very one of the strategical and
tactical advantages which the Committee of Imperial Defence anticipated
in 1909 when recommending the construction of a rigid airship for the
Navy, has been, or is in a fair way of being, realized by the German
airships. These results have only been attained by perseverance under
the most discouraging conditions of disaster and loss.'

The total air force possessed by Great Britain, to set over against
these great foreign organizations, consisted of two small army airships,
named _Beta_ and _Gamma_, and a very small number of aeroplanes.

The report of Captain Sueter and Mr. O'Gorman put the whole matter in a
new light, and showed the need for action. In regard to aeroplanes, this
action had already been taken. In the winter of 1911-12 the
sub-committee had recommended the formation of a corps of aviators; and
this recommendation, as shall be told in the next chapter, had been
promptly carried into effect. As for airships, which chiefly concerned
the navy, the question was now not whether the Admiralty were willing to
take up experimental work with a newfangled invention, but whether they
could afford to neglect a weapon of certain value, which might prove to
be a determining factor in war. Airships of the largest size and power
must be provided, said the sub-committee, in the near future. But to
build these airships at once, they were agreed, would be to court
disaster. A large airship is of little use to men who have had no
training in the handling and navigation of airships. Such experience as
was available was to be found at the Royal Aircraft Factory, which had
produced and flown airships for military purposes. The Admiralty
responded at once; in September 1912 the naval airship section, which
had been disbanded earlier in the year, was reconstituted, and Commander
E. A. D. Masterman, Lieutenants N. F. Usborne, F. L. M. Boothby, and H.
L. Woodcock, and a small number of ratings were attached to the airship
squadron of the Military Wing at Farnborough, to gain experience of work
with airships. The airships themselves were to be supplied from various
sources. The factory was to build a new airship of the _Gamma_ type. A
small Willows airship, which happened to be on the market, though it had
no military value, was held to be worth its cost for training purposes.
The sub-committee also recommended the purchase of two foreign airships.
Here there were difficulties. The best airships of G