An Advisory Committee for Aeronautics was formed in 1909, and a small dirigible, the Baby, was completed and flown. At the end of the year the Balloon School was made a separate establishment with Capper at its head, and the Factory became a civilian unit, although still under War Office direction.

The airship Baby had been rebuilt and improved into the larger Beta, and followed by the progressively larger Gamma and Delta. The first product of the newly established Royal Aircraft Factory was the airship Delta, Naval Airship No.19, which had originally been designed in 1911 as a semi-rigid but emerged in 1912 rebuilt as a non-rigid of 175,000 cu.ft capacity. Contained in a rubberised fabric envelope and powered by two 105 hp White and Poppe engines, driving swivel propellers, it was the fastest British airship so far with a top speed of 45 mph.

A short, 28 foot long car and its crew of five were suspended 20 feet below the envelope, the suspension wires being attached to horizontal ropes sewn into the lower portion of the envelope fabric, while simple brace horizontal and vertical steering surfaces were attached at the stern.

With her increased capacity and a gross lift of 4.6 tons she was extensively used for training and wireless telegraphy experiments conducted by Captain H.Lefroy RE in 1912, during which transmissions were clearly picked up at a range of 100 miles.

Both Gamma and Delta took part in further army war games during 1912 and 1913, where they were employed both in reconnaissance and the ‘bombing’ of towns in ‘enemy’ territory providing valuable experience in the effectiveness of this new weapon for troops and general staff alike.

Engines: 1 x White & Poppe, 110 hp
Capacity: 173,000 cu.ft
Length: 198 ft
Width: 41 ft
Height: 65 ft
Gross lift: 4.8 ton
Disposable lift: 1.46 ton
Speed: 44 mph
Range: 8 hr at cruise
Crew: 5

An Advisory Committee for Aeronautics was formed in 1909, and a small dirigible, the Baby, was completed and flown. At the end of the year the Balloon School was made a separate establishment with Capper at its head, and the Factory became a civilian unit, although still under War Office direction.

Launched in May 1909 the 22,000 cu.ft Baby was a more carefully conceived design incorporating some of the more advanced features seen in contemporary continental airships. In its original form the craft was 84 ft in length and 24 ft diameter, with bulbous air-filled fins at the stern. Unlike the earlier Gamma airship, Baby was fitted with an internal ballonet. Power initially came from to inadequate 8 hp Buchet petrol engines, these engines having previously been installed in an early version of the Dunne tail-less biplane.

After initial testing the air-filled fins were replaced with more suitable flat section steering planes, while a 25 hp REP engine was installed to provide more power. After this, and following a series of trials that highlighted poor controllability, she was further taken in hand during the winter. Emerging in the spring of 1910 in a reconstructed form and now known as Beta, her length had been increased to 116 ft with a capacity of 35,000 ft, giving her a gross lift of just over 1 ton together with a greatly improved all-round performance.

A further change of engine, a 35 hp four cylinder, water cooled Green engine, completed the conversion, giving an endurance of five hours with a crew of three.

This small craft was considered the first successful British airship, on one occasion staying aloft for eight hours. She made several flights of note, including flying over London at night in early experiments to determine the best means of defence. Beta was also the first airship to be fitted with a wireless apparatus, being used in early 1911 for experiments succeeding in sending and receiving messages at a distance of over 30 miles.

The airship Baby had been rebuilt and improved into the larger Beta, and followed by the progressively larger Gamma and Delta.

During the army manoeuvres of 1910 HMA Beta and recently completed Gamma were employed in evaluating their potential use to the army in warfare: in extended flights over Somerset, Dorset, Hampshire ad Wiltshire flying reconnaissance sorties; scouting for attacking and defending forces for a period of two months.

The airship was supported in the field by the old existing balloon gas train and workshop, drawn by a steam traction engine to provide a mobile base.

During the period of the manoeuvres Beta had to be deflated on only one occasion.

In 1912 Beta again underwent further modification, with her envelope being split lengthwise to accommodate an additional longitudinal gore. This increased her diameter to 28 ft and lengthened to 135 ft overall. The swivelling propellers were retained whereas the engine was once more changed, this time to a 45 hp Clerget, increasing the top speed to 35 mph.

Beta was also used in early mooring mast trials; using a mast designed by Commander Masterman RN at Farnborough, known as the ‘high mast’ system, whereby the airship floated free of the ground attached to the mast at the nose, using weighted rollers to keep the stern of the ship in trim as it vaned in the wind.

As Beta II she continued to give good service, taking part in the army war games on Salisbury Plain before the war and being involved in the early parachute experiments carried out from her by General E.M.Maitland.
In January 1914 the navy took over the lighter-than-air operations from the army, with Beta II becoming HMA No.17 and initially used to familiarise naval personel with airship handling.

