British Airships, Past, Present, and Future

te circumstance there were many contributory causes. The development of aeronautics generally in this country was beh

neer of aviation had met with destruction, "If we had been meant to fly, God would have given us wings." Absurd as this sounds nowadays, it w

previously scoffed came to the conclusion that flying was not only possible but an accomplished fact, and the next two years with their great aerial cross-country circuits revealed the vast potenti

considerable outlay. The shed to house an airship is a most costly undertaking, and takes time and an expenditure of material to erect, and bears no comparison with the cheap hangar which can be run up in a moment to accommodate the aeroplane. The gas to lift the airship is by no means a cheap commodity. I

red for an aerodrome, and the big airship needs a l

ed that it presents a large target to artillery or to the aeroplane attacking it, and owing to the highly inflammable natur

ps could not be produced in this way owing to the high initial cost, and if the resulting ships ended in failure, as many were bound to do, there would be no return for a large outlay of capital. The only way by which priva

from those in command of the Fleet or from commanders of

craft they were, and however safe in the air they might be were always liable to be wrecked when landing in anything but fine weather. Those who might have sunk their m

er date. Had the war been postponed for another twenty years all might have been well, and we should have reaped the benefit, but most c

t the very outbreak of war scouting trips were made out into the North Sea beyond the mouth of the Thames by t

aval landing party at Ostend, and together with the Parseval assi

on the Belgian coast. Our airships were also employed for aerial inspection of London and other large towns by

they would have been of value for certain purposes to the Army. The Germans employed their Zeppelins at the bombardment of Antwerp, Warsaw, Nancy and Libau, and their raids on England are too well remembered to need description. The French also used airships for the observ

fabric had been found by experiment to yield the best results for the holding of gas, various waterproofing firms were invited to make envelopes, and by whole-hearted efforts and untiring industry they at last provided very excellent samples. Fins, rudder planes, and cars were also entrusted to firms which had had n

shortage of hydrogen tubes, plant

, and the airships themselves were completed more

ed, which enabled pilots to be enrolled from civil life in addition to the midshipmen who were drafted from the Fleet. The majority of the ratings were recruited from civi

of rigid airships and the lack of du

stablishment as was afterwards instituted. Pilots were instructed as occasion permitted at the various

oney voted for airship development, and this was a disadvantage und

ess which attended them. It is interesting to recall that five years ago we only possessed three ships capable of flying, and that during t

airships during the war fall

h the fleet or wi

e patrol and sea

ipping and exam

eppelins for scouting purposes with the high seas fleet. Responsible people were guilty of a grave mistake when speaking in public in denouncing the Zeppelin as a useless monster every time one was destroyed in a raid on this country. The main function of the Zeppelin airship was to act as an aerial scout, and it ca

success which attended the U boats during their attack on the c

uisers, in refuelling while in tow and changing crews, all of

small airship on board a ship which should carry out patrol and return to the ship for refuelling purposes, to replenish gas, and change her crew. To test the feasibility of this idea S.S. Z 57 carried out landing experiments on the deck of H.M.S. Furious, which had been adapted as an aeroplane carrier. S.S. Z 57 came over the deck and dropped her trail rope, which was passed through a block secured to the deck, and was hauled down without difficulty. These expe

king changes. Submarine hunting probably had more clever brains concentrated upon it than anything else in the war, an

nd that the airship is so superior to the seaplane or aeroplane, as she can hover over a fixed point for an indefinite period with engines shut off. If the submarine was located from the a

in the gathering darkness the ship would make her way home often against a rising wind, and in the winter through hail and snow. Bombs were always carried, and on many occasions direct hits were observed on enemy submarines. A sharp look-out was always kept for mines, and many were destroyed, either by gunfire from the airship herself or t

ust be seized and it will not brook a moment's delay. The eye must be trained to pick up the minutest detail, and must be capable of doing this for hour after hour. For those on submarine patrol in a small ship there is not one second's rest. As is well known, the submarine campaign reached i

terials had they been available, rendered other methods necessary. It was resolved to tr

ere then built up between the trees, and the whole scheme proved so successful that even in winter, when the trees were stripped of their foliage, airships rode out gales of over 60 miles per hour. The

ations based on it, the airships allocated to them making a periodical visit to the parent station for overhaul a

ed to be considerably extended. Of course, certain ships were wrecked when gales of unprecedented violence sprung up; but the output of envelopes, planes and cars wa

nes. By these timely warnings many vessels were saved. Owing to the position of the stations it was possible for a convoy to be met by airships west of the Scilly Isles and escorted by the airships of the succeeding stations right up the Channel. In a similar manner, the main shipping routes on the east coast and also in the Irish Sea were under constant observation. The mail steamers between England and Ireland and transports between England and France were always escorted whenever flying conditions were possible. For escort duties involving long hours of flying, the Coastal and C Star types were peculiarly suitable, and at a later date the North Sea, which could acc

their way to France, were always provided with escorting airships whenever p

convoy work, although their appearance as active

here is never any obstacle in this world that cannot be surmounted by some means or other. On the one hand there is helium, a non-inflammable gas which would render airships almost immune to such attacks. On the other hand, one opinion of thought is that the rigid airship in the future will proceed to sea escorted by a sq

y for flight. While the airship was flying, the pilot of the aeroplane was in his position with his engine just ticking over. The bows of the airship were then inclined upwards and the release gear was put into operation. The pilot afterwards said that he had no notion that anything had been done until he noticed that the airship was some considerable he

ships of the North Sea class, several voyages being made to the coast of

over London on a day of squalls and snow showers, and R 34 encountered heavy snow storms on the occasion of one of her

hese islands, and by torpedoing our transports and ships carrying guns and munitions of war. They were, perhaps, nearer to success than we thought at the time, but we were saved by the defeat of the submarine. In the victory won over the underseas craft the