In this airship the girder-built underframe was not directly attached to the balloon, but suspended a little way beneath it. The gas envelope had a cubic capacity of 353,165.8 cubic feet; the length was 337¾ feet. There were two Panhard-Levasseur motors of 135 h.p. each. On October 26th, 1910, this airship made an historic and record flight over the Channel from Moisson to Aldershot in five hours twenty-eight minutes, at a speed of some thirty-eight miles an hour, sometimes against a wind of twenty-five miles an hour. Unfortunately, owing to a miscalculation by those responsible, the shed which had to receive the new airship on its arrival was made too small to house it safely. While the airship was being brought into the shed its envelope was torn and placed _hors de combat_. Since this airship was made the Lebaudy brothers have ventured to still further increase the size of their semi-rigid airships. (ii.) _Gross_ (German).--This airship may be described as being more or less a German reproduction of the Lebaudy type. It forms part of the German airfleet. A considerable number have been made of various sizes (for dimensions, etc., see table, German Airships, Chapter IV., page 38). III. NON-RIGID. This type is dependent for its maintenance of form on the pressure of the gas inside the envelope. It is all-important that the envelope of a navigable balloon should not lose its shape--that it should be kept distended with sufficient tautness, so that it may be driven through the air with considerable velocity. On this account the non-rigid type depends entirely on the ballonet system, which consists of having one or more small balloons inside the outer envelope, into which air can be pumped by means of a mechanically driven fan or ventilator to compensate for the loss of gas from any cause. The ballonets occupy about a quarter of the whole volume of the envelope. Such a type is exceedingly well suited for the smaller-sized airships, destined rather for field use than long-range offensive service. Such airships are quickly inflated and deflated. They are also easily transported. Even the Lebaudy or Gross semi-rigid types, though not so clumsy or difficult of transport as the Zeppelins, require more wagon service than the absolutely non-rigid. [Illustration: PARSIFAL AIRSHIP LEAVING ITS HANGAR.] [Illustration: PARSIFAL AIRSHIP, showing one of the fixed horizontal planes, steering rudder, and car.] The British Government have evolved several non-rigid airships of moderate dimensions which have been exceedingly useful as _ballons d’instruction_. For obvious reasons it is not desirable that particulars concerning them should be published at the present crisis.