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Aviation History
1909
1909 - 0162.PDF
MARCH 20, 1909. be an aeroplane or an airship does not appear certain, as references which have been made to any new con- structional work only refer to an " aerial vessel," and the cost is to be paid by a part of a grant of ^59,000. It will in all probability be a dirigible, and it is stated that the framework of a machine is being built under the supervision of two naval officers at Portsmouth. Official experiments will be carried out with this when it is completed. *' Zeppelin" Rises 5,643 Feet and Lands on Terra Firma. IMPORTANT trials were made with the German mili- tary dirigible '• Zeppelin " last week, in the course of which an ascent to an altitude of 5,643 feet was accomplished entirely with the use of the elevators. On Tuesday last the " Zeppelin " made a successful landing on the ground. Hitherto the Zeppelin craft have always descended upon the water, and this had been held to be a disadvantage of this type of airship. The craft, with Count Zeppelin at the helm, came down to within about eight feet of the earth, when it was held down by soldiers. Some of the steering planes were damaged by striking a tree, and they had to be removed. Bayard Airship Bought by Russia. RUSSIA has bought the "Clement-Bayard" dirigible, and two Russian army officers are already in charge for the purpose of carrying out trials before the machine is transported to St. Petersburg. Vaulx Airship at Work. COUNT DE LA. VAULX has recommenced his demon- strations with the first of his small airships, which was taken out towards the end of last week and created con- siderable impression on those who saw it boldly fighting the wind as it sailed over Paris. Count de la Vaulx is very enthusiastic on the subject of these small dirigibles, and seems convinced that they are the right thing from almost every point of view. They are comparatively inexpensive to construct, and can be built very quickly, so that a fleet having a large carrying capacity could be put® ® in service in a shorter space of time than would be required for the execution of one very large airship. Moreover, there is not the same serious disablement in the event of an accident. Belgian Dirigible. BELGIUM is likely to very shortly awake as a centre of airship activity, for the Aero Club of Belgium and the Society of Engineers have ordered a dirigible from M. Surcouf, which will be known as " La Flandre," and there are two others in course of construction by Messrs. Solvay and Goldschmidt. The first of these, " La Belgique," will have a gas vessel of 2,700 cubic metres- capacity, and will be fitted with a Vivinus motor. Gordon-Bennett Balloon Race. THE plains of Schlieren, near which are the gas- works, will be used as a starting point for the next Gordon-Bennett balloon race, which takes place from Zurich. Six hundred men will be necessary to act as- assistants in the inflation and marshalling of the balloons- prior to the start, and the military authorities have promised their assistance. Happy in its prospect of attracting a crowd, Zurich is making preparations to gain the greatest benefit possible from the event, and all Switzerland is, it is said, to be laid under a general subscription for the expenses. At a recent general meeting of the committee there was a motion on the agenda to discuss the creation of a prize fund of 1,200,000 francs. It is probable that the French colony resident in Switzerland will present a prize to the first French aero- naut who secures a place in the race. When the entries closed on Monday night they numbered twenty. The countries which have entered a full team of three balloons are Switzerland, Germany, Italy, France and Belgium. Spain will be represented by two, and the United States, Great Britain and Austria by one each. The representatives of Great Britain will be Mr. Frank McClean and Mr. Griffith Brewer. MILITARY AUTHORITIES ON AERONAUTICS. FOLLOWING Colonel Stone's admirable paper read last week, and which was reported fully in last week's issue, some very pregnant opinions on the military value of aeronautics were contributed by some well-known military experts. Col. Capper, who opened the discussion, pointed out how skilled pilots would take advantage of air currents to travel long distances without using the engines, and thus economise fuel, and for that reason it would be as easy to attack inland as on the coast. Small dirigibles of the non-rigid sort, that could be packed up and filled with hydrogen on board ship, would be serviceable; also, he suggested the employment of small balloons that could be towed along, then cut adrift and exploded when they had floated over the desired area. Launching bombs was a matter of taking advantage of speed and height. It was necessary that we should be furnished with the aerial means of preventing an enemy launching and massing its air vesssls. We had yet to learn whether or not the explosion of a bomb dropped from a balloon would not cause a sufficient disturbance of air to burst it. At present the question of attacking balloons by aeroplanes was impracticable, for heavier than air machines could not rise as quickly as the gas-filled craft. Col. Massey thought that the employment of many small vessels would be preferable to that of large ones,, and pointed out that the French experiments in dropping dummy shells on targets had given satisfactory results. Col. Warburton urged that a number of free balloons- should be sent down the wind and made to discharge their bombs automatically. An enemy, he claimed, could not land and ships were the only things which- could get out of the way of such an attack. Major Baden-Powell thought changing atmospheric conditions would make long voyages difficult to make,, while Major Sir Alexander Bannerman pointed out that in the case of an air-vessel dropping a bomb from a height of 5,000 feet the bomb would probably have to pass through half-a-dozen different air currents. He thought that dockyards or harbours might be hit with some degree of accuracy, but that battleships would be immune.Col. Stone, replying to the points raised, agreed with the last speaker, and maintained that an aerial enemy would only attack vital areas owing to the expense and to the difficulty of aiming from great heights. He thought that bombs might be successfully discharged while air-vessels were travelling as distinct from hovering. As to the size of dirigibles, it would be determined by the speed question. 164
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