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[10ebbor10]

If it can go high enough it wont need to survive getting hit. But I do see what you mean.

Note that your airship, in the current dimensions, would be larger than the largest ever build.

The Hindenburg was a mere 200 meters long, after all.

On that note, I resent the opinion that Hydrogen airships are unsafe. After all, the only german* airship that ever caught fire was the Hindenburg. And that one was designed for  helium, which probably played a not insignificant role in it's eventual demise.

*Germans were also the only ones using hydrogen airships on a large scale.

Airships are actually pretty tough to shoot down from the ground, unless they are very low. The winds at high altitudes can easily deviate anti-air projectiles by several miles. The purpose of AA is less to snipe the planes out of the sky, but to fill the air with clouds of shrapnel to tear oncoming aircraft to bits.

Well, yes. That's exactly the problem. An airship is a pretty big target, and scrapnel is fairly effective at destroying the gas envelope, forcing the ship to return.

[Aseaheru]

Buaha, I am really silly, arent I? Fixing now...


I think I was still thinking feet.

And AA guns still have a maximum altitude they can shoot at. Hell, even SAMs do.

[10ebbor10]

Yup, but at those altitudes your cannons are useless weight. If the ship survives the height, that is.

[Aseaheru]

Yes, but we wont need to go that high. AA guns can only fire up to about 7,620 m and still be effective, with 11,900 m being the range at maximum. (Note, Those are from 88's, WWII. we are just after WWI here, right?)

[10ebbor10]

1920 airships didn't get higher than 3000, IIRC. Sure, technically they could reach the high 7000, but practically none when higher than 2400 meters. Because at that altitude the gas cells start leaking, and you risk loosing structural integrity and crashing when you come down. Not to mention that you waste precious helium.

The question about the cannons was why you would use those, rather than bombs. You can increase the payload significantly by doing so.

[Aseaheru]

Looking at other WWII era AA guns they seem to have an average maximum range of 6000m...

And that is still a good point. The three guns are for ageanst other aircraft and sutch.

[10ebbor10]

Looking at other WWII era AA guns they seem to have an average maximum range of 6000m...

And that is still a good point. The three guns are for ageanst other aircraft and sutch.

You're trying to shoot down aircraft with an artillery cannon? Might be a tad hard. After all, you can't hope to outmaneuver them, so you need 360 degrees coverage, both on top and bottom of the craft. Top is especially important, as one of the easiest ways to shoot down an airship is to drop a bomb on it's balloons.

At this time, most will be multiwing craft, and unarmored. A heavy machine gun should do it.

[Aseaheru]

According to the first post the hotchkiss here is a multibarreled hand cranked weapon.

[10ebbor10]

It was described as a cannon. And with it's 5 meter barrel length, it might be a bit unwieldy to shoot down aircraft with it.

Then again, if we have no better alternative, that's what we should do.

[Dorsidwarf]

16) Design more powerful engine capable of achieving 600hp
17) Start building a fleet of troop transport vehicles powered by these engines in order to give our forces greater mobility
18) Begin designing a tank with just enough armour to withstand hand grenades and machine gun fire, but which is extremely fast. Machine gun blisters and a heavy belt-fed gun are important too.

[Aseaheru]

I am with 16 and 8, but for 16 we should also work on weight and (to a lesser extent) fuel consumption.

And ebbor, I never said it was the best for the job. It can always be swapped out at some point.

[10ebbor10]

Well, I'd go for a more spreadout distribution of guns at least*, and hide most of the supplies inside the balloon to reduce the gondola's size.

*1 on top, 1 front, 1 back, for example.

[Aseaheru]

Well, it douse stand to reason that the observation areas would be armed, along with the power pods.

As for stores in the balloon, most will already be there.

[Dorsidwarf]

19) Work on an "unspent fuel collector" that filters out sprays of uncombusted fuel in order to increase fuel economy
20)Design the Belt-12 Self Repeating Gun. This is a gun that uses the recoil from the bullet firing to automatically eject the spent case, and draw the ammo belt through to the next round. No cranking needed.

[Aseaheru]

Supporting both. Agean, weight should be mitigated.