An interesting paper on military airships by Mr. L. Blin
Desbleds appears in Wednesday's Times. He notes their great superiority over captive balloons for reconnoitring and range-finding, and emphasises the moral effect that superiority in the air must exert on the troops below. As to the general trustworthiness of dirigible airships, he asserts that some of those already in being can take the air eight days out of ten and perform evolutions over any part of the country. Recent experiments, while proving that free spherical balloons with nobody on board can be hit by a Krupp gun, in no way establish the vulnerability of airships manned by competent crews and navigating the air at high altitudes. Indeed, in these circumstances experts maintain that airships are practi- cally safe from infantry as well as artillery fire. Whatever may be the future of the aeroplane, Mr. Desbleds holds that up to the present its record has only a sporting, not a military, value, whereas the airship has been already proved capable of useful military application. In conclusion, he shows that the efficiency of military airships varies directly with their speed, on which depends not only their dirigibility, but their ability to accept or decline action.
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