The evening world., 1908-02-21
Will Have 1t Ready for Expert
ment in $50 Days at a
Cost of So,75O.
TO BE CIGAR SHAPED.
Frame of Bamboo and Alum
mum to Garry $50 Pounds of
Freight Besides Passengers.

Thomas s. Baldwin. OF New York.
who probably Will be the constructor
| OF the first war balloon ordered by
/ the United States Government, is an
aerial navigator of much experience
His successful aircraft. the dirigible
! Arrow. was one of the first steerable
! airships built in this country. He is the
! author of the remark that "the day will
come when a man will ask for his wings
! as he now asks for his shoes" The
! Government seems to have decided that
he Is the man with the proper amount
| OF enthusiasm 10 construct for it a
steerable aerial warship.
| The airship constructor proposes to build
dirlgible craft FOR Sc 40 and have it in
the air $50 days later Al! other bidders.
including Peter Cooper Hewitt, have
been excluded from the competition.
and. according to Brighten. James AL
len. chief OF the signal corps, the air
ship proposed by BALDWIN comes, both
in point of economy and practIcaol!ty.
more nearly within the scope of the
/ Governments programme than any
other designers. If accepted. the Bald
win craft will be the nucleus OF an
aerial war squadron.
The Baldwin ship will consist OF a
cisar-shaped envelope. to be gas filed
supporting a framework of bamboo and
aluminium. which in its turn will sup
pyrt the driving machinery. The car
~
Of freight besides its human occupants
and at least 100 pounds of ballast
20 Miles an Hour Against Wind.
According to the inventor the shi,
VIII sail right in the teeth OF a good
canful OF wind at speed Of twa,.v
miles an hour. Under favorable co,di-
''"hS' however she Is exaectad n hot
'er tHls ny five miles an bour
vas at 81. Louis that the baldwin
-'',.'p IfSt attracted the atton-io, ~
the aefonautic world II demonstrated
there that Il could tack sail ogatr.,. 49,,
| Wlnd and go through anv evolutions
that a first class Yacht can perform.
| This ship. successful as Ii was Bald
win declared, was an experiment, and
| her engine gave the inventor and his
assistants good dead of trouble The
Arrow. however. won the honor of be-
Ing the first successful American built
diriCible airslip.
! Capt. Baldw Is man Of interest ing
personality. With balloons OF various
types he is as familiar as a navigator
| with ships He has made ascents N
| Oh ma. Australia. New zealand. South
Africa and literally all over Europe.
In johannesburg he made an ascen-
sion on a wild. b.ustery dag in order
not to dlsappoint the crowds that had
ridden into town from miles round TO
see his gas bag ascend. The balloon
shot up amid the CHEERS OF the crowd.
but its navigator did not share their
enthusias' for sweeping over the VeIdt
at yress speed came South African
wind storm. The balloon. spinning
round like a top, was hurled along, and
in the blackness that overspread every
thing Capt. Baldwin had no means OF
making out where he was.
Came Down in Zulu Camp.
After about twelve hours or more.
when the storm subsided and a bright
moon appeared, the balloon man found
himself about a thousand feet above
Jungle He was looking about for II
good place to descend when "A shout
was borne up to him, and he found
that he was over a clearing in which
was situated Zulu village. The sight
of the big balloon had thrown its inhab-
itants into a panic. The women and
children fled to the jungle as the big
gas bag Topped down. and only the
warriors stood their ground. Luckily
for Baldwin they had seen white men
before, and so he was Hospitality re-
celved, though regarded as wizard.
The natives were only too glad to paddle
himself and his balloon down river
hack to civilization. They didn't like
the gas bag around.
In China, where Capt. Baldwin used
hot-air balloon, the simple method OF
imitation made such a hit with the ma
tiyes that at Foo-Chow Mongolian
Darius Green constructed a hot-air bag
with a dragons head and tail and taste
full trimmings. There was only one trou-
ble-the designer OF the balloon. which
was monster forgot that balloon
requires to be cut loose easy.
On the eventf1Il day of the ascension
the Chinaman's balloon shot up like
bullet. carrying with 1t not only the
aeronaut, Dut apout sGote u MS
fellow -townsmen who We're hanging on
cut the air bag loose. The result had
n depressing effect on the. future of
ballooning as n sport in China.
A few years ago. at an ascension In
Denver, Capt. Baldwin and a compan-
ION were whisked off into space at ex-
press speed and whirled around Pike S
Peak They managed at last to make
fast an anchor In some treetops and
get hack to earth. Since that time
baldwin has devoted himself to dirig-