marine steamer. and
an airship is that the former seldom en-
counters a sea current running more than
five miles an hour, whereas in tho air
wind currents blowing twenty or thirty
miles an hour are common. That Is
where the difficulty lies. and we must OBJ
tain created speed in order 10 stem the
wind currents. ! think Il will be over
come We get alrships now which can De
propelled at thirty miles an hour. and
we may reach fifty miles. but l do not
think We shall go beyond that with
balloons
There Is no doubt in my mind that the
airShip section Will be the most impor-
tant branch Of the service eventually
We cannot foresee what is y the future
but il we get machine capable OF going
up In any weather, and with speed OF
thirty or forty miles an hour-I think
they may ultimately go even faster-it
would certainly have a tremendous effect
not only on military, but also on naval
warfare.
Use of Aerial Warships.
Their first Importance would lie in recon.
noitering an enemys country. BY their
aid We could learn exactly where bodies
OF troops were. they would be able to de-
tect any Notifications, and get plans OF
them. which would make an enormous
difference TO any army in the field. When
one comes to think Of the South African
war one can see what qn advantage an
airship would have been to US then. II
every day We had known where the Beers
were. and whers their amendments lay
it would have made all the difference in
the world to that campaign.
do not believe that airships Will be OF
so much use in dropping explosives into
an enemys camp or Notifications. al
though it is possible that may come about
They would not be able 70 carry a great
weight of projectie. but 1t may be that
they could be armed with a very small
shell containing a high explosive Of light
weight. On the other hands. however
there would be a difficulty in dropping tho
explosive in the right place, unless II
were possible TO hover exactly over the
objective spot. do not say it is impossi-
bic, but at first accommodating will be the
most practical use of an airship. which
Will only carry crew of five or six men
Not Important at Present.
Some people say that if war broke on,
tomorrow airships would be Of vast i'm
portance I think they would be import
ant in way. but they Will not make any
great difference 10 an army until il is
possible TO have number Of them work
ing together in a practical way. Even a
single machine, of course, may gain i'm
portant information, but its influence
would not be Overwhelming.
In naval warfare airships would be able
to go right over an enemy's harbors and
ascertain what ships were lying there
and possibly they might drop explosives
on the ships or in the forts. They could
do immense damage, so long as the ships
had no guns which could fire directly
upward. / am certain, however, that in
a few years time battle ships. as well
as land artillery, will possess guns which
Will he able TO fire proJectiles an i'm
mense distance straight up IN the air
That will revolutionlze fighting. and will
have as great an effect as the submarine
has had In sea battles
1 do not expect 70 see battles in the
air between fleets of airships Just vet
but suppose it will come to that II
developments proceed as rapidly as they
are doing at present 1t is conceivable
that airships may be fitted with light
guns. and certainly the crews r-n,,Ia