The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1919-04-26
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built for the allies. The impression got about
that lighter than air ships were failures because
the Zeppelins failed in their raidC There Is no
doubt on this subject in the British air ministry.
There it Is known positively that the era OF the
dirigible is just beginning.
An immense amount of anti-submarine patrol
ing and convoy escorting done by dirgibles
during the last wear Of the war. chain OF
arship stations was maintained right around the
coast of England, from MulliOn In CORNWALL
around Scotland to Pembroke. large number
Of hostile submarines were either put out Of ac-
ton or actually destroyed by bombing. Other
subs we're located by the air and the in
formation passed along to the destr0yerS that
knew well enough how to handle the under-sea
murderers.
It was in convoy escorting that airships showed
their special advantages over airplanes. The
airship with its big bag of gas to keep it up.
could go very slowly, keeping an even pace with
the transports below, loaded with American sol
diers It could stay at any given height while
its lOokOuts searched the sea for mines and subs.
Can Cross Atlantic in Fifty Hours.
During the war one British airship made a
cruise lasting 80 hours and So minutes and since
the armistice this record has been beaten by a
trip of 81 hours. With such reliable data this
to work on the air experts figure that crossing
the Atlantic is going to be fairly easy job,
since there are in existence today drigfbles that
have speed OF more tTan 81 InlIeS an nOur, when
would mean something like 40 or 80 hours con-
tinuous flying to reach New York.
! At present the British builders specializing
on two big nghter-than-air types The first is of
about the same size the largest Zeppelin
while the second type, the one that will have a
20 OO0.mile cruising range, is four times as large
as the largest Zeppelin ever built.
Imagine an airshp with gas bag 100 feet
long longer than the Mauretania and higher
than the Woolworth building were the tffrigible
set on end. Inside this bag 100000 cubic feet
of gas will be carried capable of lifting 200 tons
of freight and passengers in addition to the
weight Of the operating machinery. Plans foe
the craft make provision for saloons drawing
rooms smoking rooms. and a roof garden"
which may be reached by an elevator. The es-
timated speed is 95 miles an hour.
When the German Zeppelin l. 20 was built
It was predicted that she would be the largest
OF her kind. yet the British Goliath of the
air has quadrupled the capacity of the German
production.
other British type is somewhat of an infant since
she can carry but 50 tons of luggage and pas-
sengers and travel only 9,0OG odd miles
without descending Tor fresh supply of gaso-
: Inc and oil.
Best for Long Distance Flights.
With these possibilities in aerial travel virtually
realized it Is conceded here that the drigibe
must take first place a long-distance pas
senger carrier. Heavier than air machines will
be built in considerable numbers, and will come
into a very large use, but in all probability they
will be utilized mainly for flights that aggregate
into the hundreds of miles rather than into the
thousands. The airplane's special advantages will
bp Hade use Of where certain routes are to be