Count Zeppelin

Progress, Volume IV, Issue 2, 1 December 1908, Page 52

Count Zeppelin

wind was dead against us, travelling with a velocity of nearly 31 miles an hour. The Count could easily have arisen and escaped the fury of the blast, but it was his purpose not to avoid obstacles, but to court them. Whenever the t;reat airship showed signs of swerving, it was bi ought back into its course. Far below us in the valley the sharply-marked shadow of the an ship, crawling slowly from tree to tree, showed us how hard it was struggling. There were minutes when it seemed as if we stood stock still, despite the infernal music of the propellers Gradually the nose of the craft was thiust fOlf 01 ward; once more the airship mastei ed the wind Wo had forced our wav thiough the pass, and were dashing on at full speed. The vast shadow below us travelled with the velocity of a bird o\er mountains, valleys, cliffs, and rocky points, over railway embankments and roads, over water and land." It will be noticed that the writer speaks of the deafening noise made by the propellers. This upsets the balloon novelists whose craft move in deadly silence The flight above described is shown in the second chart, page 54. The line of the last flight is given on the same page.