THE ZEPPELIN DISASTER.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1897, 4 November 1913, Page 3

THE ZEPPELIN DISASTER.

METEOROLOGY & AERONAUTICS < A correspondent of tho London • ".Morning Post" (September 10) writes: Tho disaster to the Zeppelin "L I,' involving as it does tho greatest loss ' of lifo tims far sustained in any aeronautical accident, must inevitably com- ] pel all who are directly interested in j any form of aviation —whether by means of tho old-fashioned free balloons or by means of rigid, semi-rigid, _ or non-rigid steerable air vessels —to devote more attention te tho study of tno behaviour of the atmosphere than has been done so far. German aviators are credited with being in advance of all others in tho new science, and one explanation of this superiority is tho fact that from the first, it lias been impressed upon every German, on taking to aviation, that tho work necessarily involves a course of closo investigation into the meteorological side of tho problem. At the chief aeronautical station at Lindenberg, near Berlin, at Friedrichsliafe'i (Count Zeppelin's .station), and at the national meteorological establishments throughout the Empire t'horo is every facility and evory inducement for inquiry into tho air conditions as bearing upon Hying. How do we stand in this country? It is satisfactory to know that both the Admiralty and the War Office have ordained that officers of tho Royal Flying Corps must go through a course of meteorological study. At South Farnborough and at Upavoii there are branches of the Meteorological Office for the use of officers in training, and all the other flying stations aro in direct communication with tho head office in Kensington. Outside these official regulations, however, it is much to be regretted that British aviators seem ( to scorn,tho idea of being possessed of ■ a little scientific knowledge. Is there any inducement for the scientific investigation of tho structure of the atmosphere at the Aero Club, at Hendon, at Brooklands, or any other flying station or school? Tho late Mr. Rolls used to say that in tlio early days of aviation a ilying school in which lie was interested dccided that it was undesirable to bother about studying the scientific sido of tho question, and went so far as to vote against subscribing for the daily woather report, which costs £1 per annum. , , Flving men have already had encounters" with very puzzling eccentricities of the air, and in a very largo percentago of the accidents that have happened the trouble has been ignorance of the steps that ought to be taken, to combat tho difficulty. The "pockets,' tho squalls, and other dangers obey somo laws as certainly do our ordinary hurricanes, arid no aeronaut will bo able to navigate his ship through these obstructions until he knows their character and tho laws_ which govern their movements. The Zeppelin "Ll'' came to grief in steering. across what is known to meteorologists as a "V" shaped depression, not a complete, cyclonic whirl. This "V'-shaped disturbance is one of tho most important subjects for aeronauts—for the lino squall, which is a characteristic feature of the passage of the trough, is extremely treacherous. Within the pasttwo or three years a great deal has been ascertained about lino squalls, which are found to bo fairly common occurrences in this country. A great stumbling block to the study of aerial difficulties is. of course, tlio in visibility of the air, so that we do. not see how tho puffs and kicks of a squall act upon a frail body. Much is being learned, however, from experiments in water or other visible fluid, so as to obtain types of whirls or eddies under varying conditions. The latest extension of this method has been an endeavour to ascertain tho behaviour of the great eddy winds round the Rock of Gibraltar. By means of numbers of'tethered and free balloons and artificial birds interesting results have been secured, which seem to afford indications of a law determining the behaviour of eddies, their bearing away in one direction under somo conditions of the atmosphere, and in the opposite direction under other conditions. If this is established by further experiments it will be important point gained for aviators. Much more work in this and in other directions will have to be done before tho navigation of tho air becomes as safe and as certain as that of the sea, but that success will attend the present efforts to fathom the mysteries of the air we need entertain no doubt. What is especially desirable in the matter is that our practical aviators should tako part in tho task of laying bare the secrets of Nature.