between the top of the ship and the roof of the shed.
Inconceivable as it may sound, the overall height of the ship
was increased by practically 10 feet without the War Office
being informed. The ship flew over and was landed safely, but on
being taken into the shed the envelope caught on the roof
girders, owing to lack of headroom, and was ripped from end to
end. The Government agreed to increase the height of the shed
and the firm to rebuild the ship. This was completed in March,
1911, and the ship was inflated again. On carrying out a trial
flight, having made several circuits at 600 feet, she attempted
to land, but collided with a house and was completely wrecked.
This was the end of a most unfortunate ship, and her loss was not
regretted.


DELTA

Towards the end Of 1910 the design was commenced of the ship to
be known as the Delta, and in 1911 the work was put in hand. The
first envelope was made of waterproofed silk. This proved a
failure, as whenever the envelope was put up to pressure it
invariably burst. Experiments were continued, but no good
resulting, the idea was abandoned and a rubber-proofed fabric
envelope was constructed of 173,000 cubic feet volume. This ship
was inflated in 1912. The first idea was to make the ship a
semi-rigid by lacing two flat girders to the sides of the
envelope to take the weight of the car. This idea had to be
abandoned, as in practice, when the weight of the car was
applied, the girders buckled. The ship was then rigged as a
non-rigid. A novelty was introduced by attaching a rudder flap