On Tuesday the new Army airship, or steerable balloon, made
a successful first appearance at Farnborough. It rose four or five hundred feet, and travelled about a mile and a half, being all the time quite under the control of the rudder. Against a nine-mile breeze it was estimated to go at five miles. an hour. One trip was made in the morning and another in the afternoon. In the morning there was a short delay owing to the breaking of a belt attached to the cooling-fan. In the afternoon the balloon while being turned suddenly dived to the ground and struck bard enough to bend part of the frame- work. Colonel Capper steered the airship, and was accompanied by Captain King and Mr. Cody, who has helped Colonel Templer to design it. Mr. Cody looks forward to a great increase in speed as the Royal Engineers gain experience. After the demonstrations given by the French airships, there is, of course, -no doubt that the steerable balloon is a perfectly practical engine of war, and the sooner we make ourselves expert in handling it the better.
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