Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 94, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 April 1916 — Costly Airships. [ARTICLE]

Costly Airships.

Airships are an enormous Item of expense in the accounts of an army. Zeppelins, for example, cost 8500,000 to build. Their construction takes a year, yet they can be totally wrecked by a high wind in half an hour. To fill a Zeppelin with gas costs 13,000 every time a full head of hydrogen is pumped into tbe 600-foot envelope of the airship. The great motors of the vessel drink up petrol at the rate of 30 gallons an hour. Moreover, these delicate machines require a 3110,000 shed to house them if they are to be safely anchored away from the presence of boisterous weather.