The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1913-09-01
D|RIG|BLES COSTLY
Great Vessel for War, but Price
Is ProhibitiVe.
Difficulties Confronting Great Britain
in Organizing an Effective Fleet
Of Airships-PiIots Are 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, so 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 II pointing out the great value of
the rigid airship and the necessity of
building a 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 dirigible and keeping it in an
efficient state. The price of a Zeppe-
lin is about 100000 sterling, and a
hangar to hold two of these vessels
costs about eS0,0O0. Then there are
repairs, gas. wages and hundred
and one other things which necessi-
tate large running account to meet
them.
To build fleet of forty dirigibles.
which we should have to do to en-
able us to get on even terms with the
aerial squadrons of other countries,
would cost us about $4,000, 900, and
then hangers must be provided for
all of these airships, which means the
expenditure of another e2.000,000 at
least
Where these air vessels are to be
built and how long they would take
to construct are also matters of i'm
portance, seeing that we have not as
yet turned out any really satisfactory
airships of large size. Arrangements.
too, have been completed in Germany
whereby the same of Zeppelin and
Sehutte-Lanz 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 Internationale 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,
as compared with any other kind of
aerial craft, the rigid dirigible is the
air vessel of today In carrying capac-
ity and radius of action. in it's pow
ers of remaining steady in the air
and flying noiselessly aided by the
wind, the rigid airship has no rival.
1t has, of course, it's disadvantages
its immense bulk. which makes it a
very noticeable object in the sky, and
it's unwieldiness. which necessitates
a host of attendants to grapple with it
when it leaves the earth and when it
alights. The Zeppelin airships. too.
are extremely heavy. The lifting ca
pacity of Zeppelin L is twenty-seven
tons, but owing to it's own great
weight it's useful load is only some
seven tons.
AS regards demonstration of the
rigid airship, in this type of air YES
sci the shape of it's 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 rub
bered cloth. The Schutte-Lanz diri-
gible has 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 well 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 airship's en-.
velope.