Mastering the Air.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIC, Issue 13438, 9 November 1907, Page 1 (Supplement)

Mastering the Air.

SUCCESS OF BRITISH AIRSHIP. A "Daily Telegraph" correspondent contributes the following interesting account of the happenings in connection with the trial tests of the new British airship at 'lTarnborough." ;".' • ■'" " ""' '"' '■''.'""' I have, he: says, ceen England's airship or first dirigible military balloon emerge from the Royal Engineers' shed on Cove Comman, Farnboruugh, and make :■ free flight, describing a circle of over [three miles, and this was done' with the wind aloft going over fifteen miles an hour. Judged by the performance the. craft can travel between twenty-five to thirty miles an s 'hour with her petrol motor not. working up to anything like its full capacity. Incidentally I have learned her spavie-shaped propeller pull or thrust a weight" of over 3001b. What is yet even more surprising,., even when going .twelve to.-..fourteen'-mile an hour agaist a direct head wind, the envelope or balloon ends retain their rounded form.

The airship, ' or 'Airgo,", which I think is a more suitable name, steers as smartly as a crack cutter yacht-—yes, better, for silo not only, turns to right or left at the kindliest touch, but lifts or dips., To me the. weak point, if there be ; one, was the rapid over-heating of the motor mechanism due to the insufficiency of the water supply for cooling the engines. The ■weight of having to carry a big supply up precludes that being done at present, but all this,. with other trifling detals, can be and will soon be. remedied. There are other and better engines already available, and the vessel can be greatly lightened by. tlie'entire removal of the netting covering, and substituting in lieu, thereof silk bands.. .: . .• ; V ' ■ A WONDERFUL FLIER. It' wyes meant arjd ; hoped that a long journey would be made, but the weather conditions %vere not so favourable as was hoped would: be the case. Yet, withal, the success achieved in the way of actual, flight—turning, rising, falling. ■ at willwas truly wonderful. The military airship is made of gold-beater's Slcin, yellow arid transparent, as are all our military balloons, but this one is shaped like a Scottish "whits pudding" or Bologna sausage, 110 feet long by 30 feet in diameter. , It was 11 a.m. when the great doors of the balloon shed were slowly opened. _ The appearance > of, the large "air-go was a pleasant disillusion as it came gliding saucily into publicity aftd sunlight. Towering aloft over 60ft, a great crisscrossed shining golden test-tubs, will a pendant drapery of silk bands, cordage, and glistening steel framing, it resembled when seen sideways an inverted cone. The point was the steel keel of the structure, some 40 feet long, upon which was raised the light work of a canoe-shaped, canvassclad boat. At the stern was the steering gear, a big cloth rudder, and two big things like bos lutes, fore and aft ship, lying horizontal for lifting or depressing* Besides, amidthips/rigged close under the balloon, were two great flat wings, also of cloth. Til the forward part .amidships, rested the-twin screws, one upon either side, driven by a band or rope from the motor. The fly wheel was a thing _of spokes, with a. light rim, and the spadeended two-bladed propellers were about 10 feet each-in diameter. . . : Colonel Capper sat in the stern, Mr Cody, of kite fame, stood by his pets and pride, the motors and the whole of the mechanism created under. Ins immediate supervision. The. usual throat of the balloon hung down close beside the car, but the aerostat had no need to have a free, throat, for the apparatus has numberless novel features which by automatic action regulate pressure of gas.in tie envelope, etc. The wind was gusty, about ten imiks an hour rate. Then, as the airship rose, • Mr Cody started the motor for a turn or two, and the balloon instantly moved forward" head against the wind. But; the motor was stopped, and more readjustment of the" ballast rings, and the horizontal kites was undertaken. There were a few more brief starts made to test things, and then Captain King, R.E., got into the boat-with Colonel' Capper and Mr Cody At 11.25 a.m. the motor was

started again, half (speed. With full power the engines heat up <<»> fast, and the "cooler" squirt* boiling water. But halfspeed away dead against ilia, wind towards the' Farnborough road ran the airship.

UNDER PERFECT CONTROL. It was 11.15 p.m. before all. was .quite ready. At that moment the motor was started again, and all the ropes freed. Away went the balloon dead to windward into the wind's eye, travelling in a breeze that had freshened up 150 ms twelve milas an hour, going faster than a soldier could run for even a short distance. Again and again the spectators cheered as the airship heading windward at an altitude of 300 feet to 4CO feet, crossed the Farnborough road as for London. Then circling to the west, it made a great sweep of over three miles, twisting and turning apparently under perfect control, 'it rcse and fell, or rather lifted and dipped like a stumpy brig would do in a bumpy sea. The broad wings swaying in the wind, and the currents from the screws were "mainly responsible for the heaving up and down." But in returning to the point from which they had started, and within 400 yds of it :!>e dimog band ot ii" cooler fan broke, and the engine had to be stopped, and the soldiers running up, caught the ropes, and laid hold of the ship, which was walked back into dock in the balloon shed. A point or two. set right; and th© pranked, trip to London and the War Office will be made in due course.

A second trial took place later in the afternoon, at which Colonel Templer was present. The airship is the outcome of his inventive faculty. He began its making six years ago. There are eight, not four cylinders. The motor water-cooler has ~. brass jackets, whilst the cylinder have aluminium heads. The flywheel has wire .spokes. There were two gliders or wings and two pair of horizontal-laid box kites. The propellers are driven by a band. The depth of the canoe-shaped car was about thirty inches, by thirty feet long. It.,should be dated that Mr Cody lias sin. aeroplane propelled by screws with no lifting power outride-■ its motive force. He thinks it is practically lit to fly. Certainly the. British .military airship has no reason to fear competition with anything of the'■■: kind possessed by any Power in Europe. ~ : On inquiry at the Balloon; Factory as to whether it was considered that, the trials had bsen satisfactory the reply Was given r that no information on the-: matter could be given to the press. From one of the staff officers who was present-at the trial in..the-'morning it was learned that all concerned are very pleased with the way the airship behaved, that , nothing serious went wrong with .the lhachin© on its first trip, and that the way it.answered to ,-its "steering-"apparatus was, one of the gpeat and pleasing features ■'; of 'the airship trial. ■ ''