The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-08-17
Believes Future Wars Will
Be Decided Largely in
the Air
THE DIRIGIBLE is
HOPE OF THE ARMY
Germany Is Making Rapid Progress
in the Air and Is Strai1ing
Every Nerve to Excel Ma
tions of the World
BY MALCOLM CLARKE


Berlin, August 16. - Special The
rown prince is keenly interested in avia-
hon and there is no more enthusiastic
Dfficer in the Kaiser's army in the up
building of Germanys air force than the
heir to the throne. II 1t were not for
The fact that he is to succeed to the ruler
ihip of the German empire it is altogeth-
r probable that ne would insist on being
assigned to that branch of the service.
In common with the high officers in the
German general staff, the crown prince is
Hrmly convinced that in the next great
war the airship will play a dominant
part, not the air machine which in its
present stage of development is useful
merely for scouting, but the dirigible air.
Lhip capable of carrying heavy guns, and
Il necessary bodies of troops
No nation has made greater progress
h the development of the dirigible for
war purposes than has Germany Just
how great the progress has been is known
bnly to the war office and the secret is
kept with jealous care. Once In a WHILE
however. some information leaks out.
The German government, after an ex-
Eear's grand maneuvers, decided to aban-
bon the non-rigid types. The significance
pf .this decision resides in the fact that,
alone among all nations, Germany has
bad the opportunity of instituting close
comparison in practice between the two
types. The acknowledged reason for
abandoning the non-rigid is its inability
10 rise to high attitudes, combined with
terious disadvantages in other directions.
Germany Extremely Active
Let there be no mistake about German
activity. In the first place it has now
been definitely decided to erect revolv-
ng airship sheds in Berlin, Grandens,
schenidemnhl, Konigsberg, Ishr, Friedrich
shafen, Natz, Mannhom, Dusselford,
Cologne Dresden and Hanover These
are for the army airships only. The two
squadrons of naval drigibles will be
based, it is known, in the new station
1t Cuxhaven. Moreover, the army already
possesses four first class medium rigid
airships, not counting the i'll fated
Scbutte-Lans, wrecked recently. In addi-
ZION, the three privately owned Zeppelins
must be taken into consideration. This
necessary, first, by reason of their ca
liabilities which are no whit inferior to
me mlHIafy craft as VIII be seen from the
following figures, which sum up their per-
iormance during the past year. The Vic
.oria Louise carried 1856 passengers, re-
1lained 467 hours in the air, and covered
1850 miles. The Semahan, before its
destruction, carried 4344 passengers, re-
nained AS hours in the air, and covered
$500 miles The Hansa in a shorter Pc
1od carried 1881 passengers in 1874 hours,
md covered $500 miles. The SchSvaben
1as now been replaced by the Sacheen.
The second reason is that each of these
Fessels is in receipt of a heavy subsidy
rom the state, and is periodically used
sor training officers and men.
How rapidly this fleet of eight power
ful airships will expand is evident from
The fact that the Zeppelin yards at Fried
ichshafen are already capable of turning
but one dirigible a month, and are cred
ted with the intention, for which there
6 a solid basis effect, of erecting addi-
lional works near Berlin. The new Yep
pelins, as already stated, will scale 5000
cubic feet. Meanwhile the Schutte-Lanz
works at Mannheim, with their powerful
financial resources, have just completed
/ new rigid airship of considerably great
n diminisions than the first. This vessel
which will shortly be taken to Berlin
has a capacity of $4,000 cubic feet and
will be equipped with five cars the pilots
.ar being placed in front with four cars
further in the rear. Each of these cars
contains a 200 horsepower engine Chree
Haybachs and one Daimler), each driving
TWO propellers. Another airship is already