Battles In The Air Within Five Years.

New York Times 100 years ago today, September 25, 1912:
Aerial Voyages to Europe, Too, Says Prof. Schuette, Who Builds Dirigibles.
HE'S GOING TO WASHINGTON
His Present Ship Has Rapid-Fire Guns and His New Ship Will Carry Aeroplane Destroyers.
    Prof. Johann Schuette, inventor of the Schuette-Lanz airship, the latest type of dirigible to be turned out and successfully tried in Germany, thinks that in the present stage of aeronautics an attempt to make a voyage over the Atlantic would be foolhardy. In five years — perhaps in three — says the inventor, the airship will have developed to such an extent that such a voyage will be feasible. In the same time he believes that the military airship will have become so formidable an engine of war that battles will be fought in the air and the fate of a nation, perhaps, depend, not upon the strength of its army and navy, but upon its airmen.
    Prof. Schuette, who is in charge of the department of naval construction in the Royal Technical High School of Dantzic, was a naval constructor in the service of the North German Lloyd Steamship Company for several years before going to Dantzic to teach, in 1904. The War Department at Washington has had details about his airship from Berlin, and Prof. Schuette has a letter from Capt. Schartle, the Military Attaché of the American Embassy over there, to Brig. Gen. Allen, Chief Signal Officer of the United States Army, which he will present in Washington.
    "The latter part of the name of my airship is derived from the fact that we use a Lanz engine," said Prof. Schuette at the Waldorf yesterday. "One great difference between my airship and the Zeppelin type is that the latter has its cars suspended rigidly, and in mine they are hung by ropes. This has enabled me to save the ship three times in cases where a rigid lower framework might have been smashed. The cars in mine cannot be moved forward or backward or down, but if one hits the ground or an obstacle the whole ship does not necessarily received a shock. Then the framework of the gas bag is of pressed poplar wood — three thin strips fastened together, with the grain not running the same way. This gives strength and a certain amount of resiliency. A framework of this kind is stronger than aluminium or steel, for the reason that the wood will not easily snap.

A Real Air Fighter.
    "I began working on the airship in 1909, and the works we have at Mannheim, the workshops, the garage, the machinery, and the cost of the airship, represent a total outlay of about 2,000,-000 marks, ($500,000.) The envelope of the gas bag is torpedo shaped, and it is divided into eleven compartments, with a total capacity of 600,000 cubic feet. Its length is about 400 feet, and the greatest diameter of the envelope is 55 feet. I was two years building the airship, and made my trial trip in October, 1911. The airship can lift about five tons, and its engines, two eight cylinders, have developed 540 effective horse power. I have attained a speed of seventy-two kilometers an hour, which works out to about forty-five miles. For greater strength, the framework of the envelope has not only circular girders, but rhomboidal ones. It is fitted with wireless telegraphy. There are two cars, and the crew required consists of two men in each car for the engines and three or four for steering.
    "The steering apparatus is simple. For turning to the left or the right there is only one rudder, and one for elevating or depressing the ship. In line with the rudders are keel-like planes, which make it easier to handle the craft. The power is transmitted direct from the engine to the propeller shaft, and there is a reversing gear on the shaft.
    "The longest voyage I have made was from Mannheim to Berlin, but in July and August the vessel traveled 3,500 miles. When she was stationed at Berlin we took up altogether about 500 persons. The number of persons that can be taken up at one time depends upon the quantity of benzine carried and the water ballast carried along. I have lately mounted two quick-firing guns on the ship, with which are carried 10,000 rounds of ammunition.

Intends to Build a Dreadnought.
    "I am now building a much larger airship, which will be a real air warship, or war airship. I expect to finish her by next Summer. I believe that most people who have studied aeronautics from a military standpoint agree that big, rigid battle airships may prove of the highest service against the aeroplane. An objection has been that an aeroplane can get over an airship and drop explosives upon it, the airship being powerless to reach the lighter craft with its guns. For that reason, I shall mount guns on the top of my airship, as well as on the cars.
    "This vessel is to have a capacity in its envelope of 1,000,000 cubic feet, and its engines of 1,000 horse power will give it an average speed of about fifty-two miles an hour. It will be able to lift fourteen tons. It will carry enough fuel to enable it to remain in the air forty hours at a time, working at full speed. There will be six rapid-fire guns and a searchlight, and two lifeboats will be carried and three tons of explosives. Four of the guns will be on the top of the airship, to protect the vessel from aeroplanes or other airships fighting from a higher altitude.
    "We have gone ahead in the building of lighter-than-air machines in Germany because the whole nation is so keenly alive to their possibilities, I should say. In France the Government has done a great deal in this line, while in Germany much has had to be done by private initiative. For the year 1912 the French Government has given 32,000,000 francs for airship construction. In Germany, up to date, private individuals have put about 33,000,000 marks into the building of airships and for trials. I believe our Government will before long subsidize the manufacture of airships, for I think it will find itself compelled to do such a thing.

No Crossing Atlantic Yet.
    "The airship is by no means perfect as yet. In this new vessel which I am building I hope to attain the real air battleship, and you can see that with an ability to remain in the air for fifty hours, going at a speed of eighty-five or ninety kilometers an hour, it will be able to cover a long distance. It might be even possible, by taking the fullest advantage of the trade winds from the Azores, to make a voyage to the South American Continent, and then to come north, but there is no airship to-day that can do this. No air craft to-day is capable of making such a journey, and you have recently had unfortunate reminders that it is foolhardy yet to make an attempt to cross the Atlantic by airship as airships are now constructed. We need from three to five years of experimental work. In five years — perhaps in three — we shall know a lot more about sailing in the air with safety than we do now. Then it will be time to cross the ocean in the air."
    "What do you think the feeling is among other European nations over the increasing 'steaming radius' of German airships?" was asked. "Is there not uneasiness in—"
    "Sh! Don't have me trying to cause a war scare," admonished Prof. Schuette. Then hi leaned back in his chair and smiled a very generous smile.