speed of 35 miles per hour, and could carry fuel for about eight
hours with a crew of three.


GAMMA

In 1910 the Gamma was also completed. This was a much bigger
ship with an envelope of 75,000 cubic feet capacity, which,
though designed in England, had been built by the Astra Company
in Paris. The car, as in Beta, was carried in a long framework
suspended from the envelope. This portion of the ship was
manufactured in England, together with the machinery. This
consisted of an 80 horse-power Green engine driving swivelling
propellers, the gears and shafts of which were made by Rolls
Royce. The engine drove the propeller shafts direct, one from
each end of the crankshaft.

Originally the envelope was fitted with inflated streamline
stabilizers on either side, but at a later date these were
replaced by fixed stabilizing planes. At the same time the Green
engine was removed and two Iris engines of 45 horse-power were
installed, each driving a single propeller. There were two pairs
of elevators, each situated in the framework, one forward, the
other aft. In 1912, having been rigged to a new envelope of
101,000 cubic feet capacity, the ship took part in the autumn
manoeuvres, and considerable use was made of wireless telegraphy.

In a height reconnaissance the pilot lost his way, and running
out of petrol drifted all night, but was safely landed. When
returning to Farnborough the rudder controls were broken and the