WOMEN AIRSHIP BUILDERS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume L, Issue 175, 8 October 1917, Page 7

WOMEN AIRSHIP BUILDERS.

IT-ntil a few days ago. when I visited a Royal Naval Air Service station, says a writer in the Daily Mail, ,1 did not know that our' great airships partly owe their being to the work of women. Yet this is so ; for many of the smaller but none the less. important parts of the air monsters are entirely the result of feminine labour. The girls in sensible and quite becoming brown overalls, the men in the navv "blue of their service: and all appear bo intent on their job that they ob-' viouslv have no inclination to fritter away "the time in which they can do work of such real importance to the

country. That was mv impression, and it was corroborated by the capable forewoman who took me round the other building in which the women work. "No, there's no trouble." she said.; "they are all so keen. All the time we are. taking over new jobs, replacing men who could be employed more usefully elsewhere : and we feel we are really becoming important to the airships. That's the secret of good work—to feel necesIu one large and very airy room I raw girls machining small seams in portion? 'of what would one day form the envelope of a ship .. At this tune it was ; merely rubber-proofed linen material, not yet covered with the dope which renders it silvery in appearance and absolutely gas-tight. "When the seams ■were stitched, other girls stuck the edges closely down with solution, and later tape is fastened tightly over, thus rendering the joints of the material, equally gstas-proof. "In this room a great many small parts of the airship are completed —patches with wonderfully scalloped edges, 'which are fixed to the envelope for the attachment of rigging. evict holes through which the wire "passes, and many other small but perfectly completed accessories. In a further room women were at work upon miniature airship* and balloons, which will be used for experimental purposes and for targets. Here also I watched a quite beautitul performance. A propeller —a thing of exquisitely graceful lines—which had been linen-covered (to prevent splintering) and painted by two girls, was now tried upon the balancer. The tiniest overweighting of one blade would spoil* its perfect motion; but this one was absolutely correct. Then I was hurried along to the welder's shop, where one woman is now employed, replacing a labourer and doing excellent wprk. ' In addition to these departments there are ' several lady tracers and mathematicians, lady clerks and telegraphists, all of whom superseded their male predecessors during the last year.

Finally T was taken over the women's quarters—their .splendid dining hall, roomy kitchen, and. most important of all. the. bicycle shed. For every girl employed here has her cv.clc. on which she covers the three or five miles journev to and from hev home. .As we returned to the sunlight rt was just half-past 5, and the girls came from their cloak-room neat and trim in outdoor clothes, took their cycles, and started happily for home. Above them sounded the soft whirr of a homing airship—tangible proof of the result of their labour. '