NOTES.

Progress, Volume IV, Issue 9, 1 July 1909, Page 312

NOTES.

The British Army dirigible, about which so much has been said, and from wh''*h so linich has been expected, was tried at Farnborough early m May and found deplorabl\ wanting. A gale of seven miles an hour held her. and a tempest of eight sent her ignominumsly back to her garage. During her wrestle with the seven-mile monster she behaved in a way surpassing the best British traditions, which are, as we all admit, naval. She hoisted a trysail, setting the same between balloon and car, and the trysail enabled her, so long as her nose was pointed dead to windward, to make headway of a sort. But how it did this when no trysail that ever was woven ever managed to bring a ship of the water so close to the -wind does not appear. That is what makes the feat so great. That even the trysail failed to meet the .subsequent hurricane of eight miles is to be regretted. Notwithstanding all this, the critics realise that foreigners can get twenty-five to thirty miles out of their dirigibles, and that Zeppelin has reached, with his rigid type, a speed of *r> m'les. They add that even this speed is not nearly sufficient to make the dirigible useful in practical work. Their conclusion as to the "hance of bringing Britain up 1o the Two Power Standard advocated bv the famous adnni\il the other day need not be repeated The dirigible monopolises the honours ol' the mouth, with the performances of the Zeppelin Huts. The second balloon of the t.vpe lias out-distanced all records with a Hight of 000 miles at an average of 22 miles an hour. The Hight \\ds, however, not continuous as the ship had to "ome to earth for fuel Win her people pro\ed unable 1o steer her clear of the incidental timber on her course 1 when she had the whole atmosphere to pick her road out of is a mystery. The dirigible has too many unexpected accidents in its history to find room for avoidable mishaps. Of course a railway train may jump a track without reflecting on the iron horse Therefore a balloon may crash into a tree without con-

deining the type to perdition. Nevertheless, such a collision must be very annoying to all concerned. The projects for the profitable use of the dirigible are growing with the length of the trips. Of these the latest mentioned in the mail files is one for the establishment of a service of dirigibles for crossing the Channel. It is not surprising to find that this has been denounced as fantastic. The cost of the dirigible requires many passengers and regular trips, while the nature of the dirigible confines the passengers to a few, and altogether prevents the hope of any regularity. The Zeppelin big type costs anything between £30.000 and £60.000, and can not carry more than twenty-six people, of whom a proportion must be the crew. With that number, moreover, no luggage can he carried. On tlie other liancl, ■\vitli a wind of thirty miles an hour no one would, in his senses, dare to cross the Channel. A gale would be a tremendous danger. In the winter there would be long periods of postponement, so long as to .justify suggestions for closing the business during the whole winter. It is said in addition that the time entailed in crossing would be far longer than by steamer, and this seems corroborated by the experience of the Zeppelins. In the first three hundred miles the Number 2 made just fourteen miles an hour. Now the Channel boats never do less than twenty. Of course the Zeppelins can do more than twenty, for the average of the whole trip of 900 miles was twenty-two. But that only means that the airship can do something between fourteen and twenty-two. On the other hand, the Channel boats are sure of their twenty every time, except when they manage twenty-four or twenty-five. For occasional pleasure trips for people who do not mind the cost, the dirigible has no doubt much to offer. But that is about the whole extent of the service to be expected of them in the way of business. In war it would be different, for cost is not prohibitive, as it is in business. For scouting and for rapid approach with missiles to throw down, and for signalling, airships of the dirigible order have a future before them. And they are increasing their usefulness every day as experience is accumulating from day to day. and expert advice follows the publication oi facts, as we noticed last month, in referring to the advice given by Sir Hiram Maxim for the improvement of the type in various ways. From which it has come to pass that thoughtful men are considering very carefully A\hat ought to be done to meet the airship in war. All are, of course, agreed that the best thing to oppose to a squadron of airships is a squadron of airships. The reasons are obvious. Nevertheless, the advocates of the gun are not forgetting the problem they have undertaken. We illustrate some types of gun recently invented and completed in the great Krupp establishment. The difficulties are numerous. The target is always changing its position, moving laterally, longitudinally, and vertically, wherein it is a great contrast to objects moving on the earth or the water.' There are no splashes or spurts of dust to guide the gunner as to the result of his shot. Whether the projectile went right or left, above or below the object.

