The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-01-28
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Daniewsky conducted the demonstration
personally, and, mounted on the balloon
chair, steered the big flying machine in
whatever direction he wished with abso-
Lutte certainty and safety. First he shot
into the air about 800 feet. cirelcd around
once or twice and brought the airship to
a dead stop, suspended in midatr. AT the
request of the Russian officers he brought
the machine within twenty feet of the
ground in order that they could closely
observe its action, and he then gave sew
erat additional demonstrations of his alb
solute control Of the strange craft, North.
SOUTH east and west he sailed through the
atmosphere, at will. and always returned
to the starting point without the least
apparent difficulty. Finally. he sailed
straight up into the air until completely
lost to view. then. after some little lapse
of time. reappeared and landed the airship
without assistance, near the great shed In
v hich Ii IL housed when not in use.
1t was this latter feat which aroused the
greatest wondcrment among the members
OF the committee. 1t Is well known fact
that the difficulty of making "A safe de-
scent is the greatest problem which con-
fronts the student OF aerial navigation.
Indeed, this has been the cause of the
failure Of most experiments of this ma
ture. 1t has always been easy enough to
invent a balloon or arship which would
ascend, but the descent was always a haz-
ardous undertaking, which frequently
wrecked the machine and cost the unfor-
tunate inventor his life.
Through the courtesy of DR.. Danilewsky.
the inventor, the remarkable photographs
which accompany this article and which
graphically illustrate the descent of the
big balloon, were obtained Scientific cir
cles have been greatly stirred up by the
successful descent of the new airship. and
In order to secure a detailed description,
your correspondent interviewed Count Vas
sewitch, of the Russian war Office. who
was chief of the committee appointed BY
the czar to report on the new invention.
Count Yassewitch was enthusiastic, and
even goes SO far as TO aver that in his
opinion the problem of aerial navigation
IL solved.
The Russian war department has, from
time to time, had submitted to 1t many
varieties of balloons, airships and flying
machines" he said, land az we consider
the question one Of surprising military i'm
portance, We have always carefully exam
med these devices In order to prove or dis
prove the claims of their respective inven-
tors, In every case, however, without
single exception, we found one fault, and
one which was SO radical as to completely
nullify the practical value. of the machines
Al or them would ascend readily enough,
but none Of them could be made to safely
descend. Many of the machines submitted
nave been wonderfully ingenious and have
many good features, but this one objec-
uon has been simply unsurmountable and
we began to despair that any arsnip
could be invented In which the descent
would be- absolutely under the control of
me operator. / stated all these facts to
Dr. Danilewsky prior to the trial, and
stated to him that ] was free to admit
that | was skeptical of his success in the
management of a descent He assured
me that he would convince me beyond the
peTadVenture of doubt; that he would
ascend In the air. above the clouds, till
ne was completely lost to view. and then
would speedily return to the earth, and,
without assistance. land tie machine in
tho yard near the shed in which it Is
kept-and what is more he did it,
After several interesting demonstra-
tons, which proved conclusively that he
could steer the airship IN whichever d.
reetion he desired, he shot straight up into
tae air. As he assembled the balloon ap-
peared smaller. until finally within a
half hours time the balloon was COM
pietely lost to view. A remarkable fea-
ture Of the ascent was the fact that the
airship seemed absolutely unaffected by
The air currents, but went straight UP
without the slightest deviation. After the
balloon had disappeared some little inter-
val OF time elapsed during which we Of
1cers discussed the probabilities of his eff
fort TO descend ON the same spot from
which he started.
THE consensus of opinion seemed to lie
that the chances were small. Indeed, one
officer remarked that he was just as likely
TO land IN the ocean or In some river. and
none OF MS would have been greatly su~-
prised If he had not returned at all that
day. As a result of past experience we
hardly anticipated hearing from him for