MILITARY AIRSHIPS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 454, 12 March 1909, Page 5

MILITARY AIRSHIPS.

BRITISH POLICY. PURCHASE OF A WRICHT AEROPLANE. A ZEPPELIN TEST. fnr TKI.BQIUIMI-MIF.SS ASSOC!ATION-COFYttllillT.) Lontfon, March 7 0 One- of the Ohio aeronauts, Mr. Wilbur "Wright, has accepted tho War Offico's invitation to visit England. Mr. Haldano, Secretary of Stato for War, is purchasing an aeroplano already in London. King Edward will visit Pau, in France, to watch tho flights. Berne, March 10. Count Zeppelin's first Government airship, in a trial on Lake Constance, covered 120 miles m two and a half hours. The airship was manned by a German military crew. ARMY AEROPLANE COMPARED WITH WRIGHTS'. signers havo now fortunately evolved a far less noteuprthy features are to be observed. ?i I"?!. 1 ™ 11 " 1 nla " es aro of a simple type hough the supporting wheels at their cxtranities are of doubtful vane. The nrinniml f°o r f V!r , Hftlnß P««»« moSffin tront ot the mam planes. These are three in number and independent in action. It i"hoped that tho complication entailed by this division wi 1 be more .than compensated by the lift and balance obtamed. I should have preferred however, to see these lifting planes much shorter, as sundry serious troubles may arise from undue prolongation. The Wrights get excelleiit results from their short but doubledeck lifting planes; and it will be interesting to see if the British machine will excel them in tins particular and at the same time maintain the excellent stability which characterises the American aeroplane. There is only, a single rudder at the rear, nnd I doubt if the machine will bo as quick in its steering as the Wright aeroplane. I do not altogether like the double propellers or their position, and I fear the machine will bo a difficult one to manage satisfactorily. But it can be said that the new aeroplane is a great advance upon the crude and complex model first evolved." .