Los Angeles herald., 1905-03-06
AsCENDS 5000 FEET UNDER
PERFECT CONTROL
CURRENTS ARE MEASURED
Roy knabenshue Clearly Demon-
strates That He ls Past Master
In the Art Of Aerial
Navigation
Navigation

Knabenshue In the basket, shot sky
ward yesterday afternoon when the
mooring lines were let go. SO sudden
was the leap that 1t fairly took the
breath away of the thousands of spec
tators. for the pretty sphere of var
nished cotton literally jumped thou
sand feet into the air.
At this altitude the speed slackened
somewhat and the Baby began to
slowly drift with the southwest breeze.
Knabenshue threw out bag of sand
ballast and again the balloons speed
in the direction of the stars increased.
From time to time more ballast was
cast off and the aeronaut and balloon
went out of sight Of the spectators
somewhere in the southwest.
When an altitude Of 5000 feet had
been reached Knabenshue concluded
that the ocean looked dangerously close
and SO the gas valve was opened and
a. rapid descent made, landing being
effected near Watt station, which is
about half way between Los Angeles
and Long Beach. e. M. Clinton fol-
lowed the balloon in an automobile and
brought it, with its captain, back to
the city.
Talks to Crowd
When all was ready the balloon was
allowed to float some distance from
from the basket to the assembled
crowd the object which he had in
building the Baby and of the trips he
intends to make in her. He said:
1.-THE new airship. City of Los An
geles, which is more than twice as
large as the Arrow, is practically COM
plete and will be ready to fly as soon
as the new four-cylinder. motor arrives
from New York. AS this motor was
designed especially for Capt. Baldwin
and is different from anything which
has been built so far, its delivery by
the makers has been delayed.
\ 1--WE have already arranged for two
trips in the big ship-one to the top of
Mt Wilson and the other in the form
of race from Los Angeles to Santa
Barbara against E. M. Clinton, who
will drive his Winton touring car.
There will be a substantial side bet
on the result.
"This will be the longest flight ever
attempted by an airship, but we feel
certain of success. However, there are
many problems of navigation to face
in the handling of the large ship that
do not have to be met with the Arrow,
and it is our purpose to make several
ascensions to heights of from two to
three miles for the purpose of obtain
ing data on the higher air currents.
New Ship High Flyer
1.-THE new ship will generally fly much
higher than the Arrow, and in the case
of the Mt. Wilson trip it must be sailed
at an altitude OF considerably over a
mile. A little ship has several layers
of air, as 1t were, to contend with. but
the larger the ship the more layers it
has to be navigated through. We are
making these experiments solely in the
interest of science, and the data which
we get will be carefully preserved for
the benefit of other aeronauts."
This said. the binding ropes were let
so and again Knabenshue was waving
to the crowd, a thousand feet in the
air.
The balloon first drifted northeast,
but soon struck another current which
drove it south, then passing through
this layer the Baby took westerly
course. This seemed to be the general
trend of the upper air. for the balloon
was over a mile above the earth and
nearly out of sight before another
current was reached, and then it'was
carried slowly in a southeasterly di-
rection. Altogether it passed through
eight air currents.
Ocean Looked Too Close
Ballast was cast out from time TO
time and the balloon rose steadily.
When an altitude of 5000 feet had been
reached Knabenshue still had three
bags of ballast and the Baby was still
rising, but the ocean looked too close,
and he was being carried toward 1t,
so the aeronaut decided to come down.
The valve was opened and the balloon
brought earthward rapidly. When
fifty feet from the ground the anchor
was thrown out aud it finally caught
in a fence.
The farmer on whose property
Knabenshue had landed seemed rather
frightened at the sudden appearance
of the balloon ami appeared to resent
the visit. but Knabenshue finally
brought his sky wagon to earth eand
made peace with the irate tillerrof the
soil.
On this ascension instruments were
carried to take observations at the
various heights. At 5000 feet the barom-
eter registered little less than twenty
two inches. indicating the great diff
ference In the pressure Of the air at
the surface Of the earth and at that
altitude