Part 4 (1/2)

Our own country, which in many other lines has led the world in its mechanical skill and enterprise, did not have a single army dirigible till as late as 1908, when it gave out a contract for an airs.h.i.+p which was built by Captain Thomas S. Baldwin. The motor was designed and built by a young mechanic in Hammondsport, N. Y., who for several years had been manufacturing motors for automobiles. His name was Glenn Curtiss and he afterward became one of the world's most famous aviators.

United States Army Dirigible No. 1 was long and cylindrical, pointed at both ends, and covered with j.a.panese silk, vulcanized with rubber. The water-cooled Curtiss motor was a 20 horse power, and the wooden propeller was of the ”tractor” type, placed in the front of the car.

Germany, while America and England stood idle, had been rapidly forging ahead. By 1908 Count von Zeppelin had constructed his third and fourth models, and his public demonstrations had aroused the whole German people to unbounded enthusiasm. The Crown Prince made a trip in Zeppelin No. 3 and its originator was decorated with the Order of the Black Eagle. The German a.s.sociation for an Aerial Fleet was formed, and within a short time over a million dollars had been contributed by the people for the purpose of building dirigibles.

Zeppelin No. 4 was destroyed by an accident, but Zeppelin No. 3 was recalled into the national service and in 1909 given the official t.i.tle of _S.M.S. Zeppelin I_. From this time on dirigible construction in Germany went forward with the greatest speed. Two other names became prominent in the enterprise: those of Major von Pa.r.s.eval and Major von Gross. The ”Pa.r.s.eval” design resembled more the French, for it was covered with ”Continental fabric,” was long and cylindrical, rounded at the front and pointed at the stern, with a large internal air ballonet.

The car was suspended from two steel cables or trolleys, which it could slide along, altering its position and the ”balance” of the whole airs.h.i.+p.

The ”Gross” type of airs.h.i.+p resembled the _Lebaudy_ and the _Patrie_, with its boat-shaped car hung from a steel platform attached to the bottom of the envelope.

Out of this brief story of the development of the early airs.h.i.+p models of all the nations, we can, if we look carefully, see certain definite types of dirigibles emerging. The experimenters had to solve this problem: What shall we do when owing to loss of gas the balloon envelope begins to get flabby? For of course a flabby, partially filled envelope would flop from side to side, destroying the balance of the airs.h.i.+p and checking its speed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BALDWIN U. S. ”DIRIGIBLE NO. 1”]

The German inventors settled the problem by making the envelope _rigid_, either with a solid covering or with a covering of fabric stretched over an inner framework. Thus the _rigid type_ of airs.h.i.+p was evolved.

The French inventors solved the same problem by placing inside the envelope a large _empty_ bag of fabric, into which air could be pumped when necessary to fill the balloon out and hold the envelope firm. The air could not be pumped directly into the envelope itself as it would produce an explosive mixture with the gas already there. From this method of dealing with difficulty, the _non-rigid_ type of dirigible was evolved.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE BRITISH ARMY ”BABY” DIRIGIBLE]

But the _non-rigid_ dirigible presented a new difficulty: how could the car be suspended from it in such a way that it would not swing? For only with a rigid connection between the car and the envelope could the greatest speed be obtained. The _Lebaudy_ solved this problem by attaching to the base of the envelope a rigid steel flooring, from which the car could then be suspended by an immovable connection. And so was evolved the _semi-rigid_ type of airs.h.i.+p.

In recent years another solution of this problem of preventing the car from swinging has been employed to some extent: By making the car almost as long as the envelope, the connecting cables by which the car is suspended hang almost perpendicular, and there is not the same tendency to swerve as with cables slanting down to a comparatively small car.

This type of airs.h.i.+p is called the _demi-semi-rigid_.

These then are the four general cla.s.ses of dirigibles which were used in the Great War.

CHAPTER III

DIRIGIBLES IN THE WORLD WAR

When in August, 1914, the sinister black cloud of a world war appeared on the horizon, only the Hun was prepared for the life and death struggle in the air. His formidable fleet of super-Zeppelins had not their match in the world, and his program of airs.h.i.+p construction was being pushed forward with the utmost speed and efficiency.

France had the largest fleet of dirigibles among the Allied nations.

They were of the semi-rigid type, of only medium size and slow speed.

They could not hope to compete on equal terms with the swift and powerful German airs.h.i.+ps.

Great Britain was far worse off than France, for her airs.h.i.+p fleet practically did not exist. The army had only two large modern dirigibles and a few very small vessels like the old _Nulli Secundus_, of little practical value. The navy had no airs.h.i.+ps at all.

Italy had a few good medium sized vessels, and four large dirigibles were in process of building. Russia, too, had several airs.h.i.+ps purchased from the other countries, of various makes and types, but she lacked experienced aeronauts with which to operate them.

Both France and England had already made extensive plans for the building of dirigibles, but few of the s.h.i.+ps ordered were near to completion in 1914. Only the Prussian was ready for hostilities; his airs.h.i.+ps gave him a great strategic advantage. By means of them he gained information about the movements of Allied troops and munitions; directed his artillery, bombed Allied positions, and went his way, for the most part unchallenged. His naval airs.h.i.+ps were likewise a terrible menace. One of them, in the early part of the war, received an iron cross for its work in connection with a German submarine, in an attack on three British cruisers.

Every one knows of Germany's record in the bombing of cities and towns by means of Zeppelins. In the first days of the war the Allies had no anti-aircraft guns and very few airplanes with which to protect themselves, and so Germany went unmolested while she waged her war against defenseless civilians, women and children.

The spirit of the Allies, however, could not be daunted. England put her few small dirigibles on duty over the English Channel, where they served as patrols against submarines. For this work airs.h.i.+ps are very effective, since it is a curious fact that from their height in the atmosphere it is possible to see far below the surface of the water. So during the first tragic weeks, when France and Belgium were pouring out their life-blood to check the onward sweep of the Hun, these tiny aircraft stood guard over the Channel across which the ”contemptible little army” of Britain was being hurried on transports to meet the invader. Like the contemptible little army itself they proved a factor to be reckoned with. Such aerial scouts now form a large arm of the British, French and American navies. Soon after the war began they were constructed in large numbers to serve as patrols against submarines. In the language of the air, these little dirigibles are known as _Blimps_.