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Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 61, 23 November 1907, Page 6

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BRITAIN'S AERIAL HHtaden Powell, in the Daily ■ Mail.) Imense strides have been made htish military authorities in the ent of the airship as a useful machine is undoubted. I havo under the care of Colonel which has just been built at A!dcrshot, but I cannot, of course, divulge the secrete of its construction. It is sufficient to say that I hove seen the French and German creations of the same kind, and I think that we are not being left behind by the foreigners. l'he French first brought out a dirigible balloon about 1882, which was a wonderful iiiness, <uisidering all things, but

after working it for several years they dropped it lor .'.wne reason, and have not done anything more with it until now. Probably they were unable to hit on means of improvement before. One tiling that has made the possibilities greater in Ihe matter is tlie coming of the petrol engine. Foniicrly trials were made with electric engines, which were very heavy and not too reliable. The lighter petrol engines, which ore safe and easily constructed, have enabled great developments

to be made. I was very pleased with the French airship that I saw. It is a beautiful and strongly made machine of good ship-shape stylo, nnd not of the gimcrack, temporary character as many of them have been. FLEET TO ISE BUILT.

It is difficult to say if tlie British air ship is as good until it has undergone proper trials. It may look all right, but for some reason or another it may be found that it will not go. From what I have seen and heard of it, however, I think it will be found to be satisfactory. We axe going ahead, although we have not got much money to spend over tlie experiments, but what little we have is being well expended. Other ships are being laid down, and the trials will show as what can be done with them.

The largest airship is the German one of Count Zeppelin, which is over 400 feet long. I have seen it out twice. Although it is of such an enormous size, it is quite correct theoretically, but in practice it is a big thing to manage. It has gone thirty miles an hour, but not much lias been done with it lately. Building an airship is something like constructing an Atlantic liner with no small steamer built in advance to gain experience. The British airship is not built on the lines ol that of Count Zeppelin. The latter is like a ship with a big frame, covered in I with stuff to make it rigid, and there are several separate balloons inside. It is much larger than any others I have seen, and weighs several tone. WIND CURRENTS. The machines steer pretty'well, but the wind, of course, is bound to affect balloon airships very largely, and their practical nse woukl depend upon the direction of the currents. They are propelled in the same way as a steamer, but the great difference between a marine steamer and an airship is that the former seldom encounters a sea current running more than five miles an houT, whereas in the air wind currents blowing twenty or thirty miles an honr are common. That is where the difficolty lies, and we must attain greater speed in order to stem the wind currents. I think it will be overcome. We get airships now which can be propelled at thirty miles an hour, and we may reach fifty miles, but I do not think wc shall go beyond that with balloons. There is no doubt in my mind that the airship section will be the most important branch of the service eventually. We cannot foresee what is in the future, but if we get a machine capable of going up in any weather and with a speed of thirty or forty miles an hour—l think they may ultimately go even faster—it would certainly have a tremendous effect not only on military but also on naval warfare. Their first importance would lie in reconnoitring an enemy's country. By their aid we could learn exactly where Bodies of troops were, they would be able to detect any fortifications and get plans of them, which would make an enormous difference to any army in the field. When one comes to think of the South African war one can see what an advantage an airship would have been to us then. If every day we had known wbere the Boera were, and where their entrenchments lay, it would have made ah the difference in the world to that campaign.

1 do not believe that airships will be of so much use in dropping explosives into an enemy's camp or fortifications, although it s possible that may come about. They would Dot be able to carry a great weight of projectile, but it may be that they could be armed with a very small shell containing a high explosive of light weight.

HOW SEA BATTLES WILL BE AFFECTED. In naval warfare airships would be able to go right over an enemy's harbors and ascertain what ships wtre"lying there, and possibly might drop explosives on the ships or in the forts. They could do immense damage so long as the ships had no gnns which conld fire directly upwards. I am certain, however, that in a few yeans' time battleships, as well as land artillery, will possess guns which will be able to fire projectiles an immense distance straight up in the air. That will revolutionise fighting, and will have as great an effect a- the submarine has had in sea battles.

1 do not expect to see battles in the air between fleets of airships just yet; but I suppose it will come to that ii developments proceed as rapidly as they are doing at present. It f conceivable that airships may be fitted with light guns, and certainly the crews would carry rifles. With all the success which is attending invention in the'way of airships, however, I believe the aeroplane is the thing of the future. It is bound to come to the front, and probably it will come suddenly-