BALLOON LIMITATIONS

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXI, Issue 12319, 13 November 1907, Page 4

BALLOON LIMITATIONS

In an article on "The Dominion of the Air," the Spectator explains very lucidly the limitations of the balloon. The performances of various balloons, it says, show that the primary obstacles in the way of aerial navigation have been overcome, but this does not mean that th« flight problem has been solved. The experience of the Wellman balloon is significant. The polar airship in the preliminary test attained a great speed, and its steering gear worked admirably, but a squall that broke suddenly nearly" brought disaster. The aeronauts were able to land on a Spitsbergen glacier, but if the squall had overtaken them on their long polar journey they would, doubtless, have shared Andree's fate. "The obvious conclusion," says the Spectator, "is that the navigable balloon is not as yet a practical means of navigation; it is only a fineweather toy. The anemometers on the platform of the Eiffel Tower have shown that the average speed of the wind at that elevation is eighteen miles an hour. Therefore it follows that a navigable balloon must be able to travel at least forty miles an hour in still air — that is, it would then make twenty miles an hour against an average current of air. But at forty miles an hour the resistance of the air becomes a very serious factor." It is argued that 'only a metallic hull, like that of a ship, could withstand the tremendous pressure. The argument of the engineer and the experience of the aeronaut thus both suggest that there is a natural limit to the usefulness of the navigable balloon. The Spectator believes that the problem of flight will have to be solved without the help of the balloon. "We find nothing like a balloon in Nature," it says. "All birds and other flying creatures are heavier than the air which they displace, and depend for their support in the air on windpressure against the under surface of their wings. Theory and practice alike point to the adoption of the aeroplane, or the flying machine, as necessary before we can solve the problem of flight." The difficulty, of course, is to secure the perfect balance of the machine. Birds themselves have learned the art only imperfectly after countless generations of practice and inherited instinct, but it may well be that the mind of man will solve even this problem within the present century. . London will then be within a couple of hours of Paris, and within two days of New York.