The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-10-17
CHANNEL.
Party of Seven Makes Trip in a
DirigibIe Balloon.
Sail From COmpiegne to London
in Six Hours.

| London, Oct. 17.-Another chapter
was added to the history of aviation
Sunday, when the French dirigible
| balloon Clement-Bayard made the
voyage from Compiegne to London In
| the remarkable time of six hours, a
| journey requiring seven hours by the
fastest express trains and boats Com
| piegne is 3 miles northeast of Paris
and about 195 miles by air route to
London.
1t was the first occasion on which a
dirigible balloon has crossed the Eng
lish channel. The over water route
| occupied As minutes.
The Clement-Bayard, with crew
of six, left Compiegne at 7:15- o'clock
Sunday morning and reached London
without a stop at about 1:15 in the
afternoon. The atmospheric conditions
were perfect and the big airship trav-
eled with a slight breeze behind The
behavior of the dirigible was splendid
and the 440 horsepower motor worked
to perfection. The passengers expert
enced no discomfort and were only
troubled by the mist in crossing the
English channel. st-r4
A most eventful voyage it was, with
nothing to interrupt the smooth swing
ing motion of the balloon, which aver
aged close to 33 miles an hour. An
altitude varying from 800 to 700 feet
was maintained and all along the flight
! over the land the aeronauts were
cheered by thousands of spectators at
various points.
The balloon made a safe and easy
landing at Norwood Scrubs.
The dirigible carried NJ. Clement OF
the acknowledgement firm, in COM
mand; Baudry and LePrince, steers
men; Sebastier, engineer and designer;
two mechanics, and Arthur Philip Du
eros, member of the British parlia-
ment, representing the British parlia-
mentary aerial defense committee.
Only these seven were aboard, al
though the airship can accomm odate
SO passengers in addition to the crew.
The course was by way of Amiens,
AbbeVille and Boulogne and the bal
loon was steered readily by aid of the
compass.
The French government provided
three torpedo boat destroyers, which
proved of great assistance in crossing
the channel. The Clement-Bayard
reached Boulogne at 1920 o'clock,
and Folkstone at 11:20 o'clock.
The balloon arrived over London just
as the streets were filled with the
great Sunday crowds leaving the
churches. The appearance of the mon
ster over the house tops caused the
people to wonder and hundreds of
thousands gathered to watch the aero
nauts The aeronauts now experienced
some trouble with the varying currents.
On this account they circled st. Paul's
ana the DT1OSS Twice, Qlpp6Q SSV6T31
times and flew close to the tops Of
buildings. They passed over the houses
OF parliament and along to Hyde Park,
where there was a wild scramble Of
spectators.
The dirigible landed safely after de-
scribing large descending circles. aided
by a detachment Of soldiers. NJ. Gle
ment declared he was exceedingly
pleased with the behavior of the ship.
Paris to Brussels and Return.
Paris. Oct. 17.-Henry Wynmalen. the
Dutch aviator and holder of the worlds
altitude record. and NJ. LeGagneux, the
French aviator, each with passenger
made a remarkable trip in biplanes
Sunday from Paris to Brussels They
started. with an interval of an hour
and a half, in an attempt to win the
100000 offered by the Auto club and the
s.. 900 offered by the municipality of
Paris for a successful flight with
passenger to Brussels and return.
Wynmalen, after reaching the Bel
gian capital, left almost Immediately
on the return trip and arrived safely
at ST. Quentin. LeGagneuX decided to
stop for the night in Brussels and will
start for Paris today.
The distance between the two points
is about 40 miles as the crow flies,
and the distance between Brussels and
ST. Quentin approximates so miles. The
daring Hollander, therefore, covered
about $50 miles with a passenger.