Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1919-03-28
AIRPLANE and AIRSHIP
Both viii Soon Figure In CONNER.
Cial Use
ONE FOR Speed, Other FOR CARGO

Up to the Present the British Have
Made More Headway Than the Ger
mans-ReasonabIy Certain Now That
] Trip Around the World Will Soon Be
Possible.
From an interesting pamphlet is
sued recently by the British govern
meht, entitled, Notes on Airships for
commercial purposes" and dealing
with both airships and airplanes, it
/ would appear that the future uses Of
these aircraft will not conflict, owing
to the different characteristics of each.
The airship is essentially longdis-
tance, weight carrying craft, as COM
pared with the short distance, high
speed aeroplane. It should be noted,
however, that even in the matter Of
speed, the airship Of today, with the
speed of 77.6 miles per hour, is unques-
tionably fast in comparison with land
and sea methods of transport.
The airship has the advantage Of
the aeroplane in not being dependent
upon her speed to remain aloft, and
not having to come to earth in the
event of the engines stopping. This Is
a considerable advantage for CONNER
cial journeys over the sea and over
broken and wooded country where
an aeroplane could not land, and
where nonstop flights Of 1000 miles
and over are required.
When used for carrying passengers,
where safety, comfort, and reliability
are required, the airship is the most
suitable aircraft. An airship can al
ways remain aloft while repairs are
being effected, and as she can always
| remain on an even keel, there Is no
danger in flying at night or in foggy
or icloudy weather. The fact that the
envelope is filled with an inflammable
gas need not cause any misgivings as
to safety, when one remembers the
large number Of motor vehicles which
have been used during the war, car
rying bags filled with equally inflam-
mable coal gas at no greater distance
from the engine than in the case Of an
| airship.
Only one Airship Lost.
During the war, official statistics
show that only one airship has been
lost in the British Isles owing to
catching fire in the air, although 49,
$50 hours have been flown and $780,
000 miles covered. In the case re-
ferred to, the flight was an expert
mental one with a new type Of air.
ship, and the cause has since been as
lcertained and eliminated.
II is interesting to note that al
though airships are considered to be
ffah-weather craft, up to the end Of
November there were only nine days
in 1918 when no airship flights took
place in the British Isles, which are
notorious for their bad weather con-
ditions.
For commercial purposes large rigid
airship stations could be established
at distances of 2.OOO-3,OOO miles apart,
mainly for trans. ocean traffic, while
the aeroplanes could be used for bring
ing the passengers and merchandise
to the airship stations from the neigh
boring countries. For example, con-
tinental airship service could be
run between London and New York
while passengers could be brought to
Lisbon from London, Paris, Rome, etc.,
by aeroplane. In this way the aero
plane would compete with the train
and the airship with the steamship,
while she would be able to go so per
cent faster. The airship could also
be used for linking up places in Cen
tral Africa, where the country is too
difficult for aeroplane and railways.
In long voyages, the airship could
take advantage Of favorable winds,
and she would be able, owing to her
long endurance. Ito avoid storins by
flying over them or round them.
The problem of housing airships
is an important one, but it has been
found that the system of mooring out
airships has many advantages, as an
airship can only be housed in favor
able weather. and the cost of sheds Is
considerable.
For the purpose Of short distance
| trips from, for example, South Coast
towns, in England, it would not be
Itch
at each town, but the following rule
which has been employed during the
| war might be adopted. This consists
of building a station provided with
permanent sheds, quarters, etc, at
some convenient center and forming
temporary bases consisting merely of
a small portable shed and few tents
or huts at other places, from each of
| which one or more airships are run;
main supplies being drawn from the
parent station, where all large repairs
are carried out.
Mooring Airships in Open.
In addition to the use of portable
sheds at sub-stations, experiments
have been carried out in mooring out
airships in the open, which have had
such large measure of success as to
promise we'll for the future.
An airship has been successfully
moored out for six weeks in a per-
fectly open expanse to specially de-
signed mast. Only two or three men
are required to look after the ship,
and winds of up to 50 miles per hour
have been ridden out without any
damage whatever resulting. There
seems little doubt that with this sys-
tenn an airship could live out in the
open for many months at a time.
The use of a moorins mast will very
greatly increase the regularity of any
airship service, as the chief difficulty
at present consists in taking airships
in and out of sheds. If an airship Is
left permanently ready at mooring
mast in the open it will be possible to
| ,,n fo fba cnael 0f the