ZEPPELINS AND THEIR SPEED.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 197, 4 August 1916, Page 4 (Supplement)

ZEPPELINS AND THEIR SPEED.

■'Not so many years ago a Br t >h engineering expert calculated tha.t the. Zeppelin could not attain a speed of thirty miles an hour, as he proved by figures that the ship would collapse under the air pressure. At the tim o this speed bad been actually exceeded iiv a Zeppelin." says |{. P. Hearne. in "Zeppelins and Super-Zeppe!iis" (.lohn I. me.) Te.-dav til- 1 tendency is to attribute too high a sueed to ihe vessels. In still air it : s douutfu' if a higher speed than sixty-five miles an hour fan hj« rcM'hed. and bv the most careful calculation .Mr. Hearne lias come to the conclusion that the average speed <1 ihe modern Zeppelin in war trim is about forty miles an hour with full load. "Of course," he says, "with a favouring wind the ship may oiten be running at over sixty miles an hour, and the difficulty of gauging wind speed often causes erroneous estimates r! Zeppelin speed by obscivers on land. In the upper regions where an aa'shb is moving there may oe a strong current. whilst near the er.n.h tli.ere '.s i calm.'' It is we'l to note that tor a short period a Zeppelin can climb faster than an aeroplane. I»y throwing out oallast. going full speed ahead, jammini i.he tail (low n and shoving the nose up, :i " Zepp" jumps a thousand loot or so in about half .i minute. This rato ot climb however, cannot l>e niaiiita ved.