S.S.P.
In 1916 the design was commenced for an S.S. ship which should have a more comfortable car and be not merely an adaptation of an aeroplane body. These cars, which were of rectangular shape with a blunt nose, were fitted with a single landing skid aft, and contained seats for three persons.
The engine, a 100 horse-power water-cooled Green, was mounted on bearers aft and drove a four-bladed pusher propeller. The petrol was carried in aluminium tanks attached by fabric slings to the axis of the envelope.
Six of these ships were completed in the spring of 1917 and were quite satisfactory, but owing to the success achieved by the experimental S.S. Zero it was decided to make this the standard type of S.S. ship, and with the completion of the sixth the programme of the S.S.P's was brought to a close.
These ships enjoyed more than, perhaps, was a fair share of misfortune, one was wrecked on proceeding to its patrol station and was found to be beyond repair, and another was lost in a snowstorm in the far north. The remainder, fitted at a later date with 75 horse-power Rolls Royce engines, proved to be a most valuable asset to our fleet of small airships.