The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1914-08-31

The marvels expected of the Yep
pelin dirgibles In the great European
war are set forth by DR., Armgaard
Karl Graves In an article on THE Ger
man War Machine" DR. Graves de-
scribes himself as one who has had
intimate connections with the Ger
man and other secret service systems"
thereby explaining his knowledge of
inside facts about the Kaiser's war ms
chine. In the course of his article he
says:
Germany, without doubt has the
most up-to-date aeria ! fleet In the
world. The dirigible ballon centres in
Germany are five. and they are situat-
ed at vitality strategic points. There
are two ON the French border. one on
the Atlantic coast. and a central sta
ton near Berlin. The exact places are
Stra ssburg. Frankford on the Main,
Posen. Wilhemshafen and Berlin.
This does include the marvellous
station at Heligoland In the North Sea
this being a strategic point In relation
to Great Britain, None but those on
official business are permitted within
a thousand Yards of it,
Secret Known Only to STAFF.
IT know, and certain members Of
the German staff know as we'll as
trusted men in the aerial corps" says
Weekly. that there are two conditions
under which airships are operated in
Germany One Is the ordinary, more
or less weli-known system which char
acterlzes the operation of all the pas
senger lines now in service In the em-
pire.
THE other system IS an absolute
secret of the German general staff. II
is not used in the general n1anoeuvres.
only IN specific cases, and these al
ways secretly. It has been proved to
be effective In eliminating 10 per cent
of the accidents which have character
lied all OF Germany's adventures in
dirgibles and heavier -than-air ma
chimes.
The secret devices OF the German
war office have overcome the con-
diton OF bulk and heayiness of struc~
ture by their government chemists de-
vising the formula Of a material that
is lighter than aluminium. yet which
possesses all Of that metals density
and which has also the flexihiHty az
steel Airshtps are among the things
that Germany officially admits are
made Of this material It's formula
is a government secret. and England
or France would give thousands of
dollars TO possess IT,
The objection Of inf7amma hilitv Of
the lifting power has also been over
come. The power OF the ordinary
hydrogen gas in all its various forms
has been multiplied three-fold by a
new gas discovered at the Spandau
government chemical la boratory. This
gas has also the enormous advantage
of having a liquid form. To produce
! the gas Il is only necessary TO let the
ordinary atmosphere come IN contact
with the Hauid Carried in cylinders
TIVE feet long and with a diameter
of six inches. Ii is obvious that enough
Of this liquid can be carried aboard the
: big war diriglhles to permit their re-
filing in mid-air
( Made Trip OF orc Miles.
! THE last dirigible tried by the war
Office in 1912. the mysterious Yep
/ peiin X, made a continuous trop from
Stettin over the Baltic TO Upsala in
Sweden. thence across the Baltic again
/ to Riga. In the Gulf Of Finland, thence
IL doubled and sailed back TO Stettir,
This was a journey OF e76 miles The
airship had a complement Of twenty