94 



DISCOVHHY 



It may be considered, therefore, that wireless in the 

 mercantile marine, if it made no great technical 

 advances in the war, is now progressing so rapidly 

 that it will soon be as up-to-date in every respect as 

 its supreme importance demands. For point-to-point 

 communication there may be, and indeed there is, 

 much discussion as to the relative merits of wireless 

 and line working, but for ship and aircraft there can 

 be no discussion: it is just wireless or nothing. 



The Mooring and 

 Handling of Airships on 

 the Ground 



By Major George Whale (Late R.A.F.) 



The accident to the rigid airship R34, which culmi- 

 nated in her total destruction on the night of January 29, 

 has emphasised the necessity for providing more efficient 

 methods of handling these large vessels on the ground 

 and mooring them in the open. 



It will be remembered that R34, although damaged 

 in flight by striking a hill to the extent of disabling 

 three out of five engines, arrived to all intents and 

 purposes intact over the landing-ground of her base 

 at Howden. 



While attempting to take the ship into the shed 

 under man-power, the initial serious damage was 

 sustained by the forward car bumping on the ground. 

 This was caused by the ship becoming unmanageable 

 owing to the force of the wind. She was accordingly 

 taken back to the landing-ground to be moored out 

 by a method known as the three-wire system, which 

 will be described in due course." The forward part of 

 the hull structure having sustained damage, the air- 

 ship rode badly at her moorings, and threatened to 

 break up. A second abortive attempt was made to 

 enter the shed, which caused still further damage, 

 and the ship afterwards became a complete wreck. 



It is therefore apparent that man-power is insuffi- 

 cient to house a large airship in a shed under unfavour- 

 able weather conditions, and that the three-wire 

 system of mooring is by no means to be depended on. 



In this country, experiments have been conducted 

 in towing airships by means of tractors to supplement 

 man-power, but the results of these did not come up 

 to expectations. In practice it was found that the 

 tractors, owing to the uneven surface or slipperiness 

 of the ground, advanced in a series of jerks, which im- 

 parted an imeven strain uixin the towing cables. The 



tractors used — of which, perhajjs, the army tank was 

 found most suitable — were, admittedly, not designed 

 for the work in hand. 



The Germans, on the other hand, have made a 

 standard practice of handling airships with the assis- 

 tance of trollies and track rails, which, as far as can be 

 ascertained, has proved highly satisfactory in their 

 country. 



The tracks, consisting of three rails each, are laid 

 down through the shed and extend beyond for some 

 considerable distance at either end. The two outer 

 rails are flanged at the top and bottom and are set 

 vertically, the centre one being laid horizontally. By 

 this means the trollies are able to withstand both 

 upward and lateral forces, which may be transmitted 

 by the airship. The airship, having been landed as 

 near to the rails as is possible, is " walked " by man- 

 power towards the shed. WTien the forward part of 

 the ship is over the rails, the handling guys are made 

 fast to the trollies, when the towing process commences ; 

 as the after-part of the ship reaches the track, the same 

 process is repeated, and the ship can be dragged into 

 the shed by a very small number of men. 



KIC.n) .MRSUIl" MOORi:i) OIT UV THRlili-WIRi; SVSTliM TIIU 



THRUF. .MOORING C.\BI.US .^Rli SHOWN, .\t.SO THU MOORING 



BOLL.\RD. 



