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Aviation History
1909
1909 - 0325.PDF
JUNE 5, 1909. continuing the homeward run, and Count Zeppelin was naturally anxious that not a precious moment of comparative calm should be lost in doing work that might be postponed. From noon on Monday until half-past three on Tuesday afternoon the temporary repairs were being pushed through with dispatch, certain parts being obtained by motor car from the Zeppelin works at Friedrichshafen, but the greater portion of the material employed was improvised for the occasion. The whole of the forward steering apparatus had to be removed in order to lighten the ship, and owing to its damaged con- dition, while only the after motor could be used for the attempt to complete the journey. A fair degree of success attended the remarkably smart work carried out under these very trying conditions, for the airship had struggled along at an eight-mile gait to Schemmerberg by 10 o'clock that evening, and had alighted safely in a meadow for fresh supplies of gas and fuel. It was rather an exciting time for all concerned from the moment of leaving Goppingen until the conclusion MERITS AND DRAWBACKS OF THE ZEPPELIN "RIGID" of the homeward journey. Before leaving Schemmerberg everything that could be spared had to be thrown over- board to keep the vessel afloat in view of the great loss of gas, and even the large trimming-weight used for maintaining a level keel had to follow the superfluous petrol and the water-ballast earthwards, necessitating the painful and monotonous crawling to and fro between the fore-and-aft cars of a member of the crew who has to act as a human counterbalance weight. During these last stages of the voyage the ship was in charge of Count Zeppelin, junr. (nephew of the Count), and of the engineer, Herr Diirr, the inventor himself keeping in close touch all the time by means of his motor car. He was, in fact, present superintending operations when the landing was effected at Schemmerberg ; and had the final satisfaction of seeing his world-famed dirigible arrive back at Friedrichshafen at six o'clock on Wednesday morning. With reasonable luck, he hopes to have his ship repaired in two or three weeks from now, and to avail himself of the welcome that will again await him at Berlin at the end of August. SYSTEM. Pros and Cons of their Construction and Navigation. No one reading of the new Zeppelin airship record and the mishap which terminated it, on Monday, can fail to find a thought of sympathy for the veteran inventor in the hour of his disappointment. Hardly ever has the aged Count been spared the gall of partial realisation; yet the determination with which he continues to carry on his work is ever unwavering, and the whole world can well afford to revere the man who sets such an example. Value of the Trials. There are, of course, not wanting critics of his principle of airship construction, some of whom are inclined to go even so far as to say that the whole thing is a waste of time and money. But it is, we think, very unfair to say that of anyone who has succeeded as far as Count Zeppelin has succeeded, in demonstrating his ideas in a practical form. There is, of course, a distinct and important difference between the points of view from which experimental aeronautics may be regarded, and when the national standpoint is adopted, arguments are apt to be based upon the assumption that any deviation from the direct evolution of the best type is undesirable. From the scientific standpoint this is by no means the proper way to look at things, for properly conducted experiments in any branch of a subject are of the utmost possible value because they illuminate an hitherto obscure face. That light which such investigations throw upon the details coming under their rays lasts for ever as a guiding beacon indicating safety or danger, as the case may be, to all future generations. Slowly but surely can the whole field of the science be in this way mapped out, until man knows definitely the lines of least resistance along which he may attain to any specified object. Count Zeppelin's Object. Now Count Zeppelin's primary object is on the face of it to achieve long journeys, and this desire splits up into two practical problems: (1) the building of a suitable airship on a sufficiently large scale, and (2) its navigation under ordinary climatic conditions. These two aspects are, of course, intimately related to one another, but it is convenient at any rate to bear in mind their partial distinction. As the best solution for the construction of a very large dirigible, Count Zeppelin adopted what has come to be tersely known as the " rigid principle," that is to say, he builds a cylindrical cage of aluminium divided by transverse partitions into a number of compartments, each of which contains a separate balloon or gas-vessel. The whole is then suitably covered by an envelope of fabric. Having thus overcome the mechanical difficulties of the problem, and that in itself has been an achievement for which Count Zeppelin and those associated with him in the work deserve high credit, it has remained to demonstrate that the airship itself is reasonably useful. Landing, a Navigation Problern. This has been Count Zeppelin's great difficulty. He has shown that, while the weather is calm, his airship will fulnl all the requirements for which it was designed, and to this extent he deserves the palm of success, for in a task of such magnitude many would have courted disaster at far earlier stages. On the other hand, the Zeppelin airship, as a series of mishaps have shown, is most liable to damage if any attempt is made at landing in high winds. Now the fact that danger has so far only been associated with the landing is of no moment, because while the weather remains windy the airship, in order to remain aloft, must keep under power, and consequently, sooner or later, its fuel supply will be exhausted and a descent be rendered necessary. This was, in fact, the precise cause of the latest mishap. It follows, therefore," that for an airship to be a complete success it must be capable of landing without damage in winds such as are likely to be met with during a voyage of the duration of which the airship itself is capable. The hypothesis in Count Zeppelin's case is that the journey shall be long, and, of course, the longer the journey the greater will be the time available for the weather to change. Forecasting the Weather. The science of meteorology is in itself hardly yet so far advanced as to be able to provide an accurate forecast of the precise condition which will 327
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