This paper describes an investigation conducted at the request of the Aeronautical Research Committee, who made a grant to one of us for the purpose. It is submitted by permission as an essay to compete for the R.38 Memorial Prize.
No essential alteration has been made in the form of presentation adopted in our preliminary reports, but to meet the needs of the general reader we have added the introductory paragraphs which follow. These explain briefly the nature of the problem which we have set ourselves, the range of our solution, and the bearing of our results on practical questions which confront the designer of a rigid airship hull.