The
first envelope was made of waterproofed silk. This proved a
failure, as whenever the envelope was put up to pressure it
invariably burst. Experiments were continued, but no good
resulting, the idea was abandoned and a rubber-proofed fabric
envelope was constructed of 173,000 cubic feet volume. This ship
was inflated in 1912. The first idea was to make the ship a
semi-rigid by lacing two flat girders to the sides of the
envelope to take the weight of the car. This idea had to be
abandoned, as in practice, when the weight of the car was
applied, the girders buckled. The ship was then rigged as a
non-rigid. A novelty was introduced by attaching a rudder flap
to the top stabilizing fin, but as it worked somewhat stiffly it
was later on removed. This ship took part in the manoeuvres of
1912 and carried out several flights. She proved to be
exceedingly fast, being capable of a speed of 44 miles per hour.
In 1913 she was completely re-rigged and exhibited at the Aero
Show, but the re-designed rigging revealed various faults and it
was not until late in the year that she carried out her flight
trials. Two rather interesting experiments were made during
these flights. In one a parachute descent was successfully
accomplished; and in another the equivalent weight of a man was
picked up from the ground without assistance or landing the ship.
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