Omaha daily bee., 1912-07-03
FIVE KILLED AS
: BALLOON BURSTS
Arship in Which vaniman Expected
to Cross Atlantic Destroyed by
Explosion Near Atlantic City.
ALL ARE INSTANTLY KILLED
Accident Happens in Mid-Air Over
Arm Of Sea.
BODIES BENEATH wRECKAGE
Debris Of Craft Sinks in Eighteen
Feet of Water.
CRAFT COST A HALF MILLION
II Carried Crew of Five Men and
Had Fuel and Provision Ca
pacity for Cruise of Sew
eral Days.
ALL ARE INSTANTLY KILLED
Accident Happens in Mid-Air Over
Arm of Sea.
BODIES BENEATH wREcKAGE
Debris Of Craft Sinks in Eighteen
Feet of Water.
CRAFT COST A HALF MILLION

ATLANTIC CITY, N. j.. July 2--1r
view of 5000 spectators. the big dirigihle
balloon Akron was shattered by the ex.
plosion of the gas bag at 6:Ss this morn.
ing a half mile off shore over Absecon
inlet.
Melvin Yaniman, who had built the air.
ship with the idea of flying across the
Atlantic ocean; Calvin Vaniman, his
younger brother; Fred Elmer, Walter
Guest and George Bourtillion, his crew,
were instantly killed. No trace Of their
bodies has been discovered.
The dirigible was sailing at height
of 1000 feet and had been in the air since
6:15 O'Clock when the accident occurred.
1t was quarter of a mile south of
Brigantine Beach, which is across the
inlet from this city. The huge envelope,
containing thousands of cubic feet of gas,
was rent by the terrific explosion, prob
ably caused by expansion from the suns
rays.
1t burst near the middle. A mass of
flames hid the ship from view. For a
space of perhaps ten seconds the half
million-dollar dirigible was invisible, while
the air about the spot where it had been
lowering to be all flames,
Falls Like u Plummet.
The fire dissipated and then the ship,
outlined against the sunrise, was seen
to fall like a plummet. First the under
structure, or car, in which were penned
the unfortunate men, held in by mesh
xr;y> nf tbo
balloon three weeks ago, unable to es-
cape, broke away from the envelope. 1t
up-ended, the bow turning first In a
slow arc. Then 1t reversed suddenly and
plunged downward. Directly above.
twisting in a long spiral. was the bag, a
smoking mass OF rubber and silk, with
flames shooting out from q dozen sec-
tions as II collapsed. It fluttered mo-
naeiit and then streaked down after the
ear.
In the descent something which ap
peared to be the body Of man shot out
to the left Of the wreckage and hit the
water before the rest Of the descending
mass. 1t was reported that this was the
headless body Of Calvin Vaniman. r.
At $40 a. m. message was relayed
ashore from rescuers that this body had
been recovered. With 1t came the state
ment that Captain Lambert Parker. Of
the federal lifesaving crew that this was
true and that the other four members of
the crew were entangled in the wreckage,
beyond reach for the present, in eighteen
feet of water.
Thousands of persons from every part
of the resort are gathered along the inlet,
board walk and about the Vaniman cot
tage, just across from the hangar at the
inlet, where Mrs. VanirnAn collapsed and
became unconscious from. the shock.
The greatest excitement prevailed for a
time. Boats were starting out from the
inlet and all along the shores of the
thoroughfare and beach. Police reserves
who helped to launch the craft, which
sailed along gracefully until the accident
occurred, kept the crowds from about the
Vaniman villa.
Second Flight of Year.
The flight was the second that the air
ship had taken this year. After tinker
ing all winter on the ship vaniman took
the Akron out for short flight on
Saturday morning, June /. At that time
the balloon was