With the outbreak of war HMA No.17 was for a short time sent to France. Based near Dunkirk, she made several night flights during January 1915 over the German lines and was on artillery-spotting duties before such activities were deemed too dangerous.

Subsequently, HMA No.17 was used for training at RNAS Kingsnorth before finally being deleted in mid-1916.

The non-rigid airship “Baby” was built in 1908-1909, and subsequently enlarged and converted first to the British Army Dirigible No. 3 “Beta I” and then to Naval Airship No. 17 “Beta II”. It survived until 1916, thanks to several major rebuilds and modifications, including four different engine installations. Originally it had three inflatable fins on the tail of the envelope, which were found to be too unwieldy for practical work and were replaced by fixed fins.

1909 Baby
Engine: 2 x Buchet, 8 hp
Capacity: 21,000 ft
Length: 84 ft
Diameter: 26 ft
Height: 38 ft
Gross lift: 0.62 ton
Useful lift: 400 lb
Speed: 20 mph
Endurance: 3 hr
Crew: 3

1910 Baby
Engine: REP, 25 hp
Capacity: 35,000 ft
Length: 104 ft

1910 Baby
Engine: Green, 35 hp
Length: 110 ft
Capacity: 35,000 ft
Endurance: 5 hr
Crew: 3

1912 Beta II
Engine: Clerget, 45 hp
Capacity: 50,000 ft
Length: 116 ft
Width: 28 ft
Height: 40 ft
Gross lift: 1.22 ton
Useful lift: 0.40 ton
Speed: 32 mph
Endurance: 8 hr
Crew: 3

The first official government interest began in 1907 at Farnborough where, after receiving a small grant from the War Office of £2000, Colonels Capper and S.F.Cody wre able to start work on the first of the army airships, the Nulli Secundus.

The airship was designed as a semi-rigid and was to be built under conditios of the greatest secrecy. A noticeable feature of the completed craft was the long, uncovered square section metal keel suspended 12 feet below a cylindrical goldbeaters’ skin envelope of 56,000 cu.ft capacity. With a length of 120 ft, power was provided by a 50 hp Antoinette petrol motor, which doubled as the power unit for Cody’s Army Aeroplane No.1, and which drove two aluminium paddle propellers on each side of a small car suspended below the keel containing the crew of three.

An advanced feature of the propellers was that they represented the first use of a variable pitch mechanism in any aircraft, so that the blades coulb be set at an optimum angle of attack. The envelope lacked an internal balloonet compensating for the expansion of gas as the airship rose to a moderate altitude. They did include an automatic gas valve and two hand-operated manoeuvring valves.

The envelope was attached to the keel framework by four circumferential cloth bands and covered with cord netting. The netting bands being made necessary despite the extra weight due to the extreme difficulty of attaching suspension wires or other attachments to the goldbeaters’ skin fabric. Twin rudders were fitted aft, while the elevating plane was situated at the bow in the hope of providing vertical control.

On September 10th, 1907, Nulli Secundus made her maiden flight. A series of short, local flights were made at Farnborough where a speed of 16 mph was obtained.

Following these tests Nulli Secundus departed on 5 October to fly to London, landing after a three and a half hour flight at Crystal Palace. Piloted by Capper and Cody, she set up an endurance record for non rigids by staying in the air for 3.5 hours on the journey from Farnborough to London. The achievement was unfortunately crowned by anti-climax, for excessive headwinds forced the airship down at Crystal Palace on the way back. Strengthening winds threatened to damage the moored ship and the sargent in charge instead ordered the ship to be inflated and it was returned to its base by road.

In December 1907, Cody began to build his first biplane at Farnborough, and Nulli Secundus was being rebuilt to emerge as Nulli Secundus II the following summer.

During the winter month the airship was rebuilt, emerging as Nulli Secundus II of a slightly increased capacity with a new, streamlined silk-covered deep keel that was attached directly to, and faired into, the underside of the envelope. Nulli Secundus II had made its first flight on July 24th, 1908. Several local flights were made during July and August, where a speed of 22 mph was recorded however both vertical and horizontal control was deemed to be inadequate and the airship was dismantled at the end of 1908.

In May 1909, after withdrawing its support for aeroplane experiments, the War Office reorganized the Factory for the primary task of producing airships.

Nulli Secundus II 1908
Capacity: 56,000 cu.ft
Length: 120 ft
Diameter: 26 ft
Height: 44 ft
Gross lift: 1.0 ton
Disposable lift: 0.20 ton
Engine: 1 x Antoinette, 50 hp
Speed: 12 mph
Endurance: 4 hr
Crew: 3