Improving Airship Performance

The economic advantages of the large airship as a long-distance carrier depend to a great extent upon its useful-load capacity, its speed and its cruising radius. Improvement in design or in auxiliary equipment, therefore, which will increase materially any or all of these three factors, is of prime importance.

This paper touches on the fundamentals underlying the carrying capacity of lighter-than-air craft and points out possible changes in construction, means of ballasting, power-plant equipment, and fuel characteristics whereby substantial economic and operating advantages may be effected in future designs.