CHAPTER I

Transcriber's note:

Text in italics has been marked with underscores (_text_).

Further Transcriber's Notes will be found at the end of this text.

THE ROMANCE OF AIRCRAFT

[Illustration: _Copyright Underwood and Underwood_

SEAPLANES NC-1, NC-3 AND NC-4 OF THE U. S. NAVY STARTING THE

TRANS-ATLANTIC FLIGHT FROM ROCKAWAY]

[Illustration: _Copyright Underwood and Underwood_

THE NC-4 ON ITS VICTORIOUS TRANS-ATLANTIC FLIGHT, SIXTY MILES AT SEA.

THE SHADOW IS MADE BY A STRUT OF THE PHOTOGRAPHERS' PLANE]

THE ROMANCE OF AIRCRAFT

BY

LAURENCE YARD SMITH

_WITH SIX DIAGRAMS AND THIRTY-THREE ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS_

LONDON

GRANT RICHARDS, LTD.

ST. MARTIN'S STREET

MDCCCCXIX

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BY

THE PROSPECT PRESS

CONTENTS

PART I

CHAPTER PAGE

I THE CONQUEST OF THE AIR 3

II "A B C'S" OF A BALLOON 14

III EARLY BALLOON ADVENTURES 20

IV THE PARACHUTE 28

V BALLOONING IN THE GREAT WAR 36

PART II

I DEVELOPMENT OF THE DIRIGIBLE 47

II FORERUNNERS OF THE ALLIED DIRIGIBLES 60

III DIRIGIBLES IN THE WORLD WAR 68

PART III

I EARLY EXPERIMENTS WITH HEAVIER-THAN-AIR MACHINES 77

II FIRST PRINCIPLES OF AN AIRPLANE 91

III THE PIONEERS 99

IV THE AIRPLANE IN THE WORLD WAR 128

V SOME OF THE PROBLEMS THE INVENTORS HAD TO SOLVE 150

VI FAMOUS ALLIED AIRPLANES 170

VII GERMAN AIRPLANES IN THE WORLD WAR 189

VIII HEROES OF THE AIR 205

IX THE BIRTH OF AN AIRPLANE 223

X THE TRAINING OF AN AVIATOR 232

XI THE FUTURE STORY OF THE AIR 244

READING LIST 256

INDEX 259

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Seaplanes NC-1, NC-3 and NC-4 of the U. S. Navy starting the

trans-Atlantic flight from Rockaway. The NC-4 on its

victorious trans-Atlantic flight, sixty miles at sea _Frontispiece_

FACING

PAGE

Montgolfier experiment at Versailles, 1783 10

The first cross-channel trip 11

Diagram showing the main features of the spherical balloon 16

Cocking's parachute 30

A German Zeppelin 31

Inflating a service balloon on the field 40

Army balloon ready to ascend 41

Giffard's airship 54

Santos-Dumont rounding the Eiffel Tower 55

Baldwin U. S. "Dirigible No. 1" 66

The British Army "Baby" dirigible 67

Cross section of the gas bag of the _Astra-Torres_, showing

method of car suspension 70

"The Blimp," C-1, the largest dirigible of the American Navy 72

The balloon of the _U. S. S. Oklahoma_ 73

Diagram showing the essential parts of an airplane 95

Wright starting with passenger 98

An early Farman machine prior to start 99

Wright machine rising just after leaving the rail 114

An early Wright machine, showing its method of starting from a

rail 114

The propeller department in one of the great Curtiss factories 115

A photograph of northern France taken at a height of three

thousand feet 138

An airplane view of the city of Rheims, showing the cathedral 139

Diagram of an internal combustion engine cylinder, showing

principle on which it works 157

This photograph shows the relative size of the giant Caproni

bombing plane and the French baby Nieuport, used as a speed

scout 170

The Spad, the pride of the French air fleet 171

A Handley-Page machine tuning up for a flight 182

The launching of a Langley, a giant bombing airplane 183

Side view of a Sopwith triplane 187

An American built Caproni airplane 188

This Curtiss triplane has a speed of one hundred and sixty miles

an hour 189

A giant Gotha bombing plane brought down by the French 198

German Fokker plane captured by the French 199

Captain Eddie Rickenbacker 218

The first bag of mail carried by the U. S. Aero Mail Service 219

A photograph made ten thousand feet in the air, showing machines

in "V" formation at bombing practise 242

A group of De Havilland planes at Bolling Field near Washington 243

PART I

THE ROMANCE OF AIRCRAFT

CHAPTER I

THE CONQUEST OF THE AIR

On a beautiful afternoon in the latter part of the eighteenth

century--June 5, 1793--a distinguished company of Frenchmen were

gathered in the public square of the little village of Annonay, not far

from Lyons. They had come there by special invitation of the brothers

Stephen and Joseph Montgolfier, respected owners of a paper manufactory

in the little town. It was whispered that the brothers had a great

surprise in store for them, a remarkable discovery. Yet all their

curious gaze could make out was a great linen bag, that swung, like a

huge limp sail, from a rope that was suspended between two high poles.

By means of this seemingly helpless piece of fabric the brothers

Montgolfier proposed to accomplish the conquest of the air.

Those who ventured near to this strange object perceived at its base a

wide circular opening, sewed fast to a wooden ring. The ring hung

directly over a deep pit, in which had been heaped fuel for a

bonfire,--straw and wood and chopped wool. At a given signal one of the

brothers applied a torch to the mass and in an instant the flames shot

up. A dense column of smoke arose through the neck of the bag. The

latter gradually began to fill, spreading out in all directions, until,

before the astonished gaze of the spectators, it assumed the shape of an

enormous ball, that overshadowed the square, and that pulled and

wrestled feverishly at the restraining ropes.

From the ranks of the onlookers a great shout of applause went up. The

keepers let go the ropes, and the globe, like a live creature, freed

from its bonds, rose triumphantly before their eyes. Up, up, higher and

higher it went, so fast that they could scarcely follow it. For a moment

it was hidden behind a patch of cloud, then it reappeared again, still

ascending, until it rode majestically in the heavens, seven thousand

feet above their heads!

The shouts and cries of the onlookers were deafening. Like wildfire the

news spread from house to house of the little French village. Grave old

legislators who had witnessed the surprising spectacle forgot their

dignity and tossed their hats in air. Women, seeing the unusual object

from a distance, fell on their knees to pray, thinking it a sign in the

heavens, that portended, who knew what?

Man's age-old dream of conquering the air was now, for the first time,

an accomplished fact. Those who stood in the little public square of

Annonay on that auspicious afternoon long ago, watching the first

Montgolfier globe on its victorious ascent, knew that it could be but a

very short time indeed until men would be able to explore at will the

dim regions of the upper air.

Meanwhile picture the consternation and terror among a group of humble

peasants, who were tilling the fields a short distance from the spot

where the famous Montgolfier balloon was launched. Suddenly in the sky

there appeared a great black moon, which slowly and ominously descended

toward the earth. The village priest himself led forth a little band of

his stout-hearted followers to attack this dread instrument of the Evil

One. With pitchforks and scythes they rushed upon the unfortunate

balloon as it lighted gently on the ground, heaving this way and that

with every puff of breeze that blew against it. With courage born of

fear they prodded and beat the unfortunate monster. When the gas had

finally escaped through the great gashes in its sides, and nothing

remained but a disordered heap of tatters and shreds, the proud

"conqueror of the skies" was tied fast to a horse's tail, and the

terrified creature galloped off with it into the open country.

But the news of the Montgolfier brothers' discovery spread throughout

the length and breadth of France and the civilized world. The French

king ordered a special demonstration at Versailles, before himself and

the Royal family. On this occasion a wicker basket was swung from the

richly ornamented balloon. In order to test the safety of travel in the

skies there were placed in it a sheep, a cock and a duck. A fire was

lit beneath the base of the balloon and it was filled with heated air.

It rose with its strange cargo to a height of 1500 feet, traveled along

peacefully two miles with the breeze and descended slowly into a near-by

wood. There two gamekeepers, hurrying to the scene, were amazed to find

its occupants calmly feeding, apparently unaffected by their voyage.

This incident gave the experimenters renewed courage and enthusiasm. A

gallant Frenchman, Pilâtre de Rozier, volunteered to be the first man to

make the ascent into the skies. A new and stronger machine was

constructed, this time oval in shape instead of round, 74 feet high and

48 feet in diameter. At the bottom was a huge circular opening, 15 feet

across. Just beneath this there was swung from iron chains an open

grate, on which the fire was built by means of which the balloon was

inflated. This grate hung down into a wicker basket or "gallery," in

which the occupant stood, heaping fuel upon the fire. For of course, as

soon as the fire died down, the heated air in the balloon commenced

slowly to escape, and the whole thing sank to earth.

Pilâtre de Rozier was not at first permitted to set himself free and go

voyaging unguarded into the upper air. Who knew whether this air above

the clouds was fit to breathe?--who, for that matter, knew whether there

actually _was_ air at any distance above the surface of the earth? It

was considered the better part of valor to try the experiment the first

few times with the balloon tied firmly to the ground, with strong

cables which only permitted it to rise some eighty or ninety feet. Even

with these precautions a good deal of apprehension was felt regarding

the healthfulness of the sport. But a sigh of relief was breathed by

those who had the undertaking in charge when the bold de Rozier insisted

that never in his life before had he known any experience so pleasurable

as this of rising far above the housetops and of feeling himself

floating, gently and peacefully, in a region of noiseless calm.

Impatient of this mild variety of aerial adventure, de Rozier finally

won permission to make a "free" ascent, and he and his friend, the

Marquis d'Arlandes, made a number of daring voyages in the Montgolfier

fire balloon. Assuring their friends that no harmful results could come

to them from ascending into the clouds, they loosed the ropes and went

merrily sailing away until far out of sight. So long as they kept the

fire in the grate burning the balloon remained aloft, and floated along

in the direction in which the wind bore it. When they wished to descend

they had merely to put out the fire, and as the heated air gradually

escaped, the balloon sank gently to earth.

But the dangers of this sort of aerial adventure were very great indeed,

and it required the most remarkable heroism on the part of de Rozier to

undertake them. A chance spark from the grate might at any moment set

fire to the body of the balloon, and bring it, a flaming firebrand, to

earth. De Rozier understood this, and on his very first voyage carried

along in the gallery of the balloon a bucket of water and a sponge. It

was late in November of 1893 that he and d'Arlandes floated over

Paris,--de Rozier heaping fuel upon the grate and tending the fire which

kept the balloon afloat. Suddenly d'Arlandes heard a slight crackling

noise high in the balloon. Looking up he caught a sight which turned him

cold with horror,--a tiny licking flame far above his head. He seized

the wet sponge and reached up to extinguish it. But another and yet

another appeared, little tongues of fire, eating away at the body of the

balloon. As each showed its face water was dashed upon it. From below

the balloon could be seen peacefully journeying across the city. But far

above, in its basket, de Rozier and d'Arlandes were coolly beating off

the danger that hung over them like a Sword of Damocles. Not until they

had been in the air twenty-five minutes, however, did they put out the

fire in the grate and allow themselves to sink to earth.

These early experiments of the Montgolfiers and de Rozier fired the

imaginations of scientific men in every part of the world, and it was

only a very short time before a safer and more reliable type of balloon

than the fire balloon was developed. Stephen Montgolfier's invention was

based on the idea that smoke and clouds rise in the atmosphere. "If,"

said he to himself, "it were possible to surround a cloud with a bag

which did not permit it to escape, then both would ascend." Of course

this was a rather childish explanation of the cause of a balloon

ascension, but it was the best that the Montgolfiers or any of their

learned friends knew at that early day.

