THE BRITISH AIRSHIPS

Hokitika Guardian, 11 October 1929, Page 8

THE BRITISH AIRSHIPS

(Otago Times.) As development of trade and commerce within the Empire is admittedly one of the chief avenues by which a return to industrial prosperity may be secured, any practical stop towards the promotion of it is to bo welcomed. The importance of establishing a'ir routes throughout the 'Empire seems to generally recognised. The mafil atid passenger service between England and India, has been conducted continuously for some months, and the even more lengthy trunk airline from London to Capetown only awaits the final ratification of the Agreements between the Governments concerned before it is put into operation.

According to a statement by the Director of Civil Aviation, Sir Sefton Brancker, the. preliminary work required for the extension of the Indian air route to Rangoon is well advanced From this point it is almost certain that the airway will be completed to Pont Darwin without delay by the Common vcailth Government, which has already done much to encourage air services within Australia. In spite of what she has accomplished, Great Britain has been far outdistanced in commercial avaition by France, Germany and the 'United States. With commendable 'n/itialtive and boldness, however, the British* AirMinistry has pushed forward its project of girdling the Empire by air 1 commimiciations maintained by dirigibles, and the whole world appears, to be looking to Great Britain for guidance in the problem of airship construction and In the economical! development of airship transport. Since it is apparent that leading air authorities are not agreed concerning the practical utility of this novel form 'of transport the experiment that is to be made will be of special interest.

Apart from sporadic efforts in the United States, airship construction has received most attention in Germany, but activity there was prevented for some years by the restrictions that were placed on the country after the war. The early adventures of her latest achievement ,the Graf Zeppelin did net provide much encouragement to the experts Dr Eokener and Captain Lehmann, who were chiefly responsible for the construction of it. Since then, however, by circumnavigating the world, the ttraf Zeppelin has surpassed the feat of the British ariship, R 34, which made thq first direct flight across the Atlantic in 1919 and has performed valuable pioneer work in long distance flights. The new airship scheme was initiated in England in 1924, and there has been a delay of two years in completing the two vessels that were then contemplated. The consequent increase in the original estimates is sufficient to* bring the total expenditure up to £1,000,000 approximately. The thoroughness with which the project has been developed may be judged from the. fact that £260,000 was spent, on scientific inquiry and technical experiment before construction was commenced. Further, the Governments of the dominions have assisted in the great plan, some by the erection of mooring masts like those at Montreal and Durban, and all by active cooperation with meteorological investigations, which are being attempted over a much wider area than was .previously necessary. The performances of the two giant airships, RIOO and RlOl, will need to he greatly superior to anything yet accomplished if they are to fulfil the purposes for which they have been designed. It is to be hoped that such will be the case and that the money already spent will eventual ]y secure a profitable return. The British designers claim that their two super-airships are definitely in advance of all previous ones and that the defects which led to the trouble experienced by the Graf Zeppelin were grappled with by them four years ago.. It is highly satisfactory to know that subsidiary considerations have been sacrificed in order to secure adequate structural strength, for it has yet to be proved that engineers can build, with the slender duralumin struts to which they are limited in this problem a machine to withstand any violent disturbance like a typhoon. In this case the structure has been made so strong that even ait greater speeds than have yet been attained by any airship it will not he unduly sires ,sed. Moreover, it must be borne in mind that for airships—in contrast wiiftbj aeroplanes—the proportion of capacity for useful load increases with the size, so that it is only possible by building bigger airships, like the new ones the capacity of which is 5.000,000 cubic feet, that commercial loads can be carried.

It is certain that the potentialities of the airship will be exhaustively tested bv these two vessels, and it will be greatly to the advantage and credit of the British Empirq if. as a result, confidence in the future airshin is established. As Lord Thomson. Minister of Air, has observed, ‘the hope is justified that the British airship sw:Ml inaugurate successfully a new system of Empire oil- communication.' which will create new markets establish a new industry and provide a new outlet for British enterprise and skill.