The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1910-07-13
FIVE AERO n A U is
DROP 5000 FEET
To DEATH
Herr Erbsloeh, World Renowned
German Scientist, and Four Com
panions Meet Terrible Death
Bodies Are Terribly Mangled.
Gas Bag Collapses in Mid-Air and
Heavy Car Falls to Earth With
Awful Crash.

COLOGNE, Germany, July ID
Herr Erbsloeh, the world-renowned
German scientist and aviator and four
companions were dashed TO death
today near Pascheid, west Germany,
when the dirigible balloon. the Erbs-
loeh. named after its inventor end
constructor, fell from height Of 5000
feet. Five heaps OF crushed flesh and
hone, absolutely unrecogniZable. lay
beneath the debris OF the wrecked bal.
loon when those who had witnessed
the fail reached the spot.
The iirigiblc Erbsleoh belonged To
the Rhine Aci "a clrb II asriaD'hd
miniature Zeppelin dirigible, being
but cne-siAth the size of the airsnip
o; the famous inventor The Erbsloeh
consisted OF II balloon nets. placed
side by side in a rigid and covered
frame, like the watretight compart-
ments OF a ship. A long aluminium
car for the engines ana passengers
was swung below the gas bags. The
car contained two gasoline, engines
of high power which drove the fore
and after propellers that gave head
way To the airship.
The Erbsloeh had made several
eminen,ly successful short flights AID
was regarded as one Of the best typeS
&c modern dirigibles, being far less
cumbersome than the monster Yep
pelin.
The dirigible went aloft early today
from Dusseldorf. from which point tho
ill-fated Zeppelin passenger liner
started her last voyage. In the alumni
mum car were Erbsloeh and two com
panions. together with the two chauf-
fturs. whose duty II was to take care
az the gasoline engines.
The fatal voyage had lasted only
as minutes. The dirigible was Almost
over the village of Pattscheid In the
Rhine province.
Balloonists are divided as TO the
probable cause of the accident. Some
believe tie suns rays expanded the
gas I'm the balloonets until they could
no longer stand the strain. while
others believe one OF the 125-horse-
mower gasoline motors exploded.
The heavy car and the fragments
OF the gas bag fell like a plummet.
Erbsloeh and his companions teli
5000 feet to instant death. Physicians
who examined the bodies declare they
never saw human forms so horribly
mangled.
The disaster in all details resembles
the one which befell the French army
dirlgible several months ago, when
FIVE French officers met death by the
collapse of the gas bag.
Herr Oscar Erbsloeh, the aviator,
COS uall known I'm the United states,
having piloted the German balloon
Pommern in the international paliDon
races held in st. Louis in 1907. Inc
Pommern rose in st. Louis and landed
I'm New Jersey, coming down only be-
cause the ocean had been reached
For this flight, the longest OF the race
Erbsloeh won the Gordon Bennett cup,
the first prize.
On February 9. 1909, Erbsloeh. with
three companions, made daring
flight across the Alps, rising from ST:
Morstz and remaining In the air So
hours. landing near Budapest. The
aeronoid I'm the Pommern on this trip.
showed that at one time the balloon
had reached a height Of $4,000 feet
nearly four miles.
The Erbsloeh, in which the aviator
met death today, had capacity OF
900 cubic metres of hydrogen gas.
when Erbsloeh and his companions
rose. before the sun had come out, IL
was noted that the gas bags were com.
rletely full. II Is therefore highly
probable that the heat Of the sun, ex.
banding the gas. caused too great a
strain on the bags. which EMPLOYED.