Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1909-06-11
TO TRY TO WIN
WORLDS RECORD
WCTORS IN INDIANA BALLOON
RACE AFTER LAURELS
WILL USE GAS BAG NEW YORK
IN CONTEST
start Will Be Made by Aeronauts as
Near as Possible to GeograPh-
ical Center of Unit
ed States
Especial to The Herald

NEW YORK. June 10.-A. Holland
Forbes and Clifford B. Harmon, the
winners of the national balloon race
from indianapolis last Saturday, are
preparing to go after the world as
lance record for ballooning, established
by Count de la VaulX, the famous
French balloonist. by his trip of 1888
miles. from France to Russia in lSOO.
Charles A. Coey of Chicago also Will
make a trial for the record this fall.
Forbes and Harmon will use the bal
loon New York. with which they won
the national race, and they probably
will start from St Louis in July or Au-
gust. Coey will take his big Chicago,
the largest balloon in the world, and
he will start from Los Angeles as soon
after September 10 as favorable weather
conditions will permit. Both Forbes
and Coey also will try for the Lahm
distance trophy. now held by Capt.
Charles de F. Chandler of the United
States signal corps. Competitors In the
indianapolis races were eligible for this
trophy competition, but none made the
necessary distance.
Forbes and Harmon won the national
championship race by covering 35o
miles between Indianapolis and Corinth,
Miss. This will be shown in the Off
compiled by Williams Welch, car
tographer of the United States signal
corps, for the Aero Club of America.
Mr. Forbes will also be declared the
winner of the endurance prize since
Carl Fisher pilot of the Indiana, who
remained in the air more than forty
eight hours, is disqualified because he
came to the ground for water, although
he did not debate the balloon.
nd 10 70 of r. a c
near to the geographical center Of the
United States as possible, and prefer
Topeka or Kansas City, but these places
are not available because only natural
gas is used, while st. Louis offers an
excellent quality of coal gas for balloon
purposes. The great objection to St.
Louis for a long distance trip lies in
the fact that the course is likely to go
over the Great Lakes, which the bal
loon must necessarily reach after con-
siderable ballast will have been eX-
pended thus leaving the pilot i'll pre-
pared to cross a long stretch of water.
This is particularly true if the balloon
reaches the lakes as night is coming
on, when the condensation of gas is
greater.
Ballast insufficient
A striking incident illustrating this
condition was shown in the interna-
tional race of 1907, when Maj. Fl. B.
Hersey piloted the United States. His
course was laid toward the northeast
and was theoretically more nearly per-
feet than any other but the United
States reached the head of Lake Ontario
at nightfall and with but seven sacks
of ballast IT was unsafe to venture
over the lake with so small an amount
of ballast, and Major Hersey was ac-
cordingly compelled to land.
The longest distance made by bal
loon in the United States was from St
Louis by John Wise, the veteran aero
naut, who piloted hfs balloon more than
1000 miles into the state of New York
He afterward lost his life however, on
trip from st. Louis which ended in
his being drowned in Lake Michigan.
Balloonists are divided in opinion as
to the best starting point for long
distance trip i'm this country but be-
lieve that the question will be answered
within the next two years. The old
fashioned theory that a constant wind
is blowing eastward a a high altitude
is not generally accepted and entirely
lacks definite proof
Considerable attention has been given
to the experiments made by Ferris and
Coey in California last winter, and it
is probab le that a number of eastern
balloonists will join them in trying for
a long cross-country trip from that
state next winter.