Re: Slow planes was: Battle blimps

At 2:48 PM -0500 4/19/02, Allan Goodall wrote:
>They still had problems, though, even with the pressure valve. A number
of
>atmospheric effects could send them upwards, where they had to vent
gas, only
>to have the effect disappear and the ship sink without enough gas to
>stabilize. They were particularly tricky things to fly. The idea posted
here
>that they could stay in the air for weeks is perhaps a bit optimistic.
On the
>other hand, with "gas refueling" airships and such, maybe it could
work.

Granted, but they were getting pretty good at it. I think with modern 
composites, better engines (read more HP and Lighter), and advances 
in sensor technology (exactly where is that storm cell that will have 
the updrafts we want to avoid), a Modern Military rigid could have 
quite a bit of hardware and crew for very extended operations.

>I'm not sure a condensor would be much good in the 80,000 to 100,000
feet
>range, though. Not a whole lot of moisture up there...

One of the byproducts from Internal combustion engines is water 
vapor. By running that exhaust gas through a condenser you get the 
water vapor back in liquid form that is then dumped into your ballast 
tanks.

see http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/macon.html

The Macon had capacity for 100 crew (berths, mess area), 5 fighters, 
8 engines with vectoring props (backwards or down)

http://www.btinternet.com/~david.manley/naval/genquar/airships.htm
A good size comparison and game stats....
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