The Airship on Warfare.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIC, Issue 13462, 7 December 1907, Page 1 (Supplement)

The Airship on Warfare.

"»0 ' !■ THE FIRST OF BRITAIN'S AERTAL FLEET. (By Major 15. Baden-Powell, in the Daily Mail.) , That immense .strides have been made by the British military authorities in the development of the airship as a useful fighting machine is undoubted. 1 have seen the airship under the care of Colonel Capper, which has just been built, at,'Alder&'hol", but I cannot, of course, divulge the- secrets of the construction. It iii sufficient to ray that I have seen the French and German creatiore; of the same kind, and I think that we'are hot being left behind by the- • foreigner/?.' The French first brought out a dirigible balloon about 1882, which' was a wonderful success, considering all things, but after w r orking it for several yeans they dropped it for some reason, and have nob done anything more with it until now. Probably they were unable to hit on means of improvement before. One thing that, has made the possibilities greater in the matter is the coming of the- petrol engine. Formerly trials were made with electric engines, which were vei-y heavy, and not too reliable. The lighter petrol engines, which are ■ t?s.fe and easily constructed, have enabled great developments to be made. I was very pleased with the French airship that- I saw. It re a beautiful and strongly made machine of good ship-shape style, and not of the gimcraclc,'temporary character as niany of them have been. FLEET TO BE BUILT. ' It is difficult to say if the British 'airship is as good until it lias undergone proper trials. It may look : all right, but for some- rearon or another it may 1 be found that it will not go.. From what I' have seen and heard of it, however),, I think it will be found to be satisfactory. We are going ahead, although Ave have - not got- much money spend over 1 the experiments, but- what-little we hay 4 is being well expended. ■■ Other ships are being laid down, and the trials will show us what can be done with them. The largest airship is the German one of Count. Zeppelin, which is over 400. feet, long. I have jo:n it out twice. Although it is of such an enormous size, it.is quite correct .theoretically, but in practice it) iV a, ...big -thing •to jnanage. ; It has gone rtlhrty - r-mtlefi'-' an "''hdto, but not much lias been done with it lately. Building an 'aireh-'p is something like constructing an"" Atlantic liner w.'th no small steamer , built in advance to gain excprience. Tlio BriHsfh airship is not built, on W.lie lines of that of Count Zeppelin. The latter is like a. ship with a big frame, covered in with stuff to make it rigid, and (hero are several separate balloons inside. It) / is much larger than any others I' hai-e seen, and weighs several tons. < WIND CURRENTS. \ The machines steer pretty well, but tho , wind, of course,,is bound to affect balloon airships"- very largely, and their practical vise would! depend upon the direction of > the. currants. Tiiey are propelled in the same way as a teteamer, -but the great difference \ between a mar.'no eleamer and an .airship* is that the former seldom encounters a sea current running more than five miles an hour, whereas the-air wind; current® blowing twenty or thirty miles an hour are common. That is where, the difficulty lies, and we must aft a/in greater speed in order to stem the wind .currents. I think it will, be overcome. We-get airships now which can be propelled at> thirty miles an hour, and we may reach fifty miles. but I do, not think we shall go beyond that with balloons. Thera is no doubt in my mind that the airship section will be. the' most important, branch of the service eventually. We" cannot foresee what is in the future, bijfc if we get a machine capable of go-ing up in any weather and with a. speed of thirty or forty miles an hour-—I 1 think they mav ; ultimately go even faster—it would certaiiily have n ' tremendous effect not. only on military but also on naval warfare. Their first importance would, be m reconnoitring an enemy's country. By their aicl. we could learn exactly where bodies of troop-. were, they would be able to detect /any fortifications and get, planr> of them, which would make an enormous difference to any army in the field. When one comes to think of' the South African war one can see what an advantage an , airship wo.uld have been to vts then. If every day we had known where the Boers were, and where their entrenchments lay, it- would have made difference ih " the world to that campaign.' I do not believe that airships will be. of so much use in dropping explosives into an enemy's camp or fortifications, although it ir;. porsible that may comei about. . 'They would not be able to carry a great weight of projectile, but it may ,1.i2 that they couM be armed with, a very small shell* containing a high explosive of light weight. lIOW SEA BATTLES WILL BE . AFFECTED. In naval warfare aire hips would ba able to go right over an enemy's harbours and a»rtrtain .what ffliips were lying there, and possibly might drop explosives on the ships or in. the forte. They, could do damage so long as the »liip9) had "no guns winch could fire directly upwards. lam certain, however,, that in a few years' time battleships, as-well as land artillery, yrill possess guns which will be able to fire projectiles an immense distance straight up in the air. That will revolutionise fighting, and will, have ;;r> great an effect ,as the submarine has had in sea battles. I do not. expect to re?, battles in Jiho between 'fleets' of airships just yet; but I supose it w'ill come to developmwntis proceed as rapidly as they are doing at present. It, is coimeivnliV. that airships may be fitted with light gtuis, and certainly the crews .would carryrifle*. . ' : ■ .With all the success which is attend- ■ ing invention' in the w/ay of airships, howea-er. believe the aeroplane is the thinpr of the future: It is bound to come to' the front, and probably it will come suddenly. ,