Now it was only a little while before this that an Englishman had

discovered the gas which is now known as hydrogen, but which was then

called "inflammable air." This gas, of which the Montgolfiers apparently

knew nothing, is exceedingly light, and therefore rises very quickly in

the air. The year before the Montgolfier balloon was invented, this

Englishman, Cavallo, tried to fill small bags with hydrogen gas, on the

theory that they would rise in the atmosphere. He failed merely because

he did not hit upon the proper material of which to construct his bags.

The fabric he chose was porous, and the gas escaped through it before

the balloon could rise. Cavallo did, however, succeed in blowing

hydrogen into ordinary soap bubbles, which arose with great velocity and

burst as they struck the ceiling.

The problem of the material to be used in balloon construction had been

fairly well solved by the Montgolfiers. Their balloons were of linen

fabric, varnished and lined with paper, to render them as nearly as

possible air-tight. This set the philosophers of Paris thinking how they

might construct a globe which could be successfully inflated with

hydrogen.

The brothers Roberts and M. Charles made the first hydrogen balloon. It

was fashioned of very fine silk, varnished with a solution of gum

elastic. This made it impossible for the hydrogen to leak through. The

balloon was filled through an opening in the neck, which was fitted

with a stopcock, so that the gas could be poured in or allowed to escape

at will.

The funds for constructing this first hydrogen balloon had been raised

by popular subscription, and the whole French people were alive with

enthusiasm over the success of the experiment. Even at that early day

France was the ardent champion of aerial conquest.

The day set for its ascension was the 27th of August, 1783. By the night

of the 26th it had been partially filled with gas. It was tied to a

cart, and long before daylight, started its journey to the Field of

Mars. Throngs of spectators crowded every avenue. From the roof tops

thousands of eager men, women and children peered down upon it through

the darkness. Every window in every building was crowded with faces. A

strong military guard surrounded it, riding on horseback and carrying

flaring torches.

All day long multitudes crowded and jostled each other impatiently at

the point where the ascension was to take place. At five o'clock in the

afternoon the sudden booming of artillery fire gave notice to the

hundred thousand waiting that the great event was on. Released from its

bonds the balloon shot up, and in two minutes it was over 3,000 feet

above the heads of the watchers. Still it continued steadily to rise,

until finally it was lost to sight by the heavy storm clouds through

which it had cut its passage.

[Illustration: MONTGOLFIER EXPERIMENT AT VERSAILLES, 1783]

[Illustration: THE FIRST CROSS-CHANNEL TRIP]

The spectators were overjoyed, as on that first occasion when the

Montgolfier balloon rose into the skies. It was pouring rain, but they

did not seem to notice it as they cheered themselves hoarse at the

second great air victory.

The balloon, likewise, was undiscouraged by the rain. Far above the

clouds, where all was quiet sunshine, it journeyed peacefully along for

fifteen miles, and descended in an open field.

The first two important chapters in the history of ballooning had now

been written. Looking back, we are filled with gratitude to the French,

whose courage, intelligence, and boundless enthusiasm made possible the

conquest of the skies.

In other countries, of course, experiments were also in progress, though

they lacked to a great extent the popular backing which helped the

French efforts to bear such splendid results. In London, an Italian,

Count Zambeccari, constructed a hydrogen balloon of oil silk, 10 feet in

diameter and _gilded_, so that in the air it was dazzling to look upon.

A few months after the three Frenchmen launched their hydrogen balloon

in Paris, this gorgeous affair was sent up in London, in the presence of

thousands of spectators. One month later still, the city of Philadelphia

witnessed the first ascension of a hydrogen balloon in the New World. It

carried a carpenter, one James Wilcox, as passenger.

"What is the use of a balloon, anyway?" Benjamin Franklin was asked when

in Paris at the time of the Montgolfier experiments. "What is the use of

a baby?" the great American replied, smiling. Perhaps he had some

inkling of the remarkable future in store for the science of

aeronautics, then in its infancy!

The first really notable ascent in a hydrogen balloon after the early

efforts was that of a Frenchman, M. Blanchard, who rose from Paris in

1784, accompanied by a Benedictine monk. Before they had got far above

the ground a slight accident brought the balloon bumping down again. The

monk, thoroughly scared, abandoned his seat, and M. Blanchard ascended

alone. This balloon was fitted out with wings and a rudder, by which it

was hoped to steer its course, but they proved useless, and its occupant

had to allow himself to drift with the wind. He reached a height of 9600

feet, remaining in the air an hour and a quarter. Suffering from the

extreme cold which is experienced so high in the atmosphere, and almost

overcome with numbness and drowsiness, he was at length compelled to

descend.

In England at about this time, Vincent Lunardi accomplished a free

ascent in the presence of the Prince of Wales. But again it was the

Frenchman, M. Blanchard, who succeeded in making the first _long_

balloon voyage. In January, 1785, he and Dr. Jeffries, an American

physician, sailed across the English Channel from Dover. It was a

perilous adventure, with the ever present danger of falling into the

sea. Half way across they found themselves descending. Then began a

constant throwing out of ballast in a race with time and the wind. When

the bags of sand they had brought for the purpose were exhausted they

hurled overboard bottles, boxes, pieces of rope, even their compass and

the apparatus of the balloon. They were still falling when in the

distance they caught sight of the dim outline of the French coast, and

in a last effort to keep afloat they began dropping articles of clothing

over the basket's edge. Suddenly, however, the balloon began to mount.

They floated in over the land, coming to earth safely not far from

Calais.

Pilâtre de Rozier at once set about to imitate M. Blanchard's feat, and

to avoid the danger of falling he constructed a hydrogen balloon with a

fire balloon below it, so that by heaping on fuel he could force it to

rise whenever he noticed a tendency to fall. In this ingenious

contrivance he attempted to fly the Channel. At a height of 3,000 feet

both balloons were seen to burst into flames, and de Rozier fell. So the

gallant Frenchman who was first to explore the skies came to his

unfortunate end.

His death cast a gloom over the many aeronautic enthusiasts of France,

England and America. But his splendid pioneer exploits had borne their

fruit in a permanent and growing interest in the navigation of the air.

The science of aeronautics marched on, and new and important schemes

were invented for conquering the skies.

CHAPTER II

"A B C'S" OF A BALLOON

Why does a balloon rise in the atmosphere?--is the very natural question

we are apt to ask as we read the story of these early balloon

experiments. The Montgolfier brothers themselves could probably not have

answered it, for they claimed that some marvelous secret properties

existed in "Montgolfier smoke." Stephen Montgolfier seems to have had

the idea of "holding a cloud captive in a bag," since he had observed

that clouds rise in the air.

The real explanation can best be understood by a simple experiment.

Throw a stone into a pool of water and it will sink, because it is

"heavier than water": that is, it weighs more in proportion to its

volume than the same quantity of water weighs. But throw into the same

pool a piece of cork and it will rise, because it is lighter in

proportion to its volume than water. This truth was long ago expressed

as a law by the old Greek philosopher Archimedes, who said: "_Every body

immersed in a liquid loses part of its weight, or is acted upon by an

upward force equal to the weight of the liquid it displaces._" In the

case of the cork, the weight of the water it displaces is greater than

the weight of the cork, and consequently the upward force acting upon

it is sufficient to lift it to the surface of the pool; but with the

stone it is different: the water it displaces weighs _less_ than the

stone, and therefore the upward force acting upon it is not sufficient

to prevent it from sinking.

Now all this applies just as well to a body in the atmosphere as it does

to the body immersed in water. The air in this case corresponds to the

liquid. Therefore any object placed in the air which weighs less in

proportion to its volume than the atmosphere, is bound to rise. Every

object we see about us, including ourselves, which is not fastened down

to earth, would, if it were not "heavier than air," go flying off toward

the skies.

Imagine a balloon all ready to be inflated, that is, ready to be filled

with gas. The bag or "envelope" hangs limp and lifeless. Together with

the basket, ropes, etc., which are attached to it, it probably weighs

several hundred pounds, yet because its _volume_ is so small it

displaces very little air. Now we commence to inflate the balloon. As

the gas rushes in, the envelope commences to swell; it grows larger and

larger, displacing a greater volume of air every moment. When fully

inflated it displaces a volume of air much greater in weight than

itself. This weight of displaced air acts upon it with a resistless

upward force, sufficient to lift it into the clouds. The moment its

straining bonds are loosed, it rises with great velocity.

Of course, the lighter the gas that is used to inflate the balloon,

the less weight will be added by it to the total weight of the

structure,--although a lighter gas adds just as much to the volume as a

heavier one would do. If two balloons of exactly the same weight before

inflation are filled, one with the comparatively heavy coal gas which

weighs 1/2 oz. per cubic foot, and the other with the very light hydrogen,

which weighs 1/10 oz. per cubic foot, it is easy to see that the

hydrogen-filled balloon will rise much faster and have a greater lifting

power.

It is a simple matter to calculate what size balloon will be required to

lift one, two or three passengers and a given weight of cargo, for we

know that the balloon envelope must be large enough when filled with

gas, to displace a greater weight of air than its own weight, together

with the weight of the basket, equipment, passengers and cargo.

Once a balloon has been inflated and begun to ascend it would, if

unchecked, continue rising indefinitely until it reached a point in the

greatly rarefied upper air where it was exactly displacing its own

weight, or, as science puts it, was "in equilibrium with the air." But

this is usually not desirable, and so in all modern balloons arrangement

is made for lessening the volume of the envelope and so decreasing the

upward pressure. This is managed from the basket by pulling a cord which

connects with a valve at the top and thus allows some of the gas to

escape. There is also a valve in the neck of the balloon which opens

automatically when the pressure becomes too great, or which can be

operated by a cord. In addition to these two, balloons to-day have what

is known as a "_ripping panel_," or long slit closed over with a sort of

patch or strip of the envelope material. In case it becomes necessary to

make a quick descent, the ripping panel may be torn open by pulling the

cord which connects with this ripping strip. A wide rent is thus

produced in the envelope and the gas escapes very rapidly. As the

balloon becomes deflated (that is, loses its gas), it grows smaller,

displaces less and less air, and so sinks to the earth.

[Illustration: DIAGRAM SHOWING THE MAIN FEATURES OF THE SPHERICAL BALLOON]

The accompanying diagram gives a very good idea of the main features of

the spherical balloon. The envelope is usually made of strong cotton

diagonal cloth, cut in pear shaped gores and varnished with a solution

of rubber in order to prevent the gas from leaking through. At the

bottom it ends in the long _neck_,--through this the balloon is inflated

by joining it securely to a gas pipe which leads to the main supply of

gas. Over the envelope there is spread a strong _net_ made of heavy

cord. From the net hang the stout _leading lines_. The leading lines in

turn are attached to a strong wooden _hoop_, and from this hoop the car

is suspended by ropes which are called _car lines_. The cords that

connect with the upper and lower valves and the ripping panel hang down

into the car and may be operated by the occupants, or crew.

Unless the balloon is held captive it is supplied also with a _trail

rope_. This is a very heavy cable which is allowed to hang down from the

car during an ascent. When descending, as the trail rope reaches the

ground the balloon is relieved of a portion of its weight and becomes

more buoyant. This makes its descent more gradual, for as it is relieved

of one pound of weight of the dragging trail rope, it gains a slight

tendency to rise again which counteracts the severity of its downward

motion. The free balloon also has a _grapnel_ or anchor for use in

landing.

The _car_ or _basket_ of the balloon is usually made of woven willow and

bamboo, which insures strength and lightness.

This brief description of the spherical balloon is intended to give the

reader an idea of the essential features of any balloon. In modern

warfare the captive balloon has proved its usefulness for purposes of

observation, but the old spherical type is passing out. Balloons of many

shapes and sizes, all designed for greater stability, are taking its

place. Among these the "kite" or "sausage" balloon is by far the best

known. Partly a kite and partly a balloon, with its long sausage-shaped

body, its air-rudder or small steering ballonet attached to its stern,

it possesses considerable "steadiness" in the air.

