Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 90.djvu/537

 Popular Science Monthly

��521

����A Zeppelin Acts Like an Aeroplane

Speed converts a Zeppelin into a kind of aeroplane. Early in his experi- ments. Count von Zeppelin provided his giants with flat steadying planes. They are like the feathers on an arrow — steady- ing devices. Their effect must not be confused with that of the envelope itself. Any surface driven at high speed through the air has a^ lifting effect. That is why aeroplanes stay up at all. \^'hen the speed is ver\' high and when the surface is designed as a Zeppelin's is, the lifting effect is so pronounced that the gas plays almost a negligible part in keeping the

���A Zeppelin can drop bombs on the Texas all day without doing any more damage than blowing away the unarmored superstructure. She is armed with machine guns to ward off attacking aeroplanes and she carries a powerful wireless set for long-range communication

�� �