Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-11-16
SNOW CRuSnES BALLOON TENT
FALLING POLE PUNCHES HOLE
IN BALDWIN SHIP.
Fort Myer Accident May End
Signal Corps Aerial Experiments.
for the Winter.

The weight of the wet snow that fell
Saturday and Saturday night was too
much for the big balloon tent at Fort
Myer. and yesterday it fell in. One of
the supporting poles in falling punched
hole in the Baldwin dirigible, which
was stored in the tent, and all the gas
escaped. The material damage done
amounts to about $500. but the accident
1t is feared, may put an end to the bal
loon experiments for the winter.
After the accident to the Wright aero
plane and the trip of the Baldwin dirigi
bic to ST. Joseph, it was hoped to rig up
the arship. which is officially known as
"Dirigible No. L. and have a few eX
perimental flights before the real winter
weather set in. The balloon was inflated
last week. and, while the wireless tele-
graph apparatus was not ready for the
tests that were to have been made. it
was intended to do little flying. It was
hoped that the balloon could be navigated
across the river and shown at the White
House, among other things.
Everything was in readiness for flight
Friday. but the wind was too high. Late
Friday afternoon Lieut.. LahIl, who was
in charge of the areal work. rode out to
the balloon tent and discussed the posi-
billty OF making a moonlight fight. the
wind having gone down and the condi
tons being all favorable But the plan
was abandoned. Saturday it showed. and
there was quite a weight OH the balloon
tent when night closed in. The storm
continued TO grow worse, but the officers
thought the tent perfecly safe. 1t was a
special tent, the biggest Of the sort ever
made-was 100 feet long, forty broad and
forty high. 1t had no poles on the inside
and was held up by maze of guy ropes
from the four poles at the corners.
The accident came from one of the
sand anchors supporting a corner pole
pulling out. This threw the weight on
one Of the poles. and 1t snapped. bringing
down three others. There was watch
man in the tent at the time, and he had
a narrow escape, but came out unhurt
1t was not necessary to pull the ripcord
to debate the balloon. as one of the fall
ing poles had punched a hole in it and
done this automatically. About three
hundred and fifty dollars worth Of hydro
gen gas escaped into the Virginia at
mosphere and there was in addition about
four hundred or five hundred dollars
damage to the tent and other equipment.
All this can be repaired, for the gas bag
itself is not much damaged. but the delay
will put off the flights of the balloon for
some time-possibly will stope the aerial
work for the winter
The accident is greatly regretted by the
Signal Corps officers, for it had been
hoped that flights could be made during
the very cold weather-possibly in some
have been done to test the lifting power
of hydrogen in the cold The theory has
been that the lifting power of the gas de-
creaseS with the cold weather. This has
been noted principally on high flights
with free balloons. but it Is now thought
that it is the thin upper air that has
more to do with the inefficiency of the
gas than the cold. it was intended 10
test this at Fort Myer this winter
The Signal Corps has been looking for
ward with interest to the wireless tests
There is no question that messages can
be transmitted from the balloon to the
earth and it is easy to see what an i'm
mense advantage this would be in scout
ing in war time. Wireless messages have
been sent with ease from the military
balloons abroad, but the Baldwin Is con-
sidera bly, smaller than the Republique or
any of the other foreign airships, and il
has been necessary to design a special
wireless set that could be sent up with
the limited withdrawing capacity of
the balloon.
The details of this work are purely
technical. but it may be said that it is in
tended to drop aerial antennae from the
framework of the balloon. One will be
dropped from each end Of the frame
and the spark gap will be under the hand
of the operator in the car.
The bag and framework Of the drigible
have been taken down to the balloon
house at the fort. and here they will be
housed till repairs have been made 1t
was found that several small leaks had
developed in the balloon besides the big
hole. but the repairing Of the outfit will
not be very serious matter.