ZEPPELIN-DESTROYER.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2460, 13 May 1915, Page 6

ZEPPELIN-DESTROYER.

AMERICAN INVENTION

FLEET BUILDINC FOR ENCLAND. "A great cloud of death is gathering , on the German coast. Week by week its potential power is increasing, yet , the time to strike has not come. A , while-haired, hale old man of 78 is working quietly until the German War Office shall say, 'Arc you ready, Count' Zeppelin ?' For answer that night tho monster air-ileefc will rise high above the German coast and float out in the darkness over the sea. Germany will wait and pray. It is her trump card." Such are the views of Mr. Thomas R. Macmecheu, the president of the Aeronautical Society of America, in an interview accorded to the "New York Sun." Mr. Macmecheu, we are told, refuses to accept the theory that tho Zeppelin is a failure. It has made good, he says; and will soon prove it to England by a raid upon London. Ho should know whereof he speaks, for, to foil such a raid, the company of which he is president is -now building for the British Government a small fleet of dirigibles of a now type—Zeppelindestroyers—especially designed to ward off the threatened attack, which, Mr. Macmecheu tells us, may be expected about the middle of April. His reasons for refusing to accept the' theory —current among laymen—that the Zeppelin is a failure are as follows:— "1. The flight and weight-carrying capabilities of the Zeppelins under all but abnormal weather conditions aro proved, and as certain and dependable as the navigation of a steamship. A hurricane will wreck the latter as quickly as the fromer. "2. The wrecks of Zeppelins are printed and known. There are leas than a dozen all told. , The actual nights under all sorts of conditions run into thousands. These are not heard of. "3. The attacking Zeppelins will do their destroying with "armour-piercing guns rather than with bombs. "4. The raid will be not by three or four, but by a great number, not less than fifty, possibly by a hundred, accompanied by aeroplanes. "5. Tho, high-angle' gun has been proved, oven when used under daylight conditions, to be useless as a defenco. Aeroplane defence is useless by night, which is the Zeppelin's best time for operation. "6. Germany thus far has made only reconnoitring trips. She will make hoi real raid only when thoroughly- roady, and that time is not far away." England Roused. He tells us that at last England has been roused to the dangers of a Zeppelin raid, and has coine to realisa that the recent aerial attack on Yarmouth was but a_ try-out. The great majority of Englishmen pooh-poohed that raid, He says, but he adds: "Official England is not pooh-pooh-ing now. Official England knows all too well; but sho got over .the poohpoohing stage too late. She is grasping at' overy straw of promise, yot knowing that there is not time to prepare for war in the air, and knowing too that one successful raid will mean another and still others that, bid fair to leave England cowering and helpless. "Then, with Germany master of tho air and with Germany master under the sea, how long will England maintain her supremacy atop the sea P. The Admiralty will not admit that this means tlie passing of the Dreadnought, but they aro beginning to fear just that." Iu explaining why no real raid has yet been made, he remarks: "The first great raid,' which the Germans have been planning since the war began, and for the success of which they are depending on the aged Count Zeppelin, ; will probably not come for some weeks. The time is not yet right. Tho first raid will be followed by blow upon blow aimed directly at »'the throne of England. "The reason there has been no great attack on London from the air is because aerial tactics and strategy make such an attack folly until there are a certain number of these airships, enough to leave a ' wide trail of destruction. ' i.' "For instance, if Germany had 50 of these new Zeppelins they would strike England to the heart. They could hit London a body-blow to-day and come back again to-morrow. Count Zeppelin will strike when he -\y, and not when England wants limf to." His Raid Coming. He goes on to say:— '.'The Intelligence Department of Great Britain knows the preparations that Germany is making. • Further confirming details are coming in nearly every day.. One report from Lake Constance, where the observer remained 19 weeks, told of a complete Zeppelin being turned out from the factory every two weeks while ho was there. "Perhaps Germany is ready to strike now, yet I should be surprised if she made the first raid this month. March is not a favourable time on account of the winds. I do not look for the big air invasion until after the middle of April, but I believe it will coine soon alter that." n The darkening of London, the use of searchlights, and tho employment of the high-angle anti-aircraft guns are, he says, futile measures, and have.been abandoned. In doscribing the steps taken by the English authorities to circumvent a. raid he recounts: "First they darkened the city. Then, as if to attract as much attention as possible they installed powerful searchlights at vantage-points all over the city._ Nothing could- have better guided a. dirigible navigator approaching in the night. . London has since seen the fallacy of the searchlights, and they ar» not used now. "Still the high-angle guns are in position all, over London. The authorities of the air department have also relied on big squadrons of aeroplanes to resist a Zeppelin attack on London. "They were to go up over London and attack these Zeppolins directly over tho city. . . . What would happen? "I/ondon would bombard itself and shoot its owii aviators out of the air. They would drop back on the city, set fire to their own buildings, and kill their own private citizens." Smashing the Zeppelins. Hie military authorities, lie ° says, havo now realised that such measures aro hopeless, and have agreed with him that tlie only ctfectivo defence is to meet the invading fleet off the coast and bring about its destruction by employing Sir. Macmeclien's new "Zep-pelin-destroyers," which are thus described "Tliis new craft is a small, rigid dirigible, a typo of aircraft never built before in tho history of aeronautics. Being small, it will have a short radius of action, but it will have a speed of from 61) to /0 miles an hour. "These rigid little dirigibles wo aro building can stay in the air watchng for nil enemy, say 75 mles from their baso, for at least 10 hours.' They can send wireless reports back to their biise. "Each of tlie Zeppelin-destroyers will lie equipped with ono torpedo-gun, tiring a torpedo'that will explode on contact. Out Zeppelin-destroyers are but 'J3oft. long and only 28ft. iu diameter. Tho little defensive dirigibles have two engines, one forward of 75-00 horse-power, and one aft with 125 horse-power. "Each will carry lour men, a navigator, a gunner, and two engineers. The torpedo-giin will firo its projectile 1000 ft. poinfblauk, ;ruo lo mark. "Perhaps the most radical idea wo have followed in building lite now aircraft is that. to maiutam rlatlif- 1 .wi

have enclosed the gas-compartments in an envelope of wood instead of metal, like the Zeppelins. We use laminated spruce from Canada.. Thin strips of it are wound in spiral from one end to the other of the cigar-shaped Mill, and they are locked into a mahogany ring at the end. Tlio strips cross and recross ono another, and are of copper, riveted together. There are also 14 straight girders. This construction is the strongest possible for the weight. "Inside of it are tlio 14 gas-Dags, each in a scparato compartment.- Outside the wood structure, the whole is covered with a weather-proof aluminised cloth. It shines like a polished spoon, and will be difficult to see in the aid on that recount. ' 'There is no hanging car. The car is built right into the main structure. The navigator operates the whole craft by simply pressing a set of buttons on a desk in front of liim. Ho can even take the control of the engines out of the hands of tlio engineers."