AIRSHIP CLUB.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18635, 9 March 1926, Page 9

AIRSHIP CLUB.

FOR NON-RIGID TRAINING, (tttOU OUS OWN COafi23rONC£KT.) LONDON, January 21. Members of'the Royal Aero Olub are Considering the possibUity of forming an airship club on the line* of the light Aeroplane clubs :wh\ich. are being assisted by the Government. &o far, however, -it has not been possible to frame proposals satisfactorily enough to induce the Air Ministry to promise practical support. Notwithstanding the need fp r economy in all directions (says tho correspondent of the "Observer"), the present is a good time for starting this movemen ~ Tho Air Ministry has been compelled to cut down expenditure, and, among other things, the airship programme is suffering. Tha 1136 will be scrapped, and will not perform the experimental flights to Egypt which wero intended. The 833 probably will nevctr bo used again. There will bo a complete gap in practical airship work until the big Air Ministry airship, KlOl, is ready—thnt is to say, until the beginning of 1929. Those responsible fo r the ship will by that time feel almost out of their element when they have again to take to the air! The idea of those who are trying to form a small airship club is not that of training pilots for big rigids. TliaV they very well know, is not possible with a modest organisation using one small non-rigid. It is true, time spent in the air, even in a non-rigid, would not be > wa§t«d; and conceivably something might be made of it mid of free ballooning, which it is hoped would also be done. None of those engaged, however, imagine that there is any prospect of building an airship reserve, and the greatest of their hopes is to keep the lamp burning, to present the useful class of nonrigid airships from being forgotten, and to provide an instructive and exhilarating pleasure comparable to yachting. They do not even insist upon the perfectly reasonable proposition that small non-rigid airships might again in war render valuable service in coastal patrol. The time is favourable, because it is possible now to purchase at a Bma'l price the airship built for the Algars* son Polar expedition. If the opportunity be allowed to escape it would he necessary to pay three, times as much at some future time. Engines pikl spare engines can be procured at the moment on good terms. On the credit side there would be club members subscriptions and the fees members would pay for time spent in the air for instruction or pleasure. The greatest difficulty is that of finding a shed near London. The cost of erecting a new shed would ho heavy, bnt it is believed that in the vicinity of T-ondon some suitable bui'Mine used during the war mav still be standing.