there is no means of ascertaining. Unless something is invented, the gunner will have just to go on blazing away without anything to correct his aim. In the Krupp aerial gun this is the very kind of invention that has been perfected. The shells are designed for slow combustion, which gives out much smoke by day and much lurid flame by night. The gunner can therefore follow their course with complete confidence, and correct his aim just as if his shots were throwing up dust or splashing water. The field gun is a two and a half piece, firing a 91b shell. It is mounted on a carriage which is made by means of a pin driven into a shoe fixed in the ground to pivot at the tailend. The wheels are so arranged that they can be spread out sideways to carry the other end round a complete circle. The change of elevation is effected by a vertical screw. Thus the gun can be trained on a balloon at any angle, and fires a shell visible to the gunner for as long as he cares to mark its flight. It is a gun which military critics declare wll

make short work of the dirigible, provided the initial difficulty of the aim is overcome. That difficulty is, of course, expected, by reason of the three dimensions of space through which the object flies instead of the two with which the ordinary practice of gunners is concerned. For the aeroplane, which is smaller and travels faster for the most part, the chances of successful gunnery are not considered by the experts to be nearly so good. Our illustrations show the gun in position, and in one of them there is a grey line marking the flight of the shell above the balloon in the sky field of the picture. It is siiggested that charges of shrapnel will do the business of the aeroplane, just as small shot does the business of the partridges and pheasants of the sportsman. Difficult? Here is an opinion culled from the sayings of experts : ' ' The aeroplane of the near future, if present indications are reliable, will fly at a speed of 60 miles an hour or more, and swing to the right or left, and swoop up and down with the swiftness of a stormy petrel. It will be an exceedingly difficult object to hit." So much for the destruction intended by the inventors for the airships of the future.

was to remain an hour in the air, and carry For their preservation much is being done and more proposed. Garages for the big dirigibles are being erected all over Europe, the largest yet mentioned being in course of erection at Metz. The dimensions are 150 metres by 50 by 40 in height. It is a big building, in which, it is computed, two balloons can stow away — the new Zeppelin bought by the Government, and the newest Parseval, built to the order of the War Department. Early last month the Brothers Wright ■went to New York on the errand of delivering their aeroplane to the U.S. Government, according to the "bid" of nearly two years ago, by which they offered, and the Government agreed, all being as it should be, to take their aeroplane for £5000. No news was received of the delivery before we -\\ ent to press, but that the conditions were complied \\ ith by the aeroplane of the famous brothers there can be but little doubt, as the same uere not exacting. The aeroplane two men; it Avas to rise easily and come

to earth again in the same way. All this the brothers have done over and over again in several other countries, so well that one can not imagine the}' should have failed to do them in their own. The Americans, if not thorough, are nothing. But they show their thoroughness in different ways. For example, the Wrights, when pressed, refused to cross the Channel in their aeroplane, on the ground that nothing- would be thereby proved that was not then known and acknowledged. Now there comes a professor of scientific calibre. Professor Clayton, once well known as meteorologist at the Bine Hill Observatory, with a proposal to cross the Atlantic from the American capital to some port m Britain lie declares that if any one will help him to a balloon of 200 000 cubic feet, he will have no hesitation in setting sail for Europe. As a preliminary he will make a test across the continent from California. lie has announced that he places his hopes on the easterly air currents prevailing two nvles above sea level to take him over the "herring pond" in four days.

By the side of this adventurous professor Mr. Wellman, who is going strong in New York \\ ith his second North Pole project for another temptation of Providence, seems a very harmless sort of lunatic. Another learned professor — Todd, of Amherst College — has a similar ambition, but his madness is vertical, not horizontal, lie is said to be planning an ascent in an "aluminium tube attached to a balloon in the hope of finding, with the aid of compressed air, the extreme altitude at which it is possible for man to exist." The only thing that seems to be wanting for the completion of this scheme is the issue of a prospectus for a company to forward the design of getting people to take up their abode permanently under the newly discovered conditions. But if the scheme of this enthusiast is not complete, his madness may be. We speak, of course, as representing the opinion of numbers only, lie proposes to take with him in his tube of aluminium a wireless apparatus, in the hope of being able to pick up possible signals from Mars. Here is another of the

men who imagine that Mars is going about the firmament with no other object in life than to signal the smallest of the planets. -* * ■* * It has been remarked that the command of the Wright aeroplane is a very easy thing to acquire. And it must be admitted that several very successful flyers are now exhibiting their powers in various places. One of these, however — Lieutenant Calderara, of the Italian army — showed the other day, by coming to grief, that it is not so easy to keep this command of the flying machine as it is to acquire it. After he had come to himself among the ruins of Ins machine and had recovered hi« senses, he explained that he seemed to have fainted, or lost his head in some way sufficient to make him lose his hold of the controlling wheel. A faintness came over him in midair, and the machine, left to itself, tottered a bit and then came down with a thud, after falling about 100 feet. One can see that a rule requiring two persons for every as ent would be salutary. One sees, also, tlvt the indispensable condition of flight (after the manner of Wright) is a vigilance absolutely ceaseless.