AERIAL NAVIGATION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13998, 3 September 1907, Page 5

AERIAL NAVIGATION

EXPERIMENTS BY THE WAR OFFICE.

AN AIRSHIP CONSTRUCTED,

Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright

LONDON, September 1,

The Daily Mail states that, the War Office, after two yearn' secret experiments, lias built an airship approximating to tho type of La. Patrie. It has a- sausage-6haped balloon Bft- x 30ft. Propulsion, it is believed, will be by tho use of petrol, and the motor is said to be a great advance on the French and German engines. The airship lloated at Aldershot for a fortnight.

A great deal of attention has been devoted to tho construction of airships in France and Germany of late, and there has been considerable rivalry between the two countries. About the middle of July the German General Stall' received information that France had a large number of military balloons or airships of the "Patrie"

type ready for action at various depots along the frontier. The zeal of Germany in constructing dirigible balloons for her own 1 army is the direct result of the success of the brothers Lebamly, which caused the Kaiser 18 months ago to appeal to a numjxsr of prominent Berlin capitalists to furnish tho fund 3 necessary to enable Germany to compete with France in the aerial realm. One of tho most influential supporters of the Motor Airship Research Society, subsequently formed, is Ilerr Paul von Schwabach, the British Consulgeneral in Berlin.

In view of the remarkable degree of perfection attained by the "Lebaudy" and the " Patrie," the German military authorities are trying to obtain a couple of airships of the same type. Germany, notwithstanding large expenditure, has failed to obtain anything like tho result 9 of tho French manufacturers. Their best hitherto is the " Parseral," Count Zeppelin's huge airship wit]) ite metallic frame, which in experiments on Lake Constance is said to have proved anything but successful. It spite of German press statements to the contrary, the German military authorities have for many months past, iii a disguised way, been attempting to obtain possession cf an airship of French manufacture.

Major von Kehler, who founded the Berlin society for tho study of aerial navigation, went to Paris recently to offer M. Julliot, tho French engineer who constructed the "Lebaudy" and "Patrie," £50,000 for a similar airship "solely for sporting purposes." Tho " Lebaudy " cost only £12,000 and the "Patrie" £14,000. M. Julliot told him that he must negotiate direct with Messrs Lebaudy. The major then wrote to the firm:— . . The immediate object of our society, of which I am tho manager, is to acquire a motor balloon, in order to givo our members the opportunity of making ascents in an airship, and perhaps later on tho forming of a national sporting club for this purpose. .' . . Wo are aware that up to the present your airship lias given most satisfactory results, and I am instructed to ask you whether you would Iw prepared to make ono for us." Messrs Lebaudy, knowing who Major von Keillor was, nnd what ho had done, replied that they could not undertake the construction.

M. Julliot, in an interview said:—"Wo are five years in advance of any other nation in the manufacture of airships, and toon Franco ought to, bo in possession o" a complete ' fleet.' Of course, tho Germans are quite capable of building'an airship, for there is no secret about the construction. But there are many points of detail known solely to the French constructors. For instanco thore is the resistance (o liie atmosphero of the steel tubes, the basis of an airship. _ This is of far greater importance than is generally supposed. In tho 'Lebaudy' and 'Patrie' wo havo been able entirely to do away with the terrible pitching movement, which has interfered with the success of every airship hitherto. There is very close connection hetween the dimensions and tho rate of propulsion; this is at present my secret, and I intend to keep it as long as possible."