Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 88.djvu/910

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��Popular Science Monthly

���The only part of the craft which escaped undamaged is one

of the propellers. An idea of its size may be had by comparing

it with the spectators in the distance

��Punctured Zeppelins "OOMEWHERE in England"

��lies

��in Jingiana there the mangled and crushed remains of what was once a bomb- dropping Zeppelin. In the mass of wreckage large fuel tanks, twisted net- work, a propeller which escaped un- scathed in its downward plunge, testify mutely to its colossal size. But as to the number of the craft, the identity or size of its crew, and the location of the spot which unwittingly proved to be its grave, no one, save those in authority, knows. The hand of the censor is on the mouth of every eye witness.

As far as the actual capturing or enforced landing of Zeppelins over enemy soil is concerned the campaign waged by Germany has been a notable success. With the possible exception of the "L 77," which was brought down near Revigny, France, the Allies have little definite recent information of the con- struction and features of these dread- noughts of the air. The "L 77," French discovered, possessed a fifth propeller which was attached to the stern gondola and which was driven directly from an additional engine. Hence, there were five engines in all, capable of developing

��a total of one thousand horsepower. The crew is believed to have numbered twenty-three men. About one and a half tons of bombs were carried. One official described the bomb-releasing de- vice as consisting of a hook which was opened by an electrical apparatus con- trolled by a push-button in the central cabin of the airship. No armament heavier than machine-guns was carried.

The most recent attempt to salvage a marooned Zeppelin was made by the English when the "L 15" was forced to land off the Kentish Coast after it had been damaged by an anti-aircraft battery. After the crew had been rescued a trawler attempted to tow the water-logged airship to harbor, but the dead weight proved too much and it sank. England was thus thwarted in an attempt to examine at her own time and convenience the character of the aircraft used against her.

From such airships as have fallen into the Allies' hands, however, comes the information that Count Zeppelin is breaking away from the pencil form so long established by him and that he is building his new destroyers in a stream- line shape.

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