s, as during the last flight
an explosion took place and both Woelfert and an aeronaut named Knabe,
who was accompanying him, were killed.

In 1906, Major von Parseval experimented, in Berlin, with a non-rigid
type of airship. His first ship had a volume of 65,200 cubic feet, but
owing to his system of suspensions, the car hung 27 feet 6 inches below
the envelope. A Daimler engine was used, driving a four-bladed
propeller. Owing to the great overall height of this ship, experiments
were made to determine a system of rigging, enabling the car to be
slung closer to the envelope, and in later types the elliptical rigging
girdle was adopted. His later ships were of large dimensions and proved
very satisfactory. About the same time Major Gross also built airships
for the German aeronautical battalion.

It is, however, the rigid airship that has made Germany famous, and we
must now glance at the evolution of these ships with which we became so
familiar during the war.

The first rigid airship bearing any resemblance to those of the present
day was designed by David Schwartz, and was built in St. Petersburg in
1893. It was composed of aluminium plates riveted to an aluminium
framework. On inflation, the frame-work collapsed and the ship was
unusable.

In 1895 he designed a second rigid airship, which was built in Berlin
by Messrs. Weisspfennig and Watzesch. The hull framework was composed
of aluminium and was 155 feet long, elliptical in cross section, giving
a volume of 130,500 cubic feet. It was pointed in front and rounded
off aft. The car, also constructed of the same material, was rigidly
attached to the hull by a lattice framework, and the whole hull
structure was covered in with aluminium sheeting. A 12 horse-power
Daimler benzine motor was installed in the car, driving through the
medium of a belt twin aluminium screw propellers; no rudders were
supplied, the steering being arranged by means of a steering screw
placed centrally to the ship above the top of the car. Inflation took
place at the end of 1897 by a method of pressing out air-filled fabric
cells which were previously introduced into the hull. This operation
took three and a half hours. On the day of the first flight trials
there was a fresh wind of about 17 miles per hour. The airship
ascended into the air, but, apparently, could make little headway
against the wind. During the trip the driving-belt became disengaged
from the propellers and