Secrets of Aerial Warfare.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 10 April 1914, Page 8

Secrets of Aerial Warfare.

4 WHAT GERMANY IS DOING. Dreadnoughts of the air will plazas great a part in deciding the issue of the next war as the Dreadnoughts of the sea ; anil it is because they wish to impress this fact on the mind of the man in the street that certain people have been so loud in their denunciation of the War Office for paying- £18,00q for an airship three years ago, and afterwards making no practical use of it. We may have a fleet of aeroplanes, they say, but we must also compete with France and Germany ;in the mutt." of airships, and. judging from the extraordinary ef- ; forts which Germany is making at the present time v. perfect her fleet of airships, it is obvious that she considers they are as essential as war-vessels for the maintenance of her power. In the matter of airships, Germany at the present time easily stands first in the world. They possess twenty-five dirigibles of the rigid type, and by the end of the present year will have thirty-two. And it is significant that 'the Zeppelin Company, which now turns out an airship every three weeks, hopes to be in a position at the end of sixmonths to double this output, says an expert 'in the ' News of the World.' EXTRA OR DIN AR V CAPABI LA TTE S Germany pins her faith to the rigid type of airship, and considers it by far the best tor war purposes. So convinced are they of this that ! when we tried to buy a rigid air- ■ ship some time ago the German | Government vetoed the order, al- ■ though they allowed us to pur- | chase a Parsival, a non-rigid vessel. Some facts regarding the capabilities of German air Preadnoughts I given by the expert already nreni ti'oned provide an illustration of their deadlines^, in time of war. Hefore an airship is accepted by the German Government it must have done a trial trip of a continuous I 1,500 miles at a speed of fifty miles an hour. As a matter of ! fact, eighteen vessels now in commission have a range of 2,000 miles. They can carry six tons of explosives, and at the present time ! are practising with apparatus which can direct bombs of dynamite weighing half a ton apiece. Which ' means to say that a couple of these I air Dreadnoughts could utterly deI stroy a town or army, unless they, were first destroyed. In addition to explosives, however, each dirigible ! carries heavy quick-firing guns. WONDERFUL HANGARS. Hangars capable of holding the j largest air vessels are being constructed. "The latter types of ' | hangars are built on turn-tables, so . , that there is no difficulty in dock- ' ; ing, or taking the airship out on a strong wind. The latest type at present being constructed in Heliogoland is such a turn-table hangar which sinks into a pit, so that its heavily-armoured roof is flush with the ground. In addition, all over Germany there are erected iron towers as anchorages. "These towers are built with re- . volving tops, so that the airship . | can ride in safety, no mallei- how , \ the wind changes. The towers are > built close to hydrogen stations. .It is interesting to note that one . such tower is built on the Aus- . trian frontier, two on the Russian, ; three on the French, and eight on . I the North Sea coast—which is the British frontier, if Nelson's dictum [ still holds good."