OCR Text |
Show TO U3E AIRSHIPS AS CAVALRY. Military Experts Talk of the Future of Dirigible Balloons. Jnpan has the Intention, according to rumor, of buying two army airships in France to bo models, it is said, for building a fleet of airships In Japan. Inquiring at the Jnpancso embassy and airship builders, elicited no Information, Infor-mation, v Regarding the employment of airships air-ships In n military campaign, however, I had interesting conversations. M. Julllot, one of the leading constructive experts nnd chief engineer at Messrs. .Lebaudy's aerostatic establishment nt Moissan, snld: AlrsMim will 'prove Invaluable as scoutB. They can enrry, with tho necessary precautions, from 1.000 to 1,200 pounds of explosives. A single j airship equipped for mllltnty operations opera-tions would prove bb effective' us nn nrmy of 50,000 men. They would cause nn enornioiiH saving In wnr inn-' terlnl. In peace tho nlrBhlp may explore ex-plore new countries wheru locomotion 1b difficult or dangerous." M. Knpferor, nt present specially engaged en-gaged on bohnlf of M. Henri Deutsch de la Metrrthe in the study of airships, when nsked regarding their practical military use said: "In my opinion airships arc destined to take the place of cavalry. Whether they will over bo used to drop explosives ex-plosives I do not know. It la certain, at all events, that an entirely new scheme of constructing forts would havo to be Invented to guard against attacks from the air." |