New-York tribune., 1908-08-05
WAR BALLOONS FLIGHT
FIRST TEST SUCCESSFUL.
BaIdzun's Craft Under Perfect Con-
troll IN Short ascent.
rFron The Tribune Bureau

Washington Aug 4-Describing an aerial fig
ure eight two hundred feet above the drill
ground at Fort Myer. the Baldwin dirigible war
balloon made its initial fight under complete
control late this afternoon. Captain Baldwin.
builder Of the craft, steered horizontally from
his position on the long spruce framework while
Glenn H. Curtiss of HammondsPort. n Y,
manipulated the engine, forty feet further ahead
on the suspended latticework
The two aeronauts remained in the air seven
minutes and made ten miles hour without
any effort for high speed. The planes for direct
ing the balloons moqon vertically operated with
perfect success.
The test was wholly preliminary, and will be
followed by numerous other fan1iliarizing and
warming up' flights before the official trials
are held The object is to gain the greatest pos
sible familiarity with the mechanism before at
tempting high speed and endurance tests. upon
which the acceptance or rejection Of the balloon
by the government must depend
CURIOUS CROWD VIEWS AIRsHIP.
Throughout the day the craft remained in the
big balloon tent, which was surrounded by
crowd Of persons who forgot the broiling sun in
their anxiety to see what the huge but trim
looking airship could accomplish.
When Glenn Curtiss and members of the sig
nal corps We're grooming the machinery, Cap
tain Baldwin spent most of the afternoon sit
ting in the shade of neghboring cavalry bar
racks. talking of aeronaUtics with Augustus
Post, secretary OF the Aero Club of America.
and wishing that a ten-miIe breeze. which
blowing would die away Shortly after )
o'clock Baldwin and Post returned TO the bal
loon tent and Curtiss was told to tune up the
engines. Then word sent to Secretary
Wright and other officials that the dirigible
would be in the air at 6:45 o'clock Just be-
fore the balloon was brought from the tent the
of hN-r1r
lemonlike balloon turned into the larger
craft filing it out plumply and adding both TO
IFS beauty and lifting power.
Among those in the crowd. besides Secretary
Wright were Major General J. Franklin Bell,
of the General Staff; Brgadier General James
Allen, of the signal corps, who hurried to
the fort IN the army autontbile; Major Edgar
Russell. Major George O. SClIier Captain Charles
s Wallace, Captain George c. Burneu.
mandant of Fort Wood; Lieutenant Frank P
Lahm and Lieutenant Benjamin D. Foulers
of the signal corps; Assistant Secretary Beck
man Winthrop of the Treasury Department;
Marshall P Wilder Augustus Post and Roy
Knabenshue
OFFICIALS PLEASED BY TEST
Army officials expressed themselves as highly
pleased with the first test L very much
encouraged over this performance" said Lieu
tenant Lahu of the signal corps one OF the
officials of the trial board.
Newspaper men crowded around Baldwin and
C,rtfss and pressed them for interviews. All
repJied Baldwin here's where get the gov
ernu7ent's money This machine works like
dream and those box planes are regular pan
cakes Everything worked from start 10 finish
inst as expected it to do. OF course. untried
airshtDs always make one feel nervous. You
can never tell what they will do when built
along new dimensions and with new-fangled at
tachments until they are tried. l don't think 1
can ever improve this one 1t will be for
some one else to carry along that work
Curtiss builder of the motor, said: L at no
time used full power l only hit the motor up
for about two hundred and fifty revolutions.
The box kite planes worked splendidly. We had
too much sand ballast on the rear. and for that
reason l could not open the throttle Of the motor
wide without going higher than wished. The
propeller pulls well. but account of the dis
tribution OF the sand ballast the rear had
TO hold the box planes down most Of the time "a
keep the nose of the ship down. With
adjustment of the sand weights can let the
motor out tomorrow"
The second flight will probably be made to-
morrow morning. and in the afternoon Baldwin
and Curtiss expect TO make a third flight at
higher speed Both OF these will be unofficial.
At height of two hundred feet the dirigible hit
a ten mile breeze this afternoon, but had no
trouble.