The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1913-08-22
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 1t 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 m to hand has an article
in it 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 c~ostliness OF building the
rigid dirigible and keeping 1t IN an
efficient state. The price OF a Zeppe-
lin is about $50, 900 sterling, and a
hangar to hold two OF these vessels
costs about GS0.o00 Then there are
repairs. gas. wages and a hundred
and one other things which necessi-
tate a large running account to meet
them.
To build a fleet of forty dirigibles.
WHICH We SI1OuiQ Have ~ w W Sh
able us to get on ever terms with the
aerial squadrons of other countries,
would cost us about G2.00o,000, and
then hangers must be provided for
all of these airships. which means the
expenditure of another G2.00O,OOO at
least.
Where these air vessels are to be
i. r.
built and how long they would take
to construct are also matters or 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 n
Schutte-Lanz dirigibles to foreign gov
ernments is prohibited.
Then, ever supposing that we could
purchase forty Of these aerial cruisers
in the space Of a year, We should n
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. its disadvantages
It's immense bulk, which makes 1t a
very noticeable object in the sky, and
It's unWieldiness, which necesSftates
a host Of attendants to grapple with 1t
when it leaves the earth and when 1t
alights. The Zeppelin airships, too.
are extremely heavy. The lifting ca
pacity of Zeppelin L l is twenty-seven
tons, but owing to it's W great
weight its useful load is only some
seven tons.
AS regards the construction OF the
rigid airshiD. in this type of air YES
sci the shape of it's envelope Is not
dependent 81 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
lered cloth. The Schutte-Lanz diri-
gfble has a wooden framework, as has
also the French rigid LIE Spiess.