HC Deb 04 April 1911 vol 23 cc1984-5
Colonel BURN

asked the Under-Secretary for War whether, considering the extreme vulnerability of dirigibles, they would be likely in war to be at once destroyed by hostile aeroplanes, which possess greater speed and are able to rise to a greater height; and, if so, whether, seeing that a dozen aeroplanes can be constructed for the cost of one dirigible, he would consider the desirability of devoting the £28,000 which is named in the Estimates for the building of dirigible sheds to the construction of aeroplanes and sheds to house them?

Colonel SEELY

Dirigibles are still in the experimental stage, and trials with them are necessary before the points raised in the question can be settled. In the meantime it is absolutely necessary to construct another shed at Farnborough in order to enable the trials to proceed and the dirigibles now being prepared for trial to be completed.