Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-02-12
IN CLOUDY HEIGHTS
SUCCESSFUL ASCENSION UNDER
AERO CLUBS AUSPICES.

thafleS LeFee, a Young 4dflslan deio-
loon ascension conducted by the Aero club
of America at West Point Yesterday. Levee,
went up ell alone, and was carried about
thirty-live miles to the northward. The
descent was made in open field on the
farm of Mathew b. De Witt at Hurley.
The car took the ground easily and sus-
tanned no damage. The trip occupied about
four hours.
You wouldn't get a day like this in
thousand years for baiooning," exclaimed
Cortlandt Field Bishop, who had lis first
taste of sailing through the air in Paris last
summer, but, he added, there might be
little more wind
Not Cloud in the Sky.
Not cloud was in the sky when the as
cent was made. The sun was slowly sink
ing behind the hills west of the parade
ground, and as the huge circular yellow
ball rose slowly in the air the suns rays
made it shine like gold 1t gracefully as
cended midway between the snow-capped
tops OF Crow Nest and Storm King, sha: ply
silhouetted against the clear blue sky.
The big balloon only went up about half
as high as a pilot balloon sent up 20
determine the direction of the wind, and
which assembled to the length of a mile.
The basket. with the aeronaut and $50
pounds Of sand carried ballast, weighed
$50 pounds. and in the. light wind 1t was
a severe drag, Notwithstanding the fact
that the twenty-eight-foot diameter balloon
was inflated with 1850 cubic feet OF coal
gas. Levee waved his cap jub!lantly to his
friends as he shot up from the old siege
battery, bidding them farewell in French
and then in English. and after rising to
height of 1000 to $500 feet, and going due
north. the balloon ceased to mount higher,
and, falling into comfortable air current
having a velocity of from twelve to fifteen
miles an hour directly over the bed Of the
river. sailed majestically over the ice-in-
crusted Hudson toward Newburg
1T Is well named the Lark" exclaimed
John f. O'Rourke, the tunnel contractor
and vice president of the Aero Club OF
America, he stamped his feet in a snow
drift and adjusted his field glasses to see
what the Frenchman was doing. Il feel
as though l had been on lark myself,
getting early train from the city and
then walking around in the snow to keep
warm, while the balloon was slowly fl ling
with gas. The sport in ballooning, l tell
you, lies in getting ready for it. The man
in the basket has all the fun, and the I'M
inflated crowd. has all the expectancy Of
something exciting.
The officers of the academy We're eager
as the cadets to see the fun, for it is the
first time that ID balloon has ever assembled
from the frowning ramparts of West Point.
Initiating the Balloon.
The balloon was inflated back OF the old
ordnance headquarters, close to tie gas
works. \ two-nch pipe supplied the gas
from the tank. The filing began at IL
clock in the morning, and at $3.50 O'Clock
the tube removed, and Charles Levee,
assisted by Leo Stevens and half q dozen
Frenchmen, carefully grouped the eighty
sandbaEs that held the balloon down
around the basket while the ropes were
being adjusted l.. Stevens was the con-
structor of the dirigible balloon used by
Knabenshue in his flight over New York
last summer 1t had been hoped that his
big balloon, carrying two persons, would be
inflated a the same time, but it was found
impossible to get it ready. In fact it was
doubtful at one time whether Levee's bal
loon could be used, for the severe cold in
the morning had made the cotton fabric
very brittle and 1T had to be laid IN the
sun for an hour to get 1t in condition 70. in
fiating.
The gas in the balloon had a lifting power
of BID pounds Levee weighs $50 pounds.
and he carried six sandbags of ballast. each
weighing a trifle over twenty pounds. At
tached to the side of the basket was a
Inedium-sized graphing iron. He wore an
ordinary winter overcoat and c.oselit-
Ting cap.
Besides Cortlandt Field Bishop, the Aero
Club of America was represented by Au-
gustus Post. a. NJ Herring, DIR. Julian +.
Thomas who went UP the night before
with his wife; Edward Durant, whose
father Charles +. Durant, made one of the
first American ascensions in 1888: e. K.
Bronson, who told of an ascension he made
from old Madison Square Garden in 1874,
going to Saratoga; j. &. Mccoy and Paul
Nocquet.
So pleased were tie members of the Aero
Club with the success OF the ascension that
plans We're at once made to make another
ascension at Tuxedo on Washingtons birth
day The Aero Clubs balloon No. j, built by
Leo Stevens, and the latters larger balloon
will probably both be used at that time,
provided satisfactory arrangements can be
made to make hydrogen gas at Tuxedo.
That kind of gas has better lifting power,
and the Aero Clubs balloon was built es-
pecahy for it's use Eeyee will probably
go UP again. so that three balloons may be
sent up from Tuxedo on February ~.