Waterbury evening Democrat., 1905-08-28
KNABENSHUE IN FLIGHT
Daring Aeronaut Not Afraid
 While In the Air.
STRONG MAN OF STEEL NERVES.
Young Toledo Aeronaut Says He Feels as Safe Tn the Air as on the Ground-Has to Know Just Where to Shift His Weight to Balance His Airship. Which Goes Tn Any Direc- tion Excepting In a Gale.


 to Shift His Weight to Balance Hi.
 Airship. Which Goes In Any Direc. tion Excepting In a Gale.
 When l am up in the air sailing in my ship feel just as confident and safe as when 1 am walking on the earth,' said A. Roy Knabenshue, the young Toledo aeronaut, the other morn ing as he carefully threaded his fingers around the huge silk bag that had safely carried him around New York city in flight on the previous after- noon. My ship can go into the air In any direction unless there is a gale blowing
 That statement was proved when the daring young aeronaut sent his airship from the vacant lot at Sixty-second street and Central Park West to the Flatiron building and back. to the great astonshment of thousands of persons who lined the streets and gazed into the air for more than an hour, says the New York Globe. Scores of persons had heard that the ship was to appear shortly after 2 o'clock, and they ob- tained positions from which to watch the flight to advantage.
 Knabenshue's car is so light and fimsy of construction that the first idea is that it could not sustain mans ni srhf mot aifrh I, fl, fifty pounds, exclusive of the engine
 A structure made of the thinnest of wood is suspended from the gas bag. and upon this the young inventor trusts his life. The skeleton is made of spruce scantlings, held together by little bolts. none of which is nor han an eighth of an inch thick.
 The frame is fashioned after the shape of triangle, the extreme length of it being an ellipse, sharply pointed at the ends. Criss crossed from the scantlings at equal distances of about a foot are thin steel wires that hold the frame scantlings in shape and sup port the engine and the man who oper- ates the machine.
 The machine when in flight presents fascinating and picturesque appear ance. The huge gas bag is almost transparent. and when the sun shines on it it has much the appearance of the sail of d first class yacht at sea. Be- low the bag hangs the frame on which the inventor sits and guides the ship and runs tl.e small engine which op- crates propeller at one end.
 This propeller is the only visible nov ing thing on the car. The aeronaut is but speck in the air, and if it was not known that there was man on the frame it would take the hardest kind of persuasion to convince any one that there was.
 Knabenshue himself is a man of twenty eight. He is thin and strong and with nerves of steel. He weighs but 40 pounds, stands five feet seven inches. is of dark complexion and has a clear eye. This spareness of limb and flesh makes him best fitted for the task that he has undertaken, for every pound of flesh that he carriers means a corresponding loss of weight that must be taken from the strength of his engines or to the structure to which he clings.
 This 14O pounds of Knabenshue is so much ballast for his ship. If heavy current of air hits his ship. unexpected ly fore. aft or on the side he must know where to stand upon the web of scan ting and wires. He must skip about. throwing his weight at the right mo. ment to the right place and bringing his ship to the right angle of equlIbri- um. If his judgment errs death prob ably will he his fate
 knabenshue comes from good stock. | His father is now the American consul was at one time editor of Toledo | and it was there that the son achieved his greatest victories over the winds Like pilot of the seas. knows the currents of the | air. This Is as essential to a proper | sailing of an airsbip as it is to the man | who holds the wheel on the greatest | ocean greyhound.
 II takes fifteen hours to lniate the | alrship bag. Hundreds of little bags | filled with sand hold the inflated bag In . readiness for the adjusting of the . when the ship is being . made ready for flight.