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Aviation History
1919
1919 - 0196.PDF
As the maximum distance of direct flight between inter mediate stations required to get to any of these centres is not more than 3,500 miles, it would be practicable to run these services with the size of airship described in this paper, and the cost of operation for a regular service would be approximately as for the Atlantic service, i.e., passengers at the rate of ^d. per mile, and mails at the rate of 3d. per ounce, and with the development of large airships carrying greater loads, the cost of operation would be even more economical. It is probable, in view of the immense benefits that would be conferred on civilisation by the great saving in the time required for travelling, that the various Governments will be prepared to subsidise the development and operation of flie airship services in their initial stages until a fully operated service could be established. Incidentally, the commercial use of airships for passenger flights was demonstrated in Germany before the War, when the Hamburg-America Steam ship Co. ran a series of passenger airships for purely pleasure purposes at a profit, and carried 17,000 passengers without a single accident or mishap. From the description of the type of airship proposed in Section VII, it is apparent that every reasonable provision can be made for comfort of the passengers, and suitable sleeping accommodation provided for the long journeys. For the operation of airship services, aerodromes are only required at the terminal stations, and landing places with mooring-out towers need only be pro vided 3,500 miles or more apart. The necessary amount of work in constructing the stations and preparing for the operation of an airship service is relatively small, whereas a long distance aeroplane service is only practicable if aerodromes can be provided every 1.000 miles, and for safety it would be necessary to have suitable landing grounds for use in case of forced landings no further apart than 100 miles. The preparation and cost of all these aerodromes and landing grounds would represent a large amount of preparatory work required to be done before long distance aeroplane service could be put into practicable operation. The problem of landing and housing the airship in stormy weather has now been solved by the use of the mooring mast or tower to which the airship is moored by the nose, and able to ride out in any weather clear of the ground. Arrangements are also provided whereby the airship can easily be moored to, or released from the tower in any wind up to 60 miles per hour, without difficulty. The passengers can get into or out of the ship by means of a lift in the tower. There consequently will be no need to put the airship into a shed except for periodic overhaul and refit. SECTION ^n^—The ^Possibilities*of Airship Commercial Services. Although no claim is made that airships will seriously compete with ordinary transport services at present satis factorily served by railways and ocean liners, there is no doubt that a sufficient number of passengers would be pre pared to pay relatively higher rates for the great saving in time taken for long distance journeys, particularly for long sea journeys, and also, to get a direct and fast service to important centres which are not at present served direct by railway systems or ocean transport. The demand would mainly be for passenger traffic to serve the requirements of business men who require to get from centre to centre in the shortest possible time, and also for the carriage of express mail matter. Other services on which large airships would be particularly useful would be :—For carrying freight of high intrinsic value, such as transporting valuable ores and other commodities of high intrinsic commercial value from places otherwise inaccessible, or not provided with other means of direct transport. In making preliminary explora tion of large virgin tracks of country for the purpose of con structing railway tracks, etc., a great amount of laborious exploration work would be eliminated. There are also great possibilities of obtaining a profitable return by running airships for pleasure trips from seaside or other resorts in the summer months, where an almost unlimited number of people would be prepared to pay a fairly good price for airship cruises. A particular instance for which it is thought such services could be profitably run would be at Blackpool, where pleasure cruises could be run to the Isle of Man, or to the Lake District. There might also be a limited demand from private owners for a small non-rigid airship, to carry two or three passengers, which could be run at much the same cost as a small yacht. It is probable that in order to meet the requirements of these various purposes—for which airships conceivably will be utilised—airship will be designed of three classes, viz.:— First, the airship of moderate size and high speed, for carrying express mails and passengers. Secondly, the passenger liner for passenger traffic, of a large size, and high speed. Thirdly, large airships of comparatively slow speed, and large carrying capacity, for general transport. The small non-rigid airship will hold the field for use for private purposes. The rigid airship is as yet only at the beginning of its development, particularly as regards size and carrying capacity. The airship of 3,500,000 cub. ft. capacity—the size proposed in this paper—for immediate use on the fast passenger services, which would have a maximum speed of 75 m.p.h., and would carry a useful load of passengers oi 15 tons, for a distance of 4,800 miles, could be built immediately and could be housed in sheds at present available. As, however, the lift and speed efficiency of a rigid airship in creases rapidly with increase of size, it will be advantageous to use the largest airships that can be economically operated, and a rigid airship able to carry 50 tons of passengers and freight for 10,000 miles, at a speed of 80 m.p.h. is quite feasible, and the design and construction of such an airship could be undertaken immediately it would be justified by developments in the demand for air transport. Passenger cruises on a commercial scale were operated in Germany for about four years before the War by the Hamburg-America Steamship Co., and it is understood that companies have been formed in Germany for Zeppelin airship services from Berlin to Constantinople, and notices have recently appeared in the Press that the German Zeppelin Company is now actually building airships for the Berlin-New York service, and other routes. Notices have also recently appeared in the Press to the effect that the Spanish Government have decided to make enquiries into the possibilities of running trans-Atlantic services from Spain to the United States of America. It is conceivable that by the development of aerial transport, no important city will be further from London than ten days' journey. SECTION III.—Proposed Services and Routes. The advantages of airship transport will be most apparent for long ocean journeys, and it is proposed that the best route for the first service would be between London and New York, as this is the route on which there is the greatest demand for a saving in the duration of voyage, and a large- amount of passenger traffic would be immediately available once the advantages of the service were demonstrated London to New York. This is dealt with in detail in Section IV. After the establishment of the Atlantic service, other services on which airship transport would effect great economies in time would be the following:— London to India and Australia. London to Cairo 2,050 miles. Cairo to Colombo (vis Aden) .. 3>4°o .. Colombo to Perth (Australia) .. 3,150 „ At an average speed of 60 m.p.h., and with a stop of 12 hours at each station for re-fuelling, etc., the times taken would be the following:— London to Cairo .. 34 hours, or i days. London to Colombo .. 34 + 12+58 hours - 104 hours 4i days. London to Perth .. 104 + 12+52 hours ~ 168 hour- «= 7 days. By tram and mail steamer, the journey to Ceylon at preseir takes 15 days, and to Australia takes over 30 days. Cairo to Capetown. Cairo to British East Africa (Nairobi) .. 2,100 miles = 35 hours. British East Africa (Nairobi) to Cape- 2,200 miles — 37 town hours Total time from Cairo to Capetown, allowing stop for 12 hours at Nairobi, 84 hours or 3J days. Or from London to Capetown, si days. Other possible routes for airship services are shown on chart Further than the saving in time in the actual joume\ there is the saving by using an airship service in the elimina tion of the time taken for trans-shipping and waiting at the various ports, etc., where the aerodromes could be situated quite close to the terminal stations. Owing to the variation in weather conditions, there would be of course some latitude in the time of arrival at the destination, but in these cases where there is a saving of several days in the total journey the variation of a few hours in the time of arrival would not be of much account. Site of airship required for the above services. It will be noted that the maximum distance of voyage required for any of the services stated above is 3,500 mile* which at a speed of 60 m.p.h. would require a ship able to fly 196
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