to
the hull of the airship itself, proved quite successful as a naval scout
until wrecked on the islands off the coast of Denmark late in 1914. The
last Schutte-Lanz to be constructed was used by the Germans for raiding
England, and was eventually brought down in flames at Cowley.

V. BRITISH AIRSHIP DESIGN

As was the case with the aeroplane, Great Britain left France and
Germany to make the running in the early days of airship construction;
the balloon section of the Royal Engineers was compelled to confine
its energies to work with balloons pure and simple until well after
the twentieth century had dawned, and such experiments as were made
in England were done by private initiative. As far back as 1900 Doctor
Barton built an airship at the Alexandra Palace and voyaged across
London in it. Four years later Mr E. T. Willows of Cardiff produced the
first successful British dirigible, a semi-rigid 74 feet in length and
18 feet in diameter, engined with a 7 horse-power Peugot twin-cylindered
motor. This drove a two-bladed propeller at the stern for propulsion,
and also actuated a pair of auxiliary propellers at the front which
could be varied in their direction so as to control the right and left
movements of the airship. This device was patented and the patent was
taken over by the British Government, which by 1908 found Mr Willow's
work of sufficient interest to regard it as furnishing data for
experiment at the balloon factory at Farnborough. In 1909, Willows
steered one of his dirigibles to London from Cardiff in a little less
than ten hours, making an average speed of over 14 miles an hour. The
best speed accomplished was probably considerably greater than this,
for at intervals of a few miles, Willows descended near the earth to
ascertain his whereabouts with the help of a megaphone. It must be added
that he carried a compass in addition to his megaphone. He set out for
Paris in November of 1910, reached the French coast, and landed near
Douai. Some damage was sustained in this landing, but, after repair, the
trip to Paris was completed.

Meanwhile the Government balloon factory at Farnborough began airship
construction in 1907; Colonel Capper, R.E., and S. F. Cody were jointly
concerned in the production of a semi-rigid. Fifteen thicknesses of
goldbeaters' skin--about the most expensive covering obtainable--were
used for the envelope, which was 25 feet in diameter. A slight shower of
rain in which the airs