The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-08-04

be far above thirty miles IN hour. Unless,
therefore, IL 10 mutually agreed by the con-
tending forces in future wars to limit hos
tilities to calm days there il every prospect
that the airship will fail at the critical mo-
ment.
The ridiculous nature OF the suggestion
that airships could possibly be used for
transporting troops will appear from the
fact that the Zeppelin, with all it's 400 900
cubic feet capacity and its 40 horsepower
motive force, has a lifting power of only two
tons. Its normal crew consists Of ten men
thus leaving rather moro han a ton for
explosives. petrol, ballast, DC, 40 that il
would be impossible for it to carry even
half a dozen other man.
The present day airship has to carry so
much ballast, or dead weight, that very
little useful weight, such as explosives,
bombs, men, DC, can be carried. Then,
again, IL cannot rise TO any great height.
The former Lebaudy vessel in 1905 on one
occasion rose to a height Of 800 feet. which
necessitated the expenditure Of $50 pounds
OF ballast out OF the ton taken: and sven
then it only remained in the air Just over an
hour. Yet the ability to rise quickly to a
great height is absolutely essential to an
airship under fire.
From the same cause proceeds the ex-
tremely small radius of action Of an airship.
which vigorously limits its practical utility.
The life OF an airship is absolutely DEEPEN
dent on the ballast. The Zeppelin on one
occasion travelled seventy-ive miles in
two and a quarter hours, returning to it's
starting point; the Lebaudy vessel has
traversed just over seventy miles in over
three hours. But all these trials have taken
place under distinctly favorable circum-
stances.
Lastly we come to the greatest obstacle
Of all that has up to now prevented the air
ship from becoming a thing Of practical
utility-the difficulty of effecting a safe
landing. Here the French vessel is i'm
mensely superior, yet in a stiff breeze il
could not land without external aid. The
Zeppelin cannot land on solid ground at
all; at the end Of its flight it descends on
the water. On b only occasion on which
it came to rest on the earth il was totally
destroyed; Furthermore. the balloon must
be housed In an appropriate shelter and
constantly requires refllllng with gas. which
necessitates a cumbrous train Of wagons.
These difficulties point only too clearly to
a lngle conclusion-no airship could at
the present day possibly accompany an
army in the field. When working from a
may be useful for accommodating purposes
within a strictly limited radius.
IL may be objected that these conclusions
are at variance with the recent establish
ment in the German army Of a battalion
specially devoted to dirigible balloon work.
Such a battalion has in fact been organized
in connection with the established balloon
battalion. II consists OF three officers, ten
non-commissioned officers and seventy-fve
rank and file. The reason for it's creation
is, however. not far to seek; it simply de-
notes that with their usual prudence the
military authorities have thought fit TO
guard against a possible sensational de-
velopment in aerial navigation by creating
a body OF men experienced in handling the
present material Inadequate though it be
who would be able should the necessity
arise to take full advantage of this ex-
perience in handling a perfected airship.
As has already been stated, al efficient
aerial warship is an i~mpossibility at the
present day; the Zeppelin is impracticable
and Parseval and Gross airships have given
poor results. and are ut best but inferior
limitations Of La Patrie. The latter, al
though the best airship yet constructed,
notably. in dirigibility and stability. marks
ship due to the creative genius OF Col. Re
nard. which gave almost identical results
az long & as 1884.