New Britain herald., 1926-08-24
DIRIGIBLE ID RE
 MASTER OF SKIES
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dittons either on the surface or in the air, but in the air he can double his speed and get to Europe in three days instead of six. And in the air, storms can be lodged and discom fort from the motion of the sea is done away with.
 "Of course the choice doesn't ex- ist for the ocean traveller of today but we are talking of tomorrow and that's written on the pages of to- morrow in indelible ink"
 Weather, Commander Rosendahl acknowledged, has been a hindrance to advancement of flying, but he be- lieyed increased knowledge of atmo- spheric conditions would overcome the difficulty.
 Weather Data Essential
 The reason ships have been brok- en up by storms" he said. lis that they didn't have complete weather reports. Under the old system the predictions were made up from sur face conditions and not from flying level conditions.
 Commander Rosendahl admitted that cost of construction and main tenance had been large in the past and had retarded advancement of airship work, but he told of various ways in which such cost was to be enormously reduced.
 The Shenandoah, the only rigid airship ever built in America, had 2,150,000 cubic feet in the hull and it's cost approximately dollar a foot to build. But for the next ships, using men trained on con- struction of the Shenandoah and materials since invented, he was con- fdent the cost would be enormously lessened. By mechanical means of handling the landing the ship he hoped to replace the present ground crew of 800.
 Costs Will Be Cut Down
 If our present experiments along these lines pan out, as they will" he asserted. "all costs will be cut down to point where they will be small in comparison to the value of our practical work. And then the air SlIlp Niil lIuNO SoiilC lIlO ltS o"l
 Commander Rosendahl believes that in the event of another World War, after airships have proved themselves commercially, peacetime vessels would be quietly convertible to war purposes as scouts but would have little value as bombers.
 And if opposing fleets had such fast scouts?"
 "The fleets would probably never meet. If either was outnumbered it could have plenty of time to with draw for endorsements"
 But wouldn't these airship scouts be vulnerable to airplanes launched say from the decks of enemy ships?"
 Can Fight or Attacks
 No, q dirigible can carry many times the artillery possible to an air plane. And much larger. up to three inch guns. Also it can see, and shoot, in all directions.
 Even if airplanes did get near enough to fire on the dirigible the damage would probably not be con- siderable. It would be simple to armor the control cabin and engine cars and bullets sent directly through the bag would not be seri- ous. There are fourteen gas bags in the Los Angeles, and war experience showed the German ships returned safely with one-third of their cells deflated.
 And then, airships are being planned now that will carry their own scouting and defensive airplanes that can be launched in the air and picked up out of the air again. These scouts woula be amply able to pro- tect their mother ship from enemy attack even If she weren't a flying arsenal herself. The rigid airship | would be 9 formidable war machine | all right"