The kite balloon is used over the trenches to direct artillery fire and

to report movements of the enemy: and it is likewise used over the sea,

as a guide to direct the movements of the fleet in an attack, and as a

sentinel on the look-out for enemy ships or submarines.

CHAPTER III

EARLY BALLOON ADVENTURES

No sooner had the news of the remarkable balloon exploits of de Rozier

and Blanchard spread throughout the nations, than people of all classes

became interested in the future of ballooning. There were those who

regarded it as the great coming sport, and there were also those who,

like the French military authorities, saw in this new invention a

possible weapon of war whose development they dared not neglect. It was

only a short time before the French had an army training school for

aeronauts, and a number of military service balloons.

The romance of ballooning had captured the imaginations of great masses

of people and they proved their eagerness to back up the efforts of

sportsmen balloonists with the necessary funds to carry on the many

aeronautic projects which were suggested. We have already mentioned

Chevalier Vincent Lunardi, the young Italian who was the first to

accomplish a voyage in a balloon in England. The English people had read

with ever increasing curiosity and impatience the stories of the French

balloonists. What was their delight when this young Italian, poor but

clever, proposed to give them an exhibition of their own. He had little

difficulty in obtaining permission for a start to be made from London.

The next step was to obtain funds by popular subscription for the

construction of the balloon. For a time money flowed freely into the

coffers; but a Frenchman named Moret came into the limelight as a rival

of Lunardi and announced a balloon ascent some little time before that

planned by his opponent. The demonstration promised by Moret never came

off, his balloon refused utterly to take to the air, and the indignant

spectators went home, feeling that they had been cleverly hoodwinked out

of the price of admission. Their wrath naturally turned upon the

unfortunate Lunardi, and it was only with difficulty and after much

discouragement that he actually succeeded in carrying his undertaking to

completion. Finally, however, he had his balloon built. The King had

withdrawn his permission for a flight from the grounds of the Chelsea

hospital, but he succeeded in securing another starting place, and

announced that he was ready to demonstrate what the balloon could do.

Vast crowds gathered to witness the spectacle. The balloon itself was

gorgeous to behold. It looked like a mammoth Christmas-tree ball, of

shining silk, in brilliant stripes of red and blue. It was filled with

hydrogen gas, and as it gradually took form before their eyes, the

people shouted with excitement and eagerness.

It was a pleasant September afternoon in the year 1784. When all was in

readiness, Lunardi, no less eager and excited than the masses who had

gathered to witness his exploit, climbed into the car. The cords were

loosed and in a few moments the balloon, in its gala dress, was soaring

far in the sky. Lunardi enjoyed his flight immensely. After traveling

along without a mishap for a considerable time, he decided to come down,

but once he had touched the earth he was seized by the desire to soar

again. Putting out some of his ballast he allowed the balloon to arise

once more into the sky. Finally in the late afternoon he came to earth

for the second time, landing in a field and greatly terrifying the

simple country folk who were at work there. He was cold and hungry after

his long journey in the rarefied upper air, but happy at the remarkable

triumph he had achieved. Henceforth ballooning would not be regarded

with derision and unbelief in England. The English nation was as wild

with joy as the French had been at the early balloon ascents. Lunardi

was lionized and became the favorite of the hour; his presence was

demanded everywhere and he was royally entertained by the foremost

people of the realm.

The British Isles became, from this time on, the scene of many a

thrilling adventure with the balloon. It was only a few years later that

Charles Green, the most famous of all the early English aeronauts, began

his voyages in the _Great Nassau_, the balloon whose name is even to-day

a tradition. In it he started out, one fall day in the year 1836,

carrying provisions for a long voyage, but with no idea where the winds

would carry him. The great balloon passed out over the British Channel

and in again over the coast of France. Day faded into twilight and

twilight into the blackness of night, but still it continued steadily on

its way. Through the darkness Green and the friends who accompanied him

in the large car of the balloon peered anxiously over the side, trying

to guess where they were being blown. Finally after an all night ride,

the dawn began to break, and in the morning the great balloon was

brought to earth on German territory. Green had accomplished the longest

balloon trip of his day. In the years that followed he made many

voyages, but none that won for him more renown than this one.

Since the days when Blanchard accomplished the first trip across the

British Channel, and the fearless de Rozier sought to imitate him, a

number of aeronauts had made interesting voyages between France and

England. One of the most adventurous was that of Mr. C. F. Pollock, in

July, 1899. Accompanied by a friend, Mr. Pollock ascended early one

afternoon, and after a picturesque and beautiful trip across the English

countryside, sailed out over the sea. Behind them rose the white cliffs

of the English coast, while before them gathering clouds hung like a

curtain, through which they peered anxiously. Suddenly the balloon began

to fall, and, fearful lest they should land in the rough waters of the

channel, they began throwing overboard the sand which they had carried

along as ballast. By means of this they succeeded in rising once more to

a height of seven or eight thousand feet. It was early evening. Far

below the sea had ceased to roar. They floated along in a realm of

silence where nothing was visible through the veil of mist. At length

the veil was broken by the dim outline of the French coast. On and on

they drifted yet seemed to draw no closer to it. There it remained,

always ahead of them, tantalizing and provoking. Their ballast was

almost gone, and they had unpleasant visions of landing in the water

within view of their goal. So calmly and evenly did the balloon move

forward that it was practically impossible for its occupants to tell

whether it was moving at all. As they peered ahead uncertainly,

searching the sea for a vessel by which they might gauge their progress,

they felt themselves once more commencing to sink. In another few

minutes the rest of the sand had been thrown overboard. There was

nothing left with which to check the falling of the balloon, which

surely and ominously continued. The French coast was still many miles

away. Almost in despair the two aeronauts cast about them for something

which could be hurled over the side to lighten the weight of the

balloon. As a last measure they decided upon the anchor. In another

moment they had tossed it into the sea. Relieved of so great a weight

the balloon shot up with lightning speed. The coast was drawing closer,

but after its first swift ascent the balloon commenced to sink again and

the aeronauts almost gave up hope of actually reaching shore. But just

about eight o'clock they discovered to their great relief that the

cliffs that marked the coast were below them. In another few minutes

they had sailed in over the land. They opened the valve of the balloon

and effected a descent in a field, where they were soon surrounded by an

admiring circle of French peasants.

It was only about ten years after the pioneer voyages of de Rozier that

the balloon was actually used on the battlefield, for in 1794 the French

employed it against the Austrians at Mayence and at Charleroi. Under the

fire of the Austrians who sought to prevent him from ascending, the

French Captain Coutelle rose in an observation balloon at Mayence to a

height of over a thousand feet. At that height he was beyond the range

of the Austrian guns and could sit at ease watching their movements and

preparations, at the same time dropping communications to the officers

below. By his pluck he made possible a French victory, although the

Austrians, much chagrined at their own lack of observation balloons,

declared that this sort of warfare was unfair.

It may surprise Americans to know that balloons were used to good

purpose for observation work in our own Civil War, and that they

assisted the army of the North to keep an eye on the movements of

Confederate troops around Richmond. They were once more employed by the

French during the siege of Paris in 1870 and 1871, when 66 balloons left

the city at various times, bearing messages, passengers, and flocks of

carrier pigeons, which were used for delivering return messages. One

plucky Frenchman dropped thousands of messages from his balloon upon the

German soldiers, warning them of France's determination to fight to the

bitter end. The incident reminds us somewhat of similar ones in the

Great War, when the Allied aviators bombed the cities of Germany with

proclamations.

The first notable employment of the balloon by the British army occurred

during the Boer War. During the siege of Ladysmith captive balloons were

used to good purpose for observation and they were likewise made use of

during a number of battles and under heavy fire. The French again

employed them during the wars in Madagascar. Balloons had by the end of

the nineteenth century become an important adjunct of every great army,

and had proved themselves indispensable. Strange to relate they have

never been driven from the field, and although we have to-day the swift

dirigible and the still swifter airplane, there are certain military

duties which they can perform best.

While the balloon was thus becoming a recognized instrument of war it

was likewise gaining in favor among sportsmen. In all the great nations

Aero Clubs were formed and races and contests began to be announced. In

1906 Gordon Bennett made the offer of a Challenge Cup for the longest

trip by balloon. The contestants were to start from Paris. On September

30th, 1906, sixteen balloons arose from the Tuileries Gardens and

started on their way. An American, Lieutenant Frank P. Lahm, carried off

the cup, accomplishing a total distance of 401 miles and landing in

Yorkshire.

The second race for the Gordon Bennett cup was held in America, and was

won by a German. The third was held in 1908 in Germany. The winner,

Colonel Schaeck, made a dangerous descent upon the sea near the coast of

Norway, where he was rescued by a fishing boat. Several other

contestants had perilous adventures. The American balloon _Conqueror_

exploded in mid-air, much to the excitement of the thousands of

spectators who had gathered to witness the start of the race. Instead of

crashing to earth, however, as they had expected, it sank down gently,

the upper part of the envelope forming a parachute. The aeronauts made

an amusing landing on a housetop, little the worse for their sudden drop

of several thousand feet. Another American balloon landed in the

branches of a tree, while several of the remaining contestants came down

in the sea and were rescued. On the whole it was a thoroughly exciting

race, and the news of it aroused intense enthusiasm for the sport of

ballooning in many lands.

CHAPTER IV

THE PARACHUTE

The story of the parachute is inevitably linked in memory with that of

the balloon. Those who look back a few years can remember when

exhibition balloons were in their heyday, and the sensation the

parachutist used to create as he leapt from on high and came flying

recklessly through the air. For a breathless moment or two the parachute

remained folded, and when, finally, its umbrella-like form spread out

protectingly above the hero, a thrill of relief ran through the anxious

crowd of spectators.

In the early days of ballooning the parachute was looked on as a sort of

life belt the aeronaut might don in the event of a serious accident to

his craft in mid-air. Many experimenters gave their attention to

developing it for this purpose; but when it was found that the

balloonist actually needed no protection, since the balloon itself would

"parachute" to earth after an explosion, interest in the matter waned.

To-day the parachute has come once more into prominence because of the

heroic work it performed in connection with the kite balloon and with

the airplane in the war, and so our concern in it has revived. Many

stories reached us from the front, of artillery spotters who jumped to

safety when their observation balloons were unexpectedly attacked by

enemy airplanes. It has actually become the "life-belt of the air."

More often in the early days of ballooning it was a source of grave

danger to the plucky aeronaut who sought to try it out and improve it,

and its history includes the record of several sad accidents.

It was in the very year that the balloon was invented that a Frenchman,

M. Le Normand began experimenting with a contrivance resembling an

umbrella, with which he jumped from the branches of a tree, and sank

gently to earth, the parachute saving him from injury. Successful as his

first attempt was it seems that he afterward lost his nerve, and later

attempts were made with animals placed in a basket below the parachute

and dropped to earth from a considerable height.

Blanchard, the famous balloonist, became interested in the idea of the

parachute, and made a number of very interesting experiments. While

making a public ascent in a balloon at Strasbourg, he dropped over the

side of his balloon a dog with a parachute attached to him. The

spectators were greatly pleased when the little creature came to earth

quite unharmed, and public interest in the contrivance as a means of

saving life was aroused.

In 1793 Blanchard himself undertook to make a parachute descent. He was

not wholly successful, for before he reached the earth the apparatus

gave way and he crashed down heavily, fortunately escaping with nothing

worse than a broken leg. In spite of his injury he did not give up the

idea of the parachute as a "life belt" for the aeronaut, and looked

forward to the time when it should be so improved that it could be

relied upon to bring the aeronaut to earth uninjured if any accident

should make it necessary for him to escape from his balloon in mid-air.

However it was again a Frenchman, M. André Garnerin who accomplished the

first descent by parachute from a great height without injury. His

parachute was attached to a balloon. At a height of several thousand

feet in the air, he freed himself and descended gradually, alighting

gently upon the earth. That was in 1797 and five years later he gave a

public demonstration of his parachute in England. This time he was not

so successful, for his apparatus broke before he reached the ground and

he received a number of injuries by his fall.

The parachute actually saved a life, however, in 1808, when the aeronaut

R. Jordarki Kuparanto, whose balloon caught fire in mid-air during a

demonstration at Warsaw, leapt over the side with his parachute and came

to earth unharmed.

[Illustration: COCKING'S PARACHUTE]

The parachute which Garnerin and the early aeronauts used in their

experiments was fashioned to resemble an umbrella. As the aeronaut

descended and the swift current of air caused by the fall rushed up

under this canopy, it tended to hold it in the air much as the wind

supports a kite, and thus the force of the descent was broken. In the

year 1837 an Englishman named Cocking, who had been studying the

principles of the parachute, came forward with an idea which differed

greatly from this. The parachute he invented resembled an umbrella that

had been blown inside out by the wind,--it was in other words an

inverted cone, with a basket for the aeronaut hung from the cone's apex.

The upper rim of the cone was made of tin to strengthen it, and the

sides were of cloth.

[Illustration: _Copyright Underwood and Underwood_

A GERMAN ZEPPELIN]

Cocking was very enthusiastic over his invention, for he believed that

his inverted parachute would descend more smoothly through the air than

the old kind, which, while it supported the aviator, had a tendency to

rock and pitch in the air after the manner of a kite. He sought an

opportunity of giving his idea a public trial, but experienced aeronauts

advised him not to do so, as they did not trust the safety of his

apparatus. However, he insisted, and he finally persuaded the famous

aeronaut Green to take him up.

On July 24th, 1837, the famous experiment was made. Green ascended in

the great Nassau balloon, with Cocking's parachute suspended beneath it.

Thousands of spectators had gathered to watch the ascent, but as the

balloon was carried away by the breeze it was finally lost to their

view, and so they were spared witnessing the accident which followed.

Green had been greatly worried over the safety of the parachute and had

refused to free it from his balloon, but this difficulty Cocking had

overcome by arranging a contrivance which permitted him to free himself

when he thought the proper moment had arrived for his experiment.

Finally, at a height of about 5000 feet, he called good-by to Green and

let himself go. Relieved of his weight the balloon bounded up with great

swiftness, and it was some time before it recovered its equilibrium.

Meanwhile the parachute fell earthward with tremendous speed, rocking

from side to side, until finally, unable to stand the strain any longer

it went to pieces in the air, and the unfortunate parachutist came

crashing to the ground. He died a few moments later.

Cocking's death cast a gloom over parachute enthusiasts, and for some

time the contrivance fell into disfavor. But the real reason for its

disuse was that balloonists found they needed no "life belt," as the

balloon itself, if for any reason an explosion should occur, would sink

gently to earth, the upper portion of the envelope forming a natural

parachute.

So for a number of years the parachute was little heard of, except as a

"thriller" at country fairs. In this connection it was always fairly

popular. It was usually a folding umbrella parachute that the performer

used on such occasions. As he leapt from the balloon he dropped straight

down during a few terrifying seconds. Then to the relief of the

spectators the parachute slowly and gracefully opened like a huge canopy

over his head. From that moment his fall was checked and he sank

gracefully and slowly to the earth.

With the coming of the Great War the day of the parachute was revived.

Greatly improved in construction it came into its true and important

rôle as the "life-belt" of the aeronaut. The life of the balloon

observer in war times is a precarious one. His balloon is not free but

is held captive by heavy cables reaching to the ground below. Hour after

hour he sits watching the situation over the enemy's lines by means of a

telescope. In the balloon basket he has a telephone which connects with

the ground station, and thus he is able to send constant instructions to

the artillery, enabling them to hit their objectives, as well as to keep

the officers informed of the general situation. But his stationary

position makes him an easy target for enemy bombs and bullets. At any

moment he may find himself attacked by a squadron of airplanes. At the

first indication of danger his comrades on the ground begin hauling his

balloon down, and this precaution may possibly save his life. But often

the emergency is very great. The aeronaut, attacked, unexpectedly and

with no means of defending himself, has but one chance of saving his

life, and that is to spring with his parachute from the balloon.

Thus the parachute was instrumental in saving many lives during the

Great War, and in peace times it will probably be further developed for

use in connection with the airplane as well as the balloon. Here the

great difficulty lies in the fact that the pilot is strapped in his

seat, and that he would not have time, in case of an accident in

mid-air, to unstrap himself and attach a parachute device to his body.

This might be overcome by having an apparatus already attached, so that

all he would have to do would be to free himself from his seat and leap

over the side. Here again he would run a very great danger of being

instantly killed, as unless he maneuvered his control levers just right

before taking the leap, he would probably be hit by his own machine.

The idea has been suggested of a parachute arrangement to be attached to

the upper wing of the airplane itself. This parachute would remain

closed except in case of accident, when a lever operated by the pilot

would cause it to open and carry the airplane safely to the ground. But

the plan has never been worked out and it is impossible to say at this

early date whether it would prove of much real benefit. In cases of

engine failure the aviator can very often glide down safely to the

earth; while in wartime, there is always the possibility that if the

wings of the airplane were damaged by enemy fire the parachute also

might be impaired.

An interesting use of the parachute was made by bombing airplanes and

Zeppelins during the Great War. The pilots of these craft dropped flares

or lights attached to parachutes, and by means of these they succeeded

in locating their objectives and at the same time in "blinding" the

operators of searchlights and anti-aircraft guns.

Just what the future of the parachute will be it is hard to predict. If

there are to be future wars it will no doubt play an important part in

them in the saving of human life.

The next few years will probably see the advent of huge aerial liners,

built somewhat on the design of the Zeppelin. These great airships will

travel in regular routes across the important countries of the world,

bearing heavy cargoes of merchandise and large numbers of passengers.

And we can easily imagine that in that day every traveler in the air

will be supplied with a parachute as the ocean traveler of to-day is

provided with a life-belt. Thus the simple little parachute will have

performed its useful mission in the triumphal progress of aeronautics.

CHAPTER V

BALLOONING IN THE GREAT WAR

If you went down New York Bay during wartime you probably saw at the

entrance of the harbor a United States cruiser stationed, with a "kite"

balloon attached to it, standing sentinel against enemy submarines or

aircraft. From their positions high in the basket, the observers could

see far below the surface of the water, for the higher one rises in the

air the clearer the depths of the water become to the vision. They had

powerful glasses and by means of them could see far out over the water,

where at any moment a periscope might have shown its face. The observers

in that sentinel balloon could spot a submarine while it was still a

long way off. A telephone connection reaching from the basket to the

ship below made it possible for them to report a danger instantly, and

soon the news would be traveling by wireless to the waiting destroyers

and chasers.

This was probably the most important war duty that was being performed

by a balloon on this side of the Atlantic. But over in Europe the kite

balloon did valiant service above the trenches.

The coming of the heavier-than-air machine, with its powerful motor, its

bird-like body, its great speed and lifting power, seemed at first to

have driven the balloon from the field as an implement of war. And in

fact, in the early days of the World War the airplane was almost

exclusively employed by the Allies for scouting over the lines, watching

enemy movements, directing artillery fire, and keeping the general staff

informed of the strategic situation.

It was the Hun who first discovered that many of these duties could be

far more efficiently performed by the "kite" or "sausage" balloon--the

drachen balloon, as the Germans called it. This was not originally a

German invention. It was first proposed in 1845 by an Englishman named

Archibald Douglas, but his experiments did not meet with success and the

undertaking was allowed to drop. Two Prussian officers, Major von

Parseval and Captain von Sigsfeld, seizing upon the idea of the kite

balloon as of great military importance, set themselves to developing

it. In 1894 they produced the first drachen balloon, and it was this

that gave the German army at the outbreak of the war one of its greatest

advantages over the Allies.

The chief requirement for any observation balloon is that it shall rest

in the air absolutely steady and motionless, so that the observer may

not be interrupted in his study of the enemy's territory. The spherical

balloon is apt to sway and roll with every puff of wind. The "kite"

balloon therefore is a great improvement. Long and sausage-shaped, it

combines the features of a kite and a balloon. Set at an angle to the

wind, it is supported partly by the gas with which the main envelope is

inflated, and partly by the action of the breeze blowing against its

under surface, exactly as a kite is held in the air.

A smaller balloon, or steering ballonet, as it is called, is attached to

the stern of the kite balloon and acts as a rudder. This ballonet is not

inflated with the gas. It hangs limp while the balloon ascends, but the

breeze quickly rushes into its open end beneath the main envelope and

fills it out. This air-rudder, as it catches the breeze, acts as a

steadier for the balloon. The main envelope has also an air chamber or

section at the rear, which is partitioned off, and which is not filled

with gas but is kept inflated by the action of the breeze; while on

either side of the rudder there are two small rectangular sails, which

help resist any motion of the breeze which might cause the balloon to

sway.

Before the war the other large powers had made no attempts to imitate

the German "drachen," although they had every opportunity of observing

and studying it, and it seems very likely they actually underestimated

its military importance. But when the war began, Germany surprised the

Allies by the efficiency of these observation posts in the air. The fact

that they were captive gave them certain advantages over the airplane

for particular lines of work. They were able to direct artillery fire

and keep the general staff informed of the situation over the lines.

High in the air these lookouts could spot the tiniest change in the map.

Provided with the finest instruments for observing, and connected with

the artillery station or the headquarters by telephone, they could send

in momently reports of the progress of the battle. While the airplane

was circling the sky to watch the effects of the last artillery fire,

and had to get back to the ground before it could give full instructions

to the gunners, the man in the basket of the kite balloon with a

telephone in his hand, could report every second just where the last

shell struck, whether the shooting was too high or too low, and how to

vary the aim to get closer to the target. He was the eye of his battery.

The story of how the French military authorities at Chalais Meudon

succeeded in obtaining plans for the first French military kite balloon

was one of the carefully guarded secrets of the war. In the spring of

1915 the manufacture of kite balloons was well under way in France. In

record time whole battalions of them were ready for service on land and

on sea. They played a gallant rôle in the Dardanelles in connection with

the British fleet. Soon afterward they were employed over the trenches

in France.

The military kite balloon's first and chief aim is the directing of

artillery fire. This it can do better than the airplane, which travels

at high speed and must constantly circle or fly backward and forward in

order to keep close to and be able to watch the target that is being

aimed at. But the observer in the balloon basket sits practically

motionless, while with the aid of a powerful telescope he watches the

results of the firing. Before him he has a map on which he can plot the

location of the target, and through a telephone connection he can

advise the men in the ground station how to vary the range.

Think how much easier it is for him to explain to the men below by word

of mouth the results of his observations, than for the observer in an

airplane, soaring through the sky, to send that same message in a few

brief words by means of wireless.

As a matter of fact the kite balloon at the front usually carries two

observers in its basket: one to work directly with the artillery and the

other to do general look-out work. The first has his eye on the target

which the men below are trying to hit, and watches for the explosions of

shells fired by his battery. But his comrade lets his gaze roam all over

the horizon. He sees the movements of enemy troop trains, the massing of

men and supplies, the flashes of the enemy's batteries. Should some

objective of great importance loom up in the distance, such as a convoy

of ammunition, the word is passed instantly to the battery below, and

the guns are trained on it.

[Illustration: INFLATING A SERVICE BALLOON ON THE FIELD]

After the work in connection with the batteries, the second great rôle

of the observation balloon is to keep the commanding officer at

headquarters informed of the movements of the enemy, the effects of the

firing and the general situation. The men in a balloon of this sort must

know the territory very intimately, so that they can spot the tiniest

change. It is their duty to discover concealed batteries and other

objects behind the enemy's lines which may help the Divisional staff to

lay its plans. And remember that they have no landmarks to go by. Out in

that dread region of battle not a tree nor a mound has been left to vary

the dull monotony of the brown earth, swept clean by the constant rain

of shells. So it requires sharp eyes to distinguish the carefully

camouflaged batteries of the enemy.

[Illustration: ARMY BALLOON READY TO ASCEND]

Of course the observation balloon at the front has to be carefully

protected, for it furnishes a good target for the bombs from enemy

aircraft. Every kite balloon has its detachment of defending airplanes,

which circle round it in wide circles, on the lookout for approaching

bombing planes of the enemy. Anti-aircraft guns also stand guard against

the danger. Nevertheless the observer's life is a perilous one, the more

so because he is a fixed target, unable to shift his position. A story

is told of the heroism of Emile Dubonnet, the wealthy French sportsman,

who was observing for the French "75's" near Berry-au-Bac when he was

attacked by two German taubes. Appearing suddenly out of the clouds,

they swooped down upon him, hovering over his balloon and dropping

shells, which fortunately missed their aim. The taubes were so near to

the balloon that the French were forced to stop firing lest they hit

their own man. Coolly Dubonnet continued his observations of the enemy's

territory, telephoning the results of their fire to the French batteries

below him, until a couple of French planes arrived on the scene and

drove the taubes back to their lines. So severe is the strain of

constant scanning of the enemy's territory through high powered glasses

that it was found necessary to draw the observation balloon down about

every two hours in order to change observers. At dawn the first balloons

were sent up. All day long, except for the brief intervals when

observers were changed, they stood there in the sky. Often far into the

night they continued to play their silent rôle in the great drama of

war. Some of the observers in fact became so experienced that they were

able to do almost as good work at night as by day. It is said that enemy

guns so camouflaged that they are not visible by day not infrequently

show up in the darkness.

The kite balloon is connected with the earth by means of a strong steel

cable, which winds onto an immense reel. To send the balloon up, the

reel is turned and the cable is played out; when it is necessary to draw

the balloon to earth once more, the cable is again wound about the reel.

An electric motor is attached to the reel and turns it in one direction

or the other. Through the center of the cable runs the telephone wire

which connects the observer in the basket with the battery with which he

works. The observer is equipped with a parachute for use in case of

sudden danger. This parachute has straps like those of a man's

suspenders which hold it to his back. When he springs from the balloon

the parachute quickly opens and lands him gently and safely on the

ground.

The kite balloon itself has been greatly improved since it was first

constructed by the Germans. One of its greatest disadvantages lay in the

great drag upon the cable, which when the wind was very high caused

such an excessive strain that it was dangerous to use the balloon. The

German "drachen" was badly "streamlined," that is to say, its shape

offered great resistance to the wind. This resistance was increased by

the rush of air into the open mouth of the steering ballonet.

An attempt to improve the design of the kite balloon was made by an

American firm, the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company of Akron, Ohio. They

constructed a balloon which in general outline resembled the German

"drachen," but which had not the steering ballonet or rudder at the

stern. In its place they substituted large flat fins at the stern, and

these, while they offered less resistance and thus reduced the strain or

tug of the balloon upon its cable, did not hold the balloon absolutely

steady in the air, as the steering ballonet had done. In order to give

great steadiness the Goodyear people designed a tail like that of a

kite, consisting of a number of very small inverted parachutes. These as

they caught the breeze produced a resistance which steadied the balloon

after the manner of the air rudder.

The Goodyear kite balloon was not an unqualified success, and it

remained for Captain Cacquot of the French army to produce the most

satisfactory design. His was an almost perfect streamline model. Long

and sausage-shaped like the German "drachen," it has, in place of the

steering ballonet, three small ballonets at the stern which are in

reality inflated fins. They are filled with air which is fed to them by

a mouth or opening underneath the main envelope. These inflated fins,

while acting as a rudder to hold the balloon steady in the air, do not

offer the resistance that was caused by either the flat fins of the

Goodyear model or the open-mouthed steering ballonet of the old type.

Thus the French streamline balloon came to be the accepted model of the

Allied nations, and proved itself an efficient arm of the service during

the war.

Ballooning in itself will probably never be the sport that it once was,

for the coming of the swift motor-driven dirigible and the still swifter

airplane has made the old wind-driven vessel a hopelessly obsolete

contrivance. It is therefore all the more interesting to know that the

captive balloon, developed to highest form of efficiency, gave good

service in the war against Germany and made itself a reliable and

valuable servant of our armies, accomplishing its mission in a

particular field in which neither the airship nor the airplane was able

to compete with it successfully.

PART II

CHAPTER I

DEVELOPMENT OF THE DIRIGIBLE

No sooner had the Montgolfiers and their colleagues constructed their

earliest balloon models than scientific men and the general public,

aroused by the possibilities of navigating the heavens, set themselves

to devising schemes for steering aircraft. For of course the one great

faculty which the balloon lacked was the ability to choose its own

course. Once it arose into the air it was carried along in the direction

and at the speed of whatever wind happened to be blowing.

Interest in the problem waxed so hot that there was scarcely a banker,

farmer or grocer of those early days who did not have his private theory

concerning the steering of balloons. Many learned essays on the subject

were written, and many foolish solutions were advanced, among them that

of harnessing a flock of birds to the balloon, with reins for guiding

them. But the idea every one thought most likely was that of oars, sails

and a rudder.

Now there are several very good reasons why this method, adapted from

sailing vessels, is useless when it comes to a balloon. In the first

place, no sooner has the balloon risen to its maximum height into the

atmosphere than it is caught in an air-current and carried along at

exactly the same rate of speed as that at which the air itself is

moving. To the occupants it seems to be hanging motionless in a dead

calm, where there is no breeze blowing. Since its motion and that of the

surrounding air are exactly equal, there is of course no resisting

pressure against a sail, which simply hangs dead and lifeless.

To "row" in the air, on the other hand, would require oars of enormous

size or else moving at a tremendous speed and a superhuman strength

would be needed for moving them. Stop to think of the great velocity and

power of the wind and then try to imagine the strength that would be

necessary to row against this tide.

These facts, however, did not occur to the early experimenters, and

balloons equipped with sails and oars were actually constructed. In

order that they might present less resistance to the air, they were made

egg-shaped, or long and cylindrical, sometimes with pointed ends, and

this, at least, was an advance.

Another step in the right direction was the suggestion of paddle wheels,

projecting from each side of the car, and beating the air as they

revolved. This was coming very close to the correct solution, that of a

revolving propeller.

But unfortunately at this early date the mechanical sciences were in

their infancy, and although soon afterward the idea of a screw propeller

did come up, the inventors were handicapped by the fact they knew of no

other power than "hand-power" with which to drive it.

The man who might almost be called the father of the modern dirigible

balloon was the French General Meusnier, an officer in the army and a

man of great scientific and technical skill. Meusnier just proposed that

air-bags or ballonets as they are now called be placed inside the

balloon proper. By pumping air into these the balloon envelope could be

filled out again when it had become partly deflated by loss of gas, for

one of the great problems was to maintain the _shape_ of the balloon

after a quantity of gas had escaped. This was a good idea, but

unfortunately its first public trial almost resulted in a tragedy. One

Duke de Chartres ordered a balloon of this sort to be built for him by

the brothers Robert, Parisian mechanics. Accompanied by the Roberts

themselves and another man he ascended in it in July, 1784. The balloon

was fish-shaped and was equipped with oars and a rudder. No sooner had

it started on its upward journey than it was caught in a violent swirl

of air which tore away the oars. The opening in the neck of the balloon

became closed over by the air bag inside, and there was no outlet for

the gas, which expanded as the balloon rose. Undoubtedly a terrific

explosion would have occurred, but the Duke, with great presence of

mind, drew his sword and cut a slash ten feet long in the balloon

envelope. He saved his own life and that of his comrades. The gas,

escaping through the rent, allowed the balloon to settle slowly to

earth, without injury to its occupants.

But the spectators did not understand the emergency, and the Duke was

covered with ridicule for his supposed cowardice.

The idea of the air-bags, however, was a useful one, and in later

experiments worked well.

Meusnier gave a great deal of earnest study and experiment to the

dirigible balloon, and he originated a design which was far ahead of his

day. He decided on an elliptical or "egg" shape for the envelope, with

small air bags inside it, and he suggested using a boat shaped car,

which would offer less resistance to the air than the old round basket.

The car was attached to the balloon by an absolutely rigid connection,

so that it could not swing backward as the balloon drove ahead. Halfway

between the car and the envelope he placed three propellers, and these,

for want of any form of motor, were driven by hand pulleys.

Meusnier's design for a dirigible was the cleverest and most practical

of its day, but owing to the cost, it was never actually carried out. In

1793, General Meusnier was killed at Mayence, fighting against the

Prussians. After his death, little was heard of the dirigible balloon

for another fifty years. Except perhaps for the novelty balloons at the

country fair, the science of aeronautics slept.

The next appearance of the dirigible in history was in 1852, when the

work of the Frenchman Giffard attracted widespread attention.

In 1851, Giffard had constructed a small steam engine, of about three

horsepower, and weighing only 100 pounds. He thought it could be used

for driving a balloon, and with the aid of a couple of friends he set

to work building an airship, which was somewhat the shape of a cigar,

pointed at the ends. It was 144 feet long and 40 feet in diameter at its

thickest part, and it held 88,000 cubic feet of gas. Over the envelope

was spread a net from which a heavy pole was suspended by ropes. At the

end of this pole, or keel, as Giffard called it, was a triangular sail

which acted as a rudder. Twenty feet below the pole hung the car, in

which was the steam motor and propeller.

With this new means of driving the propeller, the dirigible began to

show signs of proving a success, although as yet it could not develop

any very great speed. One reason was that the engine was too heavy in

proportion to the power it generated. Giffard's airship under the most

favorable conditions could only go at from four to five miles an hour,

when there was no wind.

One of the problems Giffard had to solve was that of preventing an

explosion of the gas escaping through the neck of the balloon, as it

came in contact with the heat of the engine. To avoid this, he placed a

piece of wire gauze, similar to that used in safety lanterns, in front

of the stokehole and the smoke of the furnace was allowed to escape

through a chimney at one corner of the car, pointing downwards.

Giffard's second airship, of somewhat different design, was destroyed by

an accident on its very first trip. He at once began working on a design

for a giant airship, which was to be 1,970 feet long, and 98 feet in

diameter at the middle. The motor was to weigh 30 tons, and he estimated

that the airship would fly at 40 miles an hour. He worked out the scheme

in every detail, but owing to the expense the dirigible was never made.

The first "military dirigible" ever built was that constructed by Dupuy

de Lôme for the French government during the siege of Paris, and tried

out in 1872. Its propeller was driven by a crew of eight men, a very

curious proceeding, since the steam engine had been successfully tried.

A dirigible which was almost modern in design was meanwhile being

constructed by Paul Haenlein in Germany, and made its appearance in

1872. It was long and cylindrical, with pointed ends, the car placed

close to the balloon envelope, to give a very rigid connection. Its

really noteworthy feature was the gas engine, replacing the steam engine

that Giffard had used as a means of driving the propeller. The gas for

the engine was taken from the balloon itself and the loss was made good

by pumping air into the air-bags. The balloon envelope held 85,000 cubic

feet of gas, and of this the engine consumed 250 cubic feet an hour.

This dirigible, on trial trips, attained a very fair speed, which would

have been greater had hydrogen gas been used in the envelope instead of

ordinary gas. But lack of funds prevented further experiment, and

Haenlein had to abandon his attempts.

Ten years now passed before the next notable effort at dirigible

construction. The delay was probably due to the fact that no suitable

driving power was yet known. In 1882 the famous French aeronauts Gaston

and Albert Tissandier constructed an airship somewhat similar to

Giffard's models, but containing an electric motor. But although this

dirigible cost £2,000 or almost $10,000 to build, it had the same fault

as all that preceded it; it could not develop speed. The problem of

finding an engine of sufficiently light weight and high power was a

difficult one, which has not to-day been wholly solved.

The public generally had begun to think of the dirigible balloon as

impractical and impossible, when in 1884 came the startling news that

two French officers, named Renard and Krebs, had performed some

remarkable feats in a balloon of their own design. An electric motor of

8-1/2 horsepower drove the propeller.

Several details of this dirigible are extremely interesting. The axis on

which the propeller blades were fixed could be lifted in order to

prevent them from being injured in case of a sudden drop. A trail rope

was also used so as to break the shock which might result from a sudden

fall. At the back between the car and the balloon was fixed the rudder,

of unusual design, consisting of two four-sided pyramids with their

bases placed together.

Renard and Krebs christened their dirigible "La France," and on August

9, 1884, they gave it its first public tryout near Chalais, with great

success. They traveled some distance against the wind, turned and came

back covering a distance of about 5 miles in 23 minutes. Never before

had a balloon been able to make a trip and return to the place of its

ascension.

But in spite of the success of Renard and his comrade, construction of

dirigibles in France paused for sometime, and it was in Germany that the

next attempts were made.

In 1880, a cigar-shaped dirigible, equipped with a benzine motor was

demonstrated in Leipsic. It had been built the year before by Baumgarten

and Wölfert. At its sides it had "wings" or sails and three cars were

suspended from it instead of one. This airship met with a serious

accident on its very first trip. A passenger in one of the cars

destroyed the balance, the whole thing toppled over and crashed to the

earth, the occupants miraculously escaping injury.

Not long afterward Baumgarten died. Wölfert constructed a new dirigible

of his own design containing a benzine motor in which he ascended from

the Tempelhofer Feld, near Berlin, in June, 1897. Wölfert had neglected

to provide against contact of the gas escaping from the envelope with

the heated fumes from the engine. An explosion took place in mid-air,

and the machine fell to earth in a mass of flames, killing Wölfert and

the other occupant.

[Illustration: GIFFARD'S AIRSHIP]

Next in the long series of attempts came that of an Austrian named David

Schwartz, who designed a dirigible with one entirely new feature: a

rigid aluminum envelope. This balloon had a petrol engine. It was tried

out in Berlin in 1897, but an accident to the propellers brought it

crashing to the ground. Its occupant jumped for his life and barely

escaped killing.

Up to this time there is little to record in dirigible history but a

long series of valiant attempts and failures, punctuated all too

frequently by grewsome disasters. But the nineteenth century was drawing

to a close, the twentieth century with its era of mechanical triumphs

was at hand, and the time was ripe for those champions of the dirigible

to appear who should make it a potent factor in modern warfare.

[Illustration: SANTOS-DUMONT ROUNDING THE EIFFEL TOWER]

Almost at the same time there stepped into the limelight of public

interest two men, representing Germany and France, whose names are now

famous in the aeronautic world. In 1898 there appeared in Paris a young

Brazilian named Santos-Dumont, who began constructing a series of

dirigibles whose success astounded the authorities.

In exactly the same year Count von Zeppelin, in Germany, formed a

limited liability company for the purpose of raising funds for airship

construction. His first dirigible balloon was the longest and biggest

that had ever been built. Although the envelope was not, like Schwartz's

dirigible, of solid aluminum, it was practically rigid, for it was made

by stretching a linen and silk covering over an aluminum framework.

Zeppelin's first airship had two cars, with a motor in each, giving

about 30 horsepower. On its trial trips it made a better speed than had

yet been attained.

With the experience he had gained Zeppelin set to work on a new design.

It was five years before he secured enough funds for its construction,

but it was finally ready in 1905. The most important improvement was in

the motors, which were as light in weight as those of the first

dirigible but had a greatly increased power. As before, there were two

cars, with an 80 horsepower motor in each.

Even this airship, in spite of its greater speed, was not an unqualified

success, for it was discovered that it had too great a lifting power, so

that when launched it rose at once to a height of about 1500 feet, and

was impossible to operate at a lower level.

Santos-Dumont, meanwhile, in Paris, had been performing feats of

aeronautics which had made him the acknowledged "hero of the air."

Santos-Dumont was probably far from being the scientific student of

balloon construction that Zeppelin was, but while his dirigibles did not

attain a great speed or represent a tremendous advance in actual theory,

his public performances served one great purpose, they aroused the ardor

and enthusiasm of the whole French people and of many in other countries

for the sport of ballooning. Santos-Dumont had great wealth, and a

sportsman's courage. He constructed in all 14 dirigibles, each time

seizing upon the experience he had gained and incorporating it into a

new model, casting aside the old.

Santos-Dumont's airships were altogether different from those of

Zeppelin. While Zeppelin's had an inner framework to maintain the shape

of the envelope, Santos-Dumont depended entirely on the linen air bags,

placed inside the balloon, which as it became flabby through loss of

gas, could be pumped full of air to hold the envelope in place. His

balloons were either long and cylindrical with pointed ends,

"cigar-shaped," or else "egg-shaped," with ends rounded.

In spite of all the curious accidents that beset this young Brazilian on

his early trips, in the vicinity of Paris, he was never once deterred

from his efforts. He almost lost his life several times in his first

airship, but he profited by the mistakes of construction in building the

second. His dirigibles increased in size as he installed in each

successive model a more powerful and consequently heavier motor,

requiring greater lifting power.

In his third balloon Santos-Dumont ascended from the Champ de Mars in

Paris and circled the Eiffel Tower amid the cheers of thousands of

onlookers, finally descending in an open field outside Paris.

Public interest was now thoroughly aroused. A prize of £4,000 was

offered by Monsieur Deutsch to the aeronaut who could circle the Eiffel

Tower and return to the starting-point at Saint Cloud within half an

hour. Santos-Dumont attempted this with his 4th and 5th machines, but it

was not until he built his 6th model that he finally accomplished it.

The Brazilian government sent him a gold medal and an additional £5,000

with which to build new balloons.

Number 9 was the most popular of all Santos-Dumont's machines. He became

the idol of the French public, whom he was always surprising with his

spectacular and unlooked-for adventures. During the races at Longchamps

he descended on the race course, stayed to view the performance, then

mounted in his car and rode away. He amazed the passersby by alighting

before his own front door in Paris where he left his airship while he

went and ate breakfast. He sailed up opposite the grandstand when

President Loubet was reviewing the French troops, fired a salute, and as

unexpectedly departed.

Santos-Dumont's power of escape from death seems almost uncanny but it

was due to his coolness in facing any situation. In the majority of his

airships he used a petroleum motor, and with this there is considerable

danger of the petroleum in the reservoir catching fire. On one occasion

a fire did start, but he succeeded in extinguishing it with his panama

hat. Among all his mishaps, including that of falling into the

Mediterranean Sea, he never really had a serious explosion.

Another young Brazilian, however, named Severo, was killed in a

dirigible of his own construction, when the petroleum in the engine

caught fire. He ascended in May, 1902, in a balloon which he called the

_Pax_. His car was seen suddenly to burst in flames, a violent explosion

followed, and the whole thing crashed to earth.

Santos-Dumont placed his last three dirigibles at the disposal of the

French military authorities. Actually he had not developed a type

suitable for military use. But his public performances had aroused

intense popular interest and had succeeded in opening the eyes of the

French authorities to the possibilities of the airship in time of war.

His remarkable aerial feats had attracted the attention in particular of

two Frenchmen of his own fine metal and courage, who from this time

forth left no stone unturned to excel him in his achievements.

CHAPTER II

FORERUNNERS OF THE ALLIED DIRIGIBLES

It is to the two French brothers Lebaudy that France and the Allies owe

the credit for the development of the big military dirigible such as is

used in the present War. These brothers were wealthy and full of

enthusiasm for aeronautics. From a distance they had watched the

achievements of Santos-Dumont and they determined to expend every

possible effort to excel him in the construction of dirigibles. In 1899

they commissioned an experienced engineer named Jouillot to make a study

of the problem, to discover if possible why previous experimenters had

failed to produce a model of satisfactory speed and power, and to draw

up designs for an airship which should correct the faults of those

already known.

It took two years before a finger could be lifted toward the actual

building, but finally in 1901 the work of constructing the first Lebaudy

airship commenced. It was ready for a tryout in November, 1902. The

envelope was of bright yellow calico: it was cigar-shaped, 187 feet long

and 32 feet in diameter. The envelope was fastened at the bottom to a

rigid floor-work of steel tubing and from this the car was suspended.

The dirigible was fitted with a 40 horse power benzine motor; and its

total weight, including a supply of benzine, water and ballast, was two

and one-half tons.

During the next year this dirigible made at least 30 trips, at very fair

speed. Meanwhile the builders were studying it in every detail, working

out ideas for improvements and drawing up plans for their next model. In

1904 they built their second airship. It was somewhat longer than the

first and about the same shape, but the pointed end at the rear had been

rounded off. Calico was again used for the covering of the envelope, and

it was made absolutely air-tight by coating it inside and out with

rubber. Besides the main valve there were safety valves in the envelope

for allowing the gas to escape when the pressure became too great. The

envelope was also provided with two small windows, so that the inside of

the balloon could be easily inspected. It had sails to give it greater

stability, and two movable sail-like rudders, placed together at a

V-shaped angle. The driver could alter the position of the sails and the

rudder according to the wind.

The car of this Lebaudy airship was boat-shaped with a flat bottom. To

diminish the shock in case of a fall steel tubing was placed in a

slanting position beneath it in a pyramid arrangement, the point facing

downwards. The car was set very close to the envelope or body of the

airship, and carried the 40 horse power benzine engine. At the front of

the car was an electrically worked camera, a 1,000,000 candle power

acetylene projector providing lighting by night.

Many improvements were later added to this second dirigible which was

christened the _Lebaudy_. The interest of the French Minister of War was

aroused and he appointed a commission from the Balloon Corps to follow

the progress of the experiments.

Every one now began to look upon the dirigible as a factor to be

reckoned with in the event of a war. The Lebaudy brothers offered their

airship to the French government, and after it had accomplished a series

of tests to prove its value as an instrument of war, it was accepted,

and became a model for later airship construction.

Germany was not far behind, for already Count von Zeppelin's second

airship had proved itself a success, and plans were being laid for a

third. From this time on the two European nations destined to become

powerful adversaries in the World War, though working along somewhat

different lines, kept almost neck and neck in their struggle for air

supremacy.

The French military balloon department began at once the work of

constructing an airfleet with the _Lebaudy_ as a model and with the

engineer Jouillot as chief adviser, this work went forward with great

rapidity. The _Lebaudy_ was followed in design pretty closely, but a few

changes were made which experience had suggested. For one thing the

balloon envelope was rounded at the front and pointed at the rear,

exactly the reverse of the Lebaudy model, as this arrangement was

thought to offer less resistance to the air. It had an internal air-bag

or ballonet whose capacity was one-fifth that of the envelope. This

ballonet was of course empty on the ascent. It was calculated that the

balloon could reach a height of about a mile. To descend, gas would then

be allowed to escape, and, in order to keep the envelope fully inflated,

air would be pumped into the ballonet.

This first type of dirigible actually constructed by the French army was

called the _Patrie_. It was 197 feet long and carried a benzine motor of

from 30 to 40 horse power, which drove the two double-bladed steel

propellers. As in the case of the _Lebaudy_, the _Patrie_ was protected

from injury by a strong steel framework, coming to a point below the

car. In case of a sudden drop, this point would strike the ground first

and ward off the blow from the car, and the propellers. Good as this

plan _seemed_, it did not always work. The _Patrie_, after many

successful journeys, met with an accident to her motor, escaped her

guard of soldiers and drifted off alone. She crossed the English Channel

and fell in Ireland, breaking off her propeller. Before she could be

captured she rose again into the air, drifted out over the sea and was

never again heard from.

M. Deutsch, who had done so much to encourage the efforts of

Santos-Dumont, stepped forward in the emergency and offered the French

government his airship the _Ville de Paris_. This had been designed for

him by an engineer named Tatin. It was 200 feet long, made of German

Continental Rubber Fabric, and, like the _Patrie_, had an internal

air-bag of one-fifth its capacity. In one important respect it was

different from those that preceded it. At its stern it had eight small

cylinders, or ballonets, filled with gas, which added greatly to its

stability, though they detracted from its speed by causing a

considerable resistance to the air.

While the car of the _Patrie_ was about 16 feet long, this new airship

had a car measuring 115 feet, and the propeller was at the _front_, so

that as it revolved it _drew_ rather than _pushed_ the car through the

air. A propeller of this sort is termed a "tractor," and figures to-day

in many models of aircraft.

During these years of experiment in France, England and America had

looked on in comparative idleness. In 1902 England did indeed possess

one small airship, designed by Colonel Templer of the Army Balloon

Department, and christened the _Nulli Secundus_ (_Second to None_). She

was "sausage shaped:" rounded at the front and pointed at the stern with

a peculiar rudder design. Her car was boat-shaped and her propellers

were aluminum, both revolving in the same direction, which gave her a

curious tendency to "somersault." In spite of their "baby" dirigible's

rather pretentious title, the military authorities, and the English

public in general, evidently took slight store in the infant prodigy,

for from 1902 to 1908, she only came out of her shed for a few short

trips. In 1908 she was completely remodelled, and emerged for a trial

trip. But neither the government nor the public seemed interested in

Colonel Templer's schemes. The valiant little pioneer ship of England's

airfleet went back to her sheds, resigning herself to obscurity.

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 airship 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 Japanese 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 Association 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 title

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 Parseval and Major von

Gross. The "Parseval" 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

airship.

The "Gross" type of airship 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 airship 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 airship and

checking its speed.

[Illustration: 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 airship 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.

[Illustration: 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 airship.

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 airship is called the _demi-semi-rigid_.

These then are the four general classes 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 airship 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 airships.

Great Britain was far worse off than France, for her airship 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 airships at all.

Italy had a few good medium sized vessels, and four large dirigibles

were in process of building. Russia, too, had several airships 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 ships ordered were near to

completion in 1914. Only the Prussian was ready for hostilities; his

airships 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 airships 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 airships 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_.

The _Blimp_ was first developed for use in the war by the British Naval

Air Service, but the United States soon saw its advantage as a means of

patroling and guarding our harbors and coastline, and so she set to

work to manufacture this type of dirigible in large numbers. To-day it

is the chief dirigible of our aerial fleet. In some important ways it

has the advantage over the airplane in combating the submarine. For the

airplane can only remain in the air while it keeps going at high speed.

Just as soon as its engines are stopped it commences to descend. But the

dirigible can sail out over the harbor, shut off its power and remain

motionless in the air for hours, while its observer keeps a constant

lookout for enemy undersea craft. When speed is necessary its powerful

motor makes it a fast flying craft, sometimes considerably faster than

the airplane. For the airplane must often travel against the wind, while

the dirigible simply rises until it reaches a current of air moving in

the desired direction, when it has the combined power of the wind and

its engine to drive it forward.

[Illustration: CROSS SECTION OF THE GAS-BAG OF THE _ASTRA-TORRES_,

SHOWING METHOD OF CAR SUSPENSION]

The U. S. A. _Blimp_ is about 160 feet long, rounded in front and

tapering to a pointed stern. Its stability and balance are increased by

five "fins" at its stern; and it has also four rudders. The car, which

is exactly like the ordinary airplane body, has two seats, for pilot and

observer, suspended directly from the base of the envelope by wire

cables. The _Blimp_ carries a 100 horse power Curtiss aviation motor,

and is equipped with wireless for exchanging messages.

The French have a small airship very much like the _Blimp_ which they

use for scout duty. It is called the _Zodiac_, and before the war was

designed as a private pleasure car. Because of the fact that it could be

easily packed and transported from place to place it was drafted into

the service early in the war. Naturally, if an airship has to be kept

inflated when not in use it is a constant target for the enemy's

gunfire; and a small dirigible which can be packed up in an hour when

not needed and readily inflated when the call for action comes is a very

much safer proposition.

There are several sizes and slightly different shapes of the _Zodiac_,

but the shape of the envelope in all of them is very similar to the

_Blimp_, tapering toward the stern with fins to give stability. A large

sail-like rudder is set beneath the stern of the ship.

Probably the most interesting thing about the _Zodiac_ is the car which

in most models has a very long wooden framework. This framework, or

girder, by its length distributes the weight along the whole length of

the envelope. The car, in which the pilot and observer sit, is set in

this girder.

[Illustration: _Copyright Underwood and Underwood_

THE "BLIMP," C-1, THE LARGEST DIRIGIBLE OF THE AMERICAN NAVY]

Nothing is more interesting to note in modern airships than the

simplification of the method of car suspension. In the early airships

the car was hung from the envelope by a large number of cables, which

either connected with a network that fitted over the envelope, or else,

in a semi-rigid dirigible, to the platform or keel at the base of the

balloon.

Now of course all these cables offered a great resistance to the air and

were an enemy to speed. Just as the question of speed affected the shape

of the envelope, until to-day we have the streamline balloon, tapering

to the rear, and just as it made the question of a rigid or non-rigid

envelope so important, it likewise finally did away with complicated

connections between the envelope and the car.

[Illustration: _Copyright International Film Service, Inc._

THE BALLOON OF THE U. S. S. OKLAHOMA]

From the point of view of car suspension one of the most interesting of

the modern French airships is the _Astra-Torres_. This is a dirigible of

the non-rigid type. Canvas partitions are stretched across the interior

of the envelope in such a manner as to form a triangle, its apex facing

downwards. The sides of this triangle are strengthened by cables and

from its apex hang the cables which support the car. The air resistance

produced by the cables is therefore very slight, since only two lines

are exposed.

Among the aerial war fleets of the Allied nations, the French offers by

far the greatest field for study, since it possesses many different

types of dirigibles. The _Astra_ and the _Astra-Torres_ are perhaps the

chief representatives of the non-rigid design, and are generally

considered the most successful of the French airships. The _Astra_ is

the older model, and, like the _Zodiac_, has the long wooden framework

or car girder, hung directly to the base of the envelope and

distributing to all parts of it the weight of the car. It can be

recognized by this and by its stabilizers or small inflated gas bags

around the stern of the envelope. The _Astra_ is of medium size, varying

in length from 199 to 275 feet. The _Astra-Torres_ is very much

longer, those of the 1914 type measuring 457 feet from nose to stern.

From the exterior, this airship has a peculiar three-lobed appearance.

It tapers very slightly to the stern and is pointed at both ends, but it

has not the _Astra's_ inflated stabilizers.

Another French airship of non-rigid design is the _Clement-Bayard_. It

is similar in design and in size to the _Astra_, but without the

inflated stabilizers. Rounded slightly at the nose, the envelope tapers

to a sharp-pointed stern.

The _Lebaudy_ is the chief example of a French semi-rigid airship. The

envelope is long and cylindrical, pointed at the nose and rounded at the

stern, where it is fitted with stabilizing "fins." The base of the

envelope is fitted to a long keel, which ends at the rear in a rudder

and fins. From this keel the car is suspended by strong cables, and

beneath the car extends a conical structure of steel tubes, with points

falling downward. These serve as a protection in case of a sudden

landing. In front of the car and on each side of the keel are planes

similar to those of an airplane, which help to give balance to the ship.

Among airships of the Allies, the French _Speiss_ furnishes an example

of the purely rigid design. Constructed on the plan of the German

Zeppelin, its envelope has an inner wooden framework which holds it in

place. The _Speiss_ is a large dirigible, measuring about 450 feet. It

carries two cars, and in each is a two-hundred horse power motor, giving

it great speed.

PART III

CHAPTER I

EARLY EXPERIMENTS WITH HEAVIER-THAN-AIR MACHINES

For many centuries before the ascension of the first Montgolfier

balloon, which, as we have seen, marked the beginning of aerial flight,

men had dreamed of a different method of conquering the skies,--in fact,

the very natural one suggested by the flight of birds. To build

artificial wings was the ambition of many an old-time scientist. Yet

practicable as the idea seemed, its working out was, as a matter of

fact, beset with difficulties. The Montgolfier balloon rose in the air

because it was _lighter_ than air,--just as a piece of cork rises in

water because it weighs less in proportion to its volume than the water.

But a man equipped with wings is a fairly heavy object; where is the

force that is to lift him and carry him soaring into the sky?

Unfortunately the early experimenters in aeronautics were not men who

had had the long training in keen observation nor the groundwork of

mechanical knowledge which would have fitted them for their task of

devising a flying machine. They were dreamers and philosophers, often

with very clever ideas about how man might succeed in flying. But the

exact science of mechanics was yet unborn, and it was not until the

nineteenth century, with its great advance in this direction, dawned,

that the time was ripe for any measure of success. Still, in many old

pictures and medieval manuscripts there are curious examples of the

ideas of these old philosophers, designs which were never actually tried

out, but which show the longing of men, even in those days, for the

great adventure of sailing above the clouds.

All these strange theories of the middle ages were hampered by the

superstition that there was some "magic" connected with the power of

birds to fly. Cameras were unheard of, or it would have been a simple

matter to have recorded on paper the actual motions of the bird's wings

in order to study their significance. The astounding ease with which

these little winged creatures were able to float across the heavens was

indeed baffling; it was difficult to determine just how it was

accomplished. Any one who watches the flight of a seagull realizes that

here is an accomplished aeronaut, able to balance himself with perfect

ease in the atmosphere, to mount upward on flapping wings, or, taking

advantage of a rising air current which can support him, to float

motionless with wings extended. All this requires an unusual amount of

skill, particularly in balancing. Drop a piece of paper and watch how it

turns and tumbles at every angle before it reaches the floor. That is

just what a bird or an airplane has a tendency to do, and it takes a

perfect system of control and a skilled pilot indeed, to keep it right

side up.

The first idea, of course, for a heavier-than-air machine, was that of

a pair of wings to be _attached directly to the human body_, and to be

worked with the arms. As early as 1480 Leonardi da Vinci drew up a

design for an apparatus of this sort. And the idea was not a bad one: it

would have worked all very well had it not been for one small fact which

the philosophers overlooked, that man is not provided with the powerful

shoulder muscles such as the bird possesses for moving his wings.

Altogether, it was not until the nineteenth century that any real

progress toward flight in a heavier-than-air machine was made. It came

when experimenters began to investigate the definite laws of air

resistance and air pressure which control the action of a bird just as

they do the action of a kite. As a matter of fact, a bird, or an

airplane, is nothing more than a complicated kite, controlled by an

intelligence within itself, rather than by an operator standing on the

ground and guiding it by means of a cord.

[Illustration: Kite]

Every one knows that a kite, if placed at an angle to the wind, will be

carried upward. The reason for this can be seen from a very simple

diagram.

The pressure of the wind would, if unhindered, push the kite into a

horizontal position. But the string prevents the angle of the kite from

altering, and since the pressure on its lower surface is greater than

that on its upper, it naturally rises. This is just what happens when

the bird sets his wings at such an angle to the wind that he is lifted

into the sky. It is also the principle which governs the airplane or

glider, whose planes are kept at a definite angle to the air current.

The bird can of course readjust the angle of his wings when he has risen

high enough, or when he meets a current of air moving in a different

direction, and in the same way the elevating plane of a modern airplane

can be lifted or deflected at the will of the flyer, to produce an

upward or a downward motion.

The first man to study seriously the effects of air pressure on plane

surfaces was an Englishman named Sir George Cayley, who in 1810 drew up

plans for a flying machine somewhat resembling the modern monoplane. In

1866 Wenham patented a machine which involved an ingenious idea, that of

several parallel planes ranged above each other, instead of the single

surface, as of the bird's wing. Wenham believed that the upward pressure

of the wind, acting on all these surfaces would give a far greater

lifting power, as well as a greatly increased stability, for the machine

could not be so easily overturned. Here was the principle of the modern

biplane and triplane in its infancy. Yet the idea of strict "bird-form"

was more appealing to the imagination, and the experimenters who came

after Wenham did not adopt his suggestions.

The man who may truly be said to have given the airplane its first real

start in life, was a German named Otto Lilienthal. His figure is a very

picturesque one in the long story of the conquest of the air. Lilienthal

was a very busy engineer, but from boyhood he had had a consuming

interest in the problems of flight, and as he traveled about Germany on

his business undertakings he cast about in his mind incessantly for some

plan of wings which would support the human body and carry it up into

the air. He finally began a very systematic study of the wings of birds

with the result that he made some unusual and important discoveries.

While the men who had preceded him had attempted only flat wings in

their plans for flying machines, Lilienthal decided that the wings

should be arched, like those of a bird, heavier in front, with an abrupt

downward dip to the front edge, and then sloping away gradually to the

rear where their weight was comparatively slight. When still quite a

young man he began building kites with planes curved in this manner. To

his surprise and joy he found that they rose very rapidly when set to

the breeze. They even seemed to move forward slightly in the air, as

though they had a tendency to fly. Like a bird resting on a current of

air with wings motionless, these little toy wings were carried along

gracefully on the breeze. Lilienthal was jubilant. A man equipped with

wings like these, he said to himself, would have no difficulty at all

in flying.

Lilienthal was not a rich man and it was many years before his

opportunity to test his ideas with a real flying machine came. When by

hard toil at his profession he had accumulated a comfortable fortune, he

turned at last to his beloved study. He had often watched the baby birds

in their efforts to fly, and he knew it would be a long time before he

attained any skill with wings, but he was absolutely confident that with

much practise and perseverance he could actually learn to fly like the

birds. So he constructed for himself a pair of bird wings, arched

exactly like those which he had studied. They were arranged with a

circular strip of wood between them for his body. Here he hung, with his

arms outstretched on each side, so that he could operate the wings.

The difficulties Lilienthal had looked for he experienced in large

measure. It was no easy thing to attempt to fly in this crude apparatus,

but day after day he went out upon the road, turned to face the breeze

as he had seen the baby birds do, ran swiftly a short distance, and then

inclined the wings upward so that they might catch the current of air.

For a long time he was unsuccessful, but imagine his joy when he

actually did one day feel himself lifted off his feet, carried forward a

few feet and set down. It was scarcely more than a tiny jump, but

Lilienthal knew he had commenced to fly. From that time on his efforts

were ceaseless. He succeeded in being lifted a number of feet off the

ground and carried for some distance. But try as he would he could not

get high in the air. He realized that what he lacked was any form of

motive power, and for want of a better, determined to make use of the

force of gravity to start him through the air at greater speed.

Accordingly he had built for him a hill with a smooth incline, and from

the top of this he jumped in his flying machine. The wings he had first

constructed he had since improved on, adding two tail planes at the rear

which gave greater stability and decreased the tendency to turn over in

the air. As he sprang from the hilltop in this curious apparatus, he

turned the wings upward slightly to catch the breeze, which supported

him exactly as if he had been a kite while he glided out gracefully and

finally came gently to earth. This spectacle of a man gliding through

the air attracted large crowds. People assembled from far and wide to

behold the flying man, and his achievements were greeted with wild

cheering. On his huge winged glider he floated calmly over the heads of

the astounded multitude, often landing far behind them in the fields. In

the difficult matter of balancing himself in mid-air he became

exceedingly skilful. Every slight gust of wind had a tendency to

overturn him, but Lilienthal constantly shifted the weight of his body

in such a manner as to balance himself. As he gained confidence he began

practising in stronger winds. His great longing was to soar like a bird

up into the sky, and so when he felt a rising air current, he inclined

his wings slightly upward to take advantage of it. Often he did rise far

above the hilltop from which he had sprung, but he never succeeded in

actually flying like a bird. His glider had not the motive power to

drive it against the breeze with sufficient velocity to send it up into

the air, and his wings were but crude imitations of the wonderful

mechanism on which the bird soars into the sky. Undaunted by his failure

he set to work on a double set of wings, very similar to a modern

biplane. He thought these would have greater lifting power, but when he

came to try them he found them exceedingly unwieldy and hard to control.

For where the biplane has an intricate control system, Lilienthal relied

entirely upon his own body to operate his glider.

Lilienthal became more and more reckless in his gliding efforts, and in

1896, while gliding in a strong wind, he lost control of his winged

contrivance and came crashing to the earth from a great height. When the

horrified spectators rushed to the spot, they found the fearless pioneer

flier dead beneath the wreck of his machine.

What Lilienthal had done for the cause of aviation, however, would be

hard to estimate. He had drawn the attention of thinking people the

world over to his experiments. He had pointed the way to the real

solution of the problem of flying: that of studying and imitating the

birds; and he had discovered the form of plane which on airplanes to-day

is well known to give the greatest lifting power: that of an arched

surface, deeply curved in front and sloping gradually back to its rear

edge where its thickness is very slight. Moreover, his attempts at

flight had presented a challenge to engineers and scientists--a

challenge which was quickly to bear fruit.

An Englishman named Percy S. Pilcher had followed the work of Lilienthal

with the deepest interest, and he now determined to begin a series of

experiments on his own account. Like Lilienthal he realized that it

would be useless to attempt a motor driven airplane until the principles

of glider construction were fully understood. A glider is simply an

airplane without an engine, and Lilienthal succeeded in giving it a

certain motive power by starting from a high point, so that the force of

gravity could draw him forward and downward. Pilcher adopted an even

more original scheme for making his glider "go." He treated it exactly

as if it had been a huge kite, fastening a rope to it and having it

pulled swiftly by a team of horses, until it had gained sufficient

momentum to carry it up in the air. The moment it began to rise,

Pilcher, who hung between the two large wings much as Lilienthal had

done, detached himself from the rope and went soaring into the air like

a kite, attempting to balance himself and prevent his glider from

overturning. But he had not the experience that long and careful

practise had given to Lilienthal, and before he had made very many

flights in his glider, he fell and met his death.

In 1896 an Australian, Hargrave, experimented with kites in order to

discover a glider form which possessed both lifting power and stability.

He was the originator of the familiar "box-kite," which flies so

steadily even in a strong breeze. Hargrave connected four very large

kites of this sort by a cable, swung a rope seat beneath them and

succeeded in making ascents without fear of accident.

Chanute, a Frenchman, now devised a biplane glider with which he

succeeded in making brief flights of a few seconds.

The way was now paved for the coming of two great pioneers in the

history of aviation. Wilbur and Orville Wright were owners of a small

bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio. They were men with an innate mechanical

skill and with the same dogged persistence and indifference to physical

hardships which might have brought success to Lilienthal if he had had

the time to devote to his experiments.

The Wright brothers had read with fascination accounts of the gliding

efforts of Lilienthal. They determined to set to work to solve the

problem of human flight. For two years they read and studied everything

that had been written upon the subject, and then finally they felt ready

to make a trial of a glider of their own construction. They had made up

their minds that Chanute's idea of the biplane was most practicable, and

so the machine which they built was not strictly bird form, but had two

long planes extending horizontally and parallel to each other, attached

by wooden supports. The operator or flier lay face downward in the

center of the lower plane.

Their glider was too large to be operated with the arms as Lilienthal's

had been, and so they had to devise some new method for controlling and

balancing it in the air. This they managed by the use of small auxiliary

planes, which were operated by levers and ropes. In front of the two

large planes was a small horizontal plane which could be raised or

lowered. When raised to catch the wind it gave the glider an upward

motion which carried it into the air, bringing the large planes to an

angle with the wind where they could continue the climbing process.

One of the great difficulties of the early gliders was their tendency to

turn over sidewise. Lilienthal counteracted this whenever he felt one

side of his glider falling by shifting his weight toward the highest

wing and thus pulling it down. This crude method was impossible in the

Wright biplane. The brothers set themselves to seeking a solution from

the balancing methods of birds, and right here they made a discovery

which was of the greatest importance to the progress of the airplane.

The bird when he feels one of his wings falling below the level of the

other, simply droops the rear portion of the wing which is lowest,

forming a cup or curve at the back which catches the air as it rushes

under. This increased pressure of air forces the wing up again until in

a second the bird has regained his balance. Imitating this method, the

Wright brothers constructed the planes of their glider in such a manner

that a cord fastened to the rear sections of each plane could be pulled

to draw the rear edge downward. If the left side of their machine became

lower than the right it was a simple matter to pull down the left halves

of the rear edges of the two planes, and so catch the air currents which

would force that side upward. This ingenious scheme of obtaining

sidewise or "lateral" balance is used in a modified form in airplanes

to-day, and is known as "wing-warping."

The brothers chose the coast of North Carolina as the best place for

their first attempts to fly, for there the breezes were usually not too

strong. After a good deal of difficulty they learned not only to glide,

as Lilienthal had done, but also to soar some distance into the air.

They had so far no means of turning around, but this was remedied by

fastening at the rear of the two large planes a small vertical plane

which could be moved from side to side and which served to turn the

glider.

There were three achievements in airplane construction which so far

could be placed to the credit of the Wrights. One was the _elevating

plane_ by means of which an upward or downward motion of the glider was

obtained. The second was the ingenious _wing-warping device_, for

securing stability. The third was the _rudder_, which enabled the pilot

to turn around in mid-air.

Not satisfied with what they had already accomplished, the brothers now

turned their attention to constructing a motor suitable for use in a

flying machine. This had to be exceedingly light and at the same time

strong, and some means had to be discovered for converting its power

into motion. The first engine they built was a four-cylinder petrol, and

it was used to revolve two wooden propellers acting in opposite

directions. The blades of these propellers as they churned the air, gave

"thrust" to the airplane exactly as the propellers of a ship drive it

through the water. In this new model airplane the flier no longer lay

face downward as in the old glider, but sat on a bench between the

planes, from which he controlled the action of the engine, the elevating

plane, the rudder and the wing warping arrangement by means of levers

and cords.

It was in the memorable year of 1903 that this first real airplane was

flown by the Wrights. They continued to work steadily upon the problems

of design and construction, and after many trials in the next two years,

they succeeded by 1905 in building an airplane which would actually fly

a number of miles.

They determined to offer their precious secret to some government, and

decided on France, which has always been the patron of aviation. But the

French government, after an investigation did not accept their offer,

and so, disappointed, but still dogged, they retired into silence for a

period of several years. In 1908, when their inventions had been

patented in every country, they began a series of public demonstrations

of their remarkable machine, Orville in America and Wilbur in France.

By that time, unfortunately, other pioneers had stepped forward to claim

honors in the field which they first had explored, but the Wright

biplane easily outstripped its contemporaries. Their wonderful

demonstration flights made them heroes, acclaimed by millions, and their

achievements aroused immediate and intense interest in aeronautics.