ABSTRACT
A new generation of giant lighter-than-air craft could provide a valuable type of air transport and find a viable economic niche in the spectrum of the transport industry. Francis T. Morse explains that structural efficiency can be enhanced by an increase in size to a point where an airship’s ratio of useful lift to gross lift exceeds that of its heavier-than-air counterpart. The modern airliner has realized the role of airplane in superlative fashion. The hull of an airship is intrinsically a highly efficient space frame. Each of the propellers driving the airship generates a slipstream, moving in the opposite direction. A conservative approach to any new airship power plant might be to incorporate an improved diesel engine, with a s.f.c. fully twenty percent lower than that of the best turbofan engine available. Airships are noteworthy for their smooth ride—no case of airsickness in a rigid airship has ever been recorded—and the larger the airship, the steadier its flight path.
