British Airships.

Hastings Standard, Volume VI, Issue 1651, 15 October 1901, Page 3

British Airships.

There is in process of construction on English soil an aerial yacht which will far exceed in importance any previous invention for aerial navigation. The inventor of the yacht is Mr F. Buchanan, of Close Woods, Denemead, Coshami near Portsmouth, and a trial trip will be made within a few weeks. This is ;!sc statement made to a London Daily Kxpress representative on August 16th by Mr Percival Spencer, the well-known balloonist, of Highbury Grove. Mr Spencer is now making the gasoline motors for the yacht, and they will be sent to Mr Buchanan in two weeks time. The first sailing depends somewhat on the completion of financial arrangements. Several men of science and others of wealth will, it is understood, back Mr Buchanan, who has already spent £SOOO on the machine and worked on it for over twenty years. But Mr Buchanan's vessel will far outstrip anything of the kind hitherto seen. It will accomplish 50 per cent, better results than previous air-ships because it has the transverse grip. The aerial yacht will be 100 ft. long by 10ft. wide, and a cabin in the middle will contain the two powerful gasolene motors, which work two four bladed propellors. These are constructed in a manner which gives it a perfect grip on the air, and they constitute the telling superiority of Mr Buchanan's vessel. The cabin also contains a steering wheel which actuates a large propeller placed far in the rear of the yacht. The whole body of the ship is of bamboo and cane-work covered with sail-cloth and painted white. It has something the appearance of a great fish . The result of the combined perfection of machinery and balloon construction is great rigidity. There will be no chance of this elongated gas-vessel collapsing. The complete machine is now stationed near Portsmouth. The location of the cabin is interes,ing. It is completely hidden inside the fishlike covering, and is entered by a sliding-door-like arrangement at the at the side. There are two portholes on either side, and in order that the people who ride in the ship may have stii further opportunity to look out, two portions of the ship-cover toward the front have been made of transparent material."