AIRSHIP RECORD.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 303, 16 September 1908, Page 7

AIRSHIP RECORD.

A NON-STOP FLIGHT BY A " DIRIGIBLE." THE CROSS AIRSHIP. THIRTEEN HOURS IN THE AIR. (ai TELEQBArn—ruitss adsociation—corrttiouT.) London, September 14. Major' Gross's airship, with two passengers aboard, sailed in 13 hours 2 minutes a distance of 300 kilometres (186 miles) without stopping, thus beating Count Zeppelin's record for a noii-stop flight by a dirigible balloon. ZEPPELIN'S FIGURES. BEATEN IN TIME, NOT IN DISTANCE. The machines built by Major Gross and Count Zeppelin, who are German army officers, aro both dirigible balloons; that is to 6ay, they rely on the gns-filled bag, and not, like the aeroplane, on purely mechanical means of flight. But tho Gross and the Zeppelin No. i are different types of dirigible balloon, the latter being of the "rigid construction" order, whilo the Gross belongs to the class known as "half-rigid." Zeppelin No. 4 had a cigarshaped Dag made of an allpy of aluminium, 146 ft. long and 42ft. Bin. wide, and had two 110-h.p. motors. Tho "half-rigid" Gross bag is 185 ft. long and 36ft. .wide, and there are two 75-h.p. motors. In a trial flight some little time ago the Gross remained in the air an hour and a half. In another trial flight it suffered at the hands of the wind, was caught in some trees, and was damaged. Advocatos of the "rigid" style thereupon declared that the Gross had collapsed because of its "half-rigid" construction. It was, however, soon repaired. While the "rigid" school criticiscs the "halfrigid" school, aeroplanists like Mr. Farman, with their half-hour and hour flights, pass sentence on both. "They are," says Mr.- Farman, "a waste of money, because the aerial problem can never be solved by the dirigible balloon."

According to the "Daily Mail," on August 4, just before its destruction, Zeppelin No. 4 flew, without descending, from Friedriohshafen, on Lake Constance, to Nierstein, a distance of 280 miles, at an averago speed of 24 miles an hour—which works out at 11 2-3 hours. In point of distance, this beats Major Gross's flight described in the cablegram.' On July 1 Zeppelin- No. 4 flew 220 miles at 18.4 miles an hour, which is also longer than tho Gross flight. On November 24, 1907, the ill-fated French war balloon La Patrie flew 180 miles at 27 miles an hour.

In point of time, however, the cabled figures attributed to Major Gross are better than those of Zeppelin No. 4 or of any other dirigible airship. The longest non-stop flight of Zeppelin No. 4, as set out above, is 11 2-3 hours,, and some accounts put it at 11 hours. Major Gross has flown, without stopping, for 13 hours 2 minutes, or roughly 1 1-3 hour longer. Zeppelin 'No. i covered more country because it travelled at 24 miles an hour! tho Gross airship covered less beoause it travelled at a little over 14 miles an hour—that is, it the cabled figures are correct. If the movemonts of Zeppelin No. 4 on August 4 and 5 are added together, it covered 440 miles, occupying nearly 24 hours; but there were two stoppages. The FriedriohshafenNierstein flight, 2SO miles, in 11 2-3 hours, was the biggest non-stop flight; and it did not satisfy tho conditions laid down by tho German War Office, which were:— 1. The airship must manoeuvre for twentyfour hours in the air. 2. She must be able to land without injury to herself on either water or earth.

3. She mu6t ho able to ascend to such a height as to ho beyond tho range of riflebullet's.