MYSTERY SHIP OF THE AIR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16098, 11 December 1915, Page 2 (Supplement)

MYSTERY SHIP OF THE AIR.

TRJAL FLIGHT OVER LONDON.

ADMIRALTY SECRET.

" A British naval airship will probably fly over London between 6 p.in, and 9 p.m: this evening." In these few words the Admiralty announced that Londoners would have an opportunity of seeing Great Britain's mystery ship of the air on her trial flight over the metropolis.

A watcher on the roof of the Daily Express building had not long to wait. At 6.33 p.m. a small, dark cigar-like shape was suddenly discerned over the Thames travelling at a considerable speed eastwards, and apparently following the course of the river. Seen with the naked eye the length of the airship appeared to be about twice the diameter of the moon, and barely thicker than a carpenter's pencil. It was scarcely possible for a layman even to hazard an approximate guess at the height it was travelling within the short time it remained in sight. Great. Altitude. It seemed to be flying at a much greats! height than the Zeppelins whose two recent visits to the London district were observed by the same Daily Express watcher. The altitude, indeed, might have been 10.000 ft or more. The engines were inaudible even to the keenest ears, and it is doubtful whether one person in every hundred thousand of London's inhabitants was aware of the friendly airship's presence, so silently, so swiftly, and so smoothly did it move. The airship when first observed was directly under the bright planet Jupiter As it passed apparently close beneath the almost complete circle of the moon it became still less visible. Swiftly still, and with seemingly effortless ease, it now passed behind the cross of the-dome of St. Paul's, then grey and ghost-like in the evening mist. Between the, dome of St. Paul's and the spire of the Memorial Hall, Farringdon Street, the airship vanished in the mist, the whole appearance lasting less than two minutes. The British airship seemed to be somewhat smaller than the German murdermachine, but this may have been due to the absence of any rays from searchlights, or the altitude at which it travelled, or both.