DAWNING OF AIR AGE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19608, 9 April 1927, Page 13

DAWNING OF AIR AGE.

EMPIRE COMMUNICATIONS, j

TWO AIRSHIPS BEING BUILT* BOLD PLANS IN UNITED STATES. GREAT FLEET OF AEROPLANES. BX ARCHIBALD HUBD. A few yeafs before the opening of the Great War Admiral of the Fleet Earl Jellicoe, who was then serving as Second Sea Lord of the Admiralty, made a flight over Berlin in one of the airships which the Germans were then maintaining for passenger traffic between various parts of the German Empire. He returned to London greatly impressed by the value of the airship as an aid to the fleet for scouting at high altitudes and strongly ; urged the Government to provide the British Fleet with airships. In the following year the war clouds burst over Europe and for the time diverted attention from tho problem. Lord Jellicoe, however, never concealed his opinion that he was seriously handicapped as Com-mander-in-Chief of the Grand Fleat by the absence of airships for long distance scouting. When the war came to an end the British Government found it difficult to decide what to do with reference to the building of new airships, for two small ones had been constructed daring hostilities. The disaster in 1921 to the R3B inevitably tended to discourage the adoption of a' progressive policy. It became apparent that the design of the 838, as well as that of the other British airships, which were copies of the German Zeppelins, were defective. They were based on empirical rather scientific data, and there was genera-agreement that it would be an error to court further disaster by building more ships of the type. Two Large Airships Building. The Air Ministry, in association with the Aeronautical Research Committee, entered upon a carefully co-ordinated programme of scientific investigation, embracing not only the structure of airships and the design of mooring masts and airship sheds, but also atmospheric and meteorological conditions. It is on tha basis of this work that two airships are .. now being built xn England, one by private contract and the other in a Government establishment, so as to create something in the nature of competition in excellence of craftsmanship. Good progress has already been made with these two vessels, which are of entirely novel design. Tho RIOO, which is being constructed by private will be no less than 730 ft. long, as compared with the 750 ft. of the battle-cruiser Renown, - and will have a diameter of about 130£lt. The contract provi'des that this airship must attain a speed of 70 miles an hour at tha height of 5000 ft. when her engines are opened out fully, and must be able to cruise at 63 miles an: hour for a distance of 40d0 miles, with 100 passengers, with their luggage, on board, as well as 10 tons of mail The RlOl is somewhat shorter, but there will be little difference between the two vessels in other respects* To eliminate as far as possible the danger of explosion, the engines will be of the Deisel type, using heavy oil instead of petroL This is apparently to be tha trump card of the Air Ministry to impress the public with the safety of airship travel. • ;- 4 . ' - «•' - Constructing Airship Stations. Work on these two vessels has already made considerable headway, and, in thß meantime, airship stations on the EnglandIndia route are being built and equipped. The airship shed at Cardington, where the RlOl is being built, will ba supplemented by a mooring mast, twice as Kgh as the mast erected some years ago at Pulham, on the south coast of England, and wi :h a resistance pull six times greater. Another mooring mast at Ish- J mailia, the Clapham Junction of this route, has been nearly completed, and a shed and mooring' mast are now being provided at Karachi, the Indian Government lending its co-operation. Consequently competition between the airship and the large passenger-carrying aeroplane on the England-India route will be established in no long time, and it will be possible to compare the two services as regards speed, regularity, safety; and cost. It is common knowledge that the successful flight from England to India recently completed by the Air Minister and his wife was a most costly business, but the larger the number of passengers using this air route, the lower will be the cost per head, so that no economic deductions can be drawn from the Minister's blazing of the trail from West, to East. , The probability is that, with the cooperation of the Australian and tha New Zealand Governments, the England-India route will soon be extended, and it is understood that the two Dominion Governments will provide the necessary mooring masts, as well as refuelling facilities for the airships. South Africa also realises the benefit she will derive from assisting to develop Imperial airs communication. Indeed, the whole Empire is awakening to the fact that air power is essential to its (development. While opinion aeronautical experts favours the airship for long distance flights, their views have still to be put to the test, of experience. There are a good many problems, scientific and mechanical, in connection with the airship still to be solved, whereas Sir Samuel Hoare has proved that the aeroplane has arrived as an instrument for contracting the timedistances of the British Empire. America's New Ships.

Apart from the competition between British airships and British- aeroplanes on this and other routes, a healthy rivalry will unquestionably develop with the Americans now that they havo decided to build two even larger airships for service with the American fleet. Whereas the British vessels will have a capacity of about 5,000,000 cubic feet, it is stated that the two American ships will have a volume of at least 6,000,000 feet, and may even reach 6,500,000 feet. The American airships will also be longer, about 780 feet, and the diameter will be greater, 135 feet as compared with 130. The Americans," characteristically, are determined to have the biggest airships in the world. These craft will be armed with machine guns for repelling aeroplane attack, and will also carry aeroplanes which they will be able to release in face of enemy craft, But the feature in which the Americans rest their highest hopes is that they will be the first vessels specially dsigned for inflation by helium, the non-flamable gas which is to be found in, ample supply in the United States.

The potential advantages of the airship and the aeroplane have fired the imagination of the American people. They are not only completing two enormous aeroplane carriers, each of 33,000 tons displacement and building the two new airships, but Congress has decided to create a great fleet of aeroplanes .for naval and military use. At the end of 1925 there were already 891 naval aircraft attached to the fleet, a further 399 were on order, and the estimates for 1926 provided for the pnrchase of 227 mora. It is intended to maintain from 1931 onwards an establishment of 1000 efficient aeroplanes for the navy, in addition, of course, to those of the army. There is ample evidence in the measures being adopted by the American and other Governments, that the air age has dawned.