*Explosives Carried.* In addition to a liberal supply of ammunition for the machine guns, a large weight of bombs is carried, though the quantity as well as the size of the bombs themselves has been exaggerated in the same or even greater ratio than that which has proved characteristic of the German military press-agency service. The bombs are carried suspended in racks amidships, and the bomb droppers are also located at that part of the ship so that the release of the bombs will not upset the longitudinal equilibrium of the craft. The bomb-dropping apparatus is controlled electrically from the navigating bridge but may also be operated by hand from the same point. It has been reported by the Germans that their latest types of Zeppelins are capable of dropping bombs weighing 1 ton each. In view of the effect that the sudden release of a weight of 1 ton would have on the airship itself, this is manifestly very much of an exaggeration. Zeppelin bombs that have failed to explode have never exceeded 200 to 300 pounds and many of those employed are doubtless still lighter. So far as the total amount carried is concerned, many of the later airships doubtless are capable of transporting 2 to 3 tons and still carrying sufficient fuel, though adverse conditions would prevent their return, as has frequently happened. BRITISH WAR DIRIGIBLES *Adoption of Small Type.* German designers have continued to pin their faith blindly to the huge rigid type, despite the fact that prior to the war almost a dozen of these costly machines met with disaster as fast as they could be turned out. Since the war started, their destruction has kept pace pretty closely with their building without their accomplishing anything of military value. The British naval aeronautic service, on the other hand, appreciated the futility of such tremendous and unwieldy construction and, after a single demonstration of its uselessness, abandoned it altogether. This single attempt was the ill-fated Mayfly, which was most appropriately named, since its performance resolved into a certainty the doubt expressed by its title. In being taken out of its shed, the framing of the airship was damaged, and it collapsed a few minutes later so that it never did fly. One of the early types of small British dirigibles is shown in Fig. 20.