AIRSHIPS OF THE FUTURE

Taranaki Daily News, 5 August 1930, Page 9

AIRSHIPS OF THE FUTURE

LESSONS OF RlOO FLIGHT

OPINIONS OF THE DESIGNER LARGER. VESSEL REQUIRED By Telegraph - Press Assn.—Copy right. London, Aug. 3. •'The RIOO’s arrival at the mooring mast in Canada built for airships, which are still in the experimental stage, will go far to justify your confidence in British engineering ekill and enterprise,’ writes Lord Thomson, the Air Minister, in a letter which the RlOO carried to the Premier, thanking him for Canada’s co-operation in a great experiment fraught with precious possibilities for the British Commonwealth of Nations.

“If the experimental programme, of which the (light to Montreal is one of the most important features, fulfils expectations larger and swifter vessels will be built, and then all the great cities will require mooring masts foi‘ the leviathans crossing the Atlantic,” adds Lord Thomson. “An adventurous spirit made the British predominant on the seas and they only need encouragement to secure a like advantage in the air.” The RlOO, which is now swinging at the mooring mast at Montreal, underwent an examination yesterday, and the Air Ministry states that it is revealed that there is no structural defect or failure, but there is a stripping of the "fabric over a fairly extensive area on the underside of the horizontal fin. Materials for repair are on hand. It is probable that no extensive flights wall be undertaken in Canada. In any ease the flight over Ottawa scheduled for August 5 must be postponed. The officers and crew of the airship are being officially welcomed in Montreal to-day. They received scores of telegrams and messages of congratulation. Wing-Commander Colmore, however, deprecates any exaggerated significance being attached to the voyage. It has in his view demonstrated the efficiency of the thick-bodied, blunt-nosed type of airship, but all its officers agreed that the vessel doos not conform to the requirements for an adequate and regular trans-Atlantic service.

Sir Denniston Burney, at whose, airship works the vessel was- built, is of opinion that a ship twice as large, as RlOO and capable of doing 85 miles hourly is necessary for such a service.