The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. MONDAY, MAY 17, 1909. AERIAL WARFARE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2503, 17 May 1909, Page 4

The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. MONDAY, MAY 17, 1909. AERIAL WARFARE.

There has been much talk recently about aerial fleets and-the possibility of an invasion of airships in England, and all sorts of startling statements have been made in this connection. Under the circumstances it will be well to state clearly just how matters stand in regard to military balloons at the present time. Ballooning has developed into a flourishing sport in Germany, partly becaiise'That country is situated very favorably, in. the middle of the Continent, ' and also because • solitary pleasures of this kind suit the German character, especially if there be a scientific side to them. Germany leads the. world’s aeronautics by consuming 48,000 cubic metres of gas for sporting and

military balloons. Franco follows suit with . 42,000 cubic metres, while other countries remain far ill the background. A single balloon contains from 800 up i to 3000 or more cubic metres of gas. Numerous clubs have been founded in all the principal cities of the German Empire, and the movement is increasing fast.' A largo industry has grown up, and nearly monopolises the world’s market for gas hags and rubberised balloon-cloth. Wo can dismiss for the moment the subject of the aeroplane, for although it seems likely to prove the most useful for commercial purposes; the difficulty of inducing it to ascend or descend at an unprepared spot, together with its short flights, makes the aeroplane of little-use from a military point of view. We are, therefore, confined to the consideration of airships, pure and simple. Of these some are described as “non-rigid,” which means that the balloon is of the usual cigar shaps, •and consists simply of a huge bag which can only retain its shape whilst it is fully inflated. Once higher atmospheres are reached some of the gas escapes, the balloon loses its shape, and can no longer he steered. There are also half-rigid airships, in which there is some semblance of a framework to . help to maintain the shape of the balloon. The Zeppelin type is considered to be completely .rigid, for it has a tremendous framework of aluminium. At present Germany possess three Parseval (non-rigid), two Gross (semi-rigid), three Zeppelin, one Siemens-Schuebert, and one Scliutte airship ready or under construction. The five rigid and halfrigid airships are intended to serve as fortress balloons for purposes of sieges and for reconnoitring fixed positions of the enemy, and the large rigid airships arc to make swift raids across the enemy’s country, to reconnoitre the whole of his military preparations, and eventually to destroy his airships by musketry fire, overtaking them through their superior .speed. Only France has made experiments on a similar scale. But Franco did not make, any progress last year, as the •aeroplane has seemingly absorbed all interest. There is one semi-rigid airship, the' Republique, with thveo non-rigid ones, Vi He do Paris, Clement-Bayard, and Ville do Bordeaux; But they lufvo neither attained the speed nor the time records of the German dirigibles. No other countries have any aerial fleet worth mentioning, although a cablegram from Vienna the other day stated that Austria is arranging to secure some airships of the Parseval type. Italy has a good type of small army dirigible of the non-rigid type, and England, America, Russia, and Spain have a dirigible each, but the, results have not been very favorable.

These facts show that up to now Germany is_Jn tlio lead as concerns airships for military purposes. Is it possible for Germany to use this advantage in a way to make lior aerial fleet an imminent danger to other countries ? To this question, there is only one answer : For many years to conic

«uch a thing is not to no expected; probably the dirigible lighter than air will never bo able to perform such sensational feats. The mere fact that an airship of tho size of a modern'ocean liner (and that is probably tho size limit, as the construction material gets unproportionately heavy for larger dimensions) would not carry more than about GO people, or a proportionate weight of explosives, shows the futility of such expectations. It would never bo possible to construct a fleet of airships necessary to invade even a e.*:all country without the world knowing it; for tho preparations would be simply gigantic. The sliedfl necessary for tlio construction would cover miles' of country. Hydrogen is the lightest element existing. There is no hope of finding a lighter one. Even extremely light motors and an ideal wooden scaffolding will not change much these figures. Besides, an army of tho required size would not find the necessary ammunition, and it would not be possible to furnish any, as it is too heavy. Artillery could not be transported because of this lack of ammunition and reservo material. Finally, airships will do an easy prey to the enemy’s artillery, as soon as they have learnt to shoot at high objects and have the necessary guns, which wall be as soon as airships become common. The actual service of tho airship is reconnoitring. And if it can do that, and throw' explosives occassionally, it is useful enough for war purposes. The service of a few airships equipped with .wireless telegraphy could do to an army or navy by reconnoitring the enemy’s forces, and sending messages while going, is quite inestimable. They could even do much harm in the way of torpedo-boats by turning up suddenly, throwing some explosives, and making off before the enemy had time to get their guns into position. Of course, one would have to expect .asses similar to those usual with torpedoboats, but as large airships can be built for £SOOO to £IO,OOO, one could sacrifice manv to attain results.