The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1919-03-21

built for the allies. The impression got about
that LIGHTER than air ships were failures because
the Zeppelns failed In their raids There is NO
doubt on this subject in the British air ministry.
There II is known positively that the ern OF tne
dir1gible is just beginning.
An immense amount Of antsubmarine patrol
ing and convoy escorting was done by dirig1bes
during the last year Of the A chain OF
airship stations was maintained right around the
coast Of England from Mullion IN Cornwan
around Scotland to Pembroke. large NUMBER
Of hostile submarines were either put out OF &C
tion or actually destroyed by bombing. other
subs were located by the air men and the In
formation passed along to the destroyers that
knew well enough how to handle the under-sea
murderers.
It was In conway escorting that airships showed
their special advantages airplanes The
airship with Its big bag Of gas to keep 1t up.
could 20 very slowly keeping even pace with
the transports below, loaded with American sol
diers 1t 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 IS 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 dirig1bles that
have a speed Of more than 80 miles an hour, which
would mean something like 40 or 50 hours con-
ttnuous hying to reach New York.
At present the British builders are specializing
IN two big lighter than air types. The first Is OF
about the same size as the largest Zeppelin,
while the second type, the that will have q
20 OOO- mile cruising range is four times a. large
as the largest Zeppelin ever built.
Imagine an airship with gas bag LOO feet
long longer than the Mauretania and higher
than the woolworth building were the dirigble
set on end. Inside this bag 100000 cubic feet
Of gas will be carried, capable Of lifting 200
Of freight and passengers In addition to the
weight Of the operating machinery. Plans foe
ihe craft make provision for saloons drawing
rooms smoking rooms, and "roof garden"
which may be reached by elevator. The es-
timated speed is 95 miles hour
When the German Zeppelin L 70 was built
II was predicted that she would be the largest
Of her kind. yet the British Goliath Of the
air has quadruped the capacity Of the German
production.
As compared to the ten million" ship the
other British type IL somewhat OF an infant since
she can carry but 50 tons Of luggage and pas
sengers and can travel only 1900 odd miles
without descending for fresh supply Of gaso-
line and OIL
esst for Long Distance Flights.
With these possibilities in aerial travel virtually
realized. II is conceded here that the dirigible
must take nrst 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 airplanes special advantages will
be made use Of where certain routes are to BE-