The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1913-08-26
.D|R|GIBLES COSTLY
Great Vessel for War, but Price
Is ProhibitiWe.
OImeuItIes Confronting Great Britain
In Organizing an Effective Flsst
Of Alrshlps-PIIots Arc Very
Hard to Find.

London.-For some time past It has
been very difficult to make people
think In anything but terms Of dread.
naughts and superdreadnaughts. Now,
however, the topic Of thought. 80 to
speak, is slowly but perceptibly veer>
Ing, and we are beginning to think in
terms Of dirigibles. Almost every pa,
per that comes to hand has an article
IN 1t pointing out the great value Of
the rigid airship and the necessity Of
building large number of this type
OF aerial craft There can be no
doubt as to our need Of this class Of
air vessel, but few persons realize the
extreme costliness Of building the
rigid dirtgible and keeping It in an
efficient state. The price Of a Zeppe-
lin is about E50,O0O sterling, and a
hangar to hold two of these vessels
costs about 100000. Then there are
repairs, gas, wages and hdndred
and one other things which necessi.
tate large running account to meet
them.
TO build feet Of forty dirigibles,
which We should have to do to en-
able Us to get on even terms with tho
aerial squadrons Of other countries,
would cost 10 about $4,000, 900, and
then hangers must be provided for
oil Of these airships, which means tho
expenditure Of another 100000 1t
least.
Where these air vessels are 10 b
built and how long they would take
to construct are also matters Of i'm
rortance. seeing that we have not a.
yet turned out any really satisfactory
aarships Of large size. Arrangements,
too, have been completed IN Germany
whereby the same Of Zeppelin and
Schutte-I.ans dirigibles to foreign gov
ernments is prohibited.
Then, even supposing that we could
purchase forty Of these aerial cruisers
In the space Of year, we should find
considerable difficulty in obtaining
pilots qualified to sail them. The off,
cial list published by the Federation
Aeronautique International shows
that, up to Dec. 81, 1912, thirty.two
aeronauts' (balloons) and eleven air
ship pilots certificates were granted
to persons In Great Britain.
There is no gainsaying the fact that.
~ compared with any other kind Of
aerial craft, tho rigid dirigible is tho
afr vessel Of today. In carrying capao'
fly and radius of action, In its pow
ers Of remaining steady in the air
and flying noiselessly aided BY the
wind. the rigid airship has no rival
It has, Of course, its disadvantages
Its immense bulk, which makes It .
very noticeable object in the sky, and
its unwieldiness, which necessitates
q host Of attendants to grappie with Il
when It leaves the earth and when Il
alights. The Zeppelin airships, too.
are extremely heavy. The lifting CO
pacity Of Zeppelin L 1 is twenty.seven
tons, but owing to its own great
weight its useful load 10 only some
seven tons.
As regards the construction Of tho
rigid airship, In this type Of air veS.
sci the shape Of its envelope Is not
dependent on internal gas pressure.
A huge framework, made Of aluminium
in the case Of Zeppelins. is provided
with from seventeen to twenty sep
arate gas chambers. Attached to the
framework Is a keel which, in addition
to serving other purposes, affords
communication between the two cars,
the latter carrying the motors, guns.
bomb dropping appliances, etc. The
propellers, of which there are four,
are fixed to the frame above the cars.
The framework Is covered with a rub
bered cloth. The Schutte-Lanz diri-
gible has a wooden framework, as has
also the French rigid LIE Spiess.
The bomb dropping arrangements
carried by the Zeppelins are known to
be accurately sighted Quite recently
the Hansa made excellent practice at
comparatively small targets on the
ground from height of over 5000
feet in the air. 1t is we'll known, too.
that for attacking other air craft the
Zeppelins carry five guns, probably
machine guns or weapons Of small
caliber. Two Of these guns are car
ried in each Of the cars, and the fifth
Is mounted on a specially constructed
platform on top Of the airships en-
velope