Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, DEC. 21, 1910. THE MISSION OF AIRSHIPS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10150, 21 December 1910, Page 4

Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, DEC. 21, 1910. THE MISSION OF AIRSHIPS.

That the modern airship will play an important part, in securing ah universal disarmament is a matter of certainty. The Daily Mail, which built the London garage in which the Clement! - Bayard airship found a home, says that "by her magnificent flight of 246 miles from Paris to London the ClementBayard airship ha* -accomplished • an!* historic feat which /ivill.go *fa'r: to , : re-':-store the damaged- prestige; of the* dirigible; nnd mark's s *s fresh and prodigious ftdvnnce tt»-

wards the conquest of the air. From start to finish the great torpedoliko vessel ran with absolute certainty and steadiness. Over land and over sea she flew with the grace and ease and incredible speed of a bird to her destined landingplace. Of the little strip of sea which is all that parts England from the armed nations of the Continent she made nothing. Some minutes' humming of her engines and it was past. An event draI matic in itself and momentous in i its consequences, had been swiftly accomplished. For the first, time England had been invaded by a forI eign airship. Where M. Bleriot lea I in July, 1909, with the heavier-than j air flying machine the lighter-than- ; air flying machine had followed. Thus has science built' an invisible bridge over the Channel through an element that knows no frontiers or coasts almost before we knew it. Not the least wonderful feature ot the voyage was the tremendous speed with which it was performed. The fastest express train from Paris to London covers a distance of 259 miles in seven, hours. The passenger must be twice transhipped, from the train on the French side to the turbine steamer and from the ship on the British side to the train. The Clement-Bayard vessel ran a distance of 246 miles in almost .exactly .six. hours, thus beating train and steamer by an hour, and her passengers were landed direct in London. Upon such a triumph as this her designer, M. Clement, deserves the warmest congratulations from all. His courage and pertinacity have conquered in the face of- countless rebuffs, and conferred a new glory upon France.. The event in which he has played so large a part opens a • new' era. Where- : one airship has led to-day, a host of other airships- will follow m the future. , Though the Clement.Bayard only* drove '24.6 \miles I through -the air, she carries fuel, for a voyage of over 700 miles. In war, therefore, almost all our great towns would be within the radius of such vessels acting from the Continent. While at the present time l the offensive power of the airship is undeveloped, and she is unable to face a strong wind or -storm, nothing is more certain than that, witli the constant progress of engineering, her speed, and ability to face the wind will rise each year, and her capacity to inflict harm as steadily increase. The Dreadnoughts of the seas will need to be supplemented with the Dreadnoughts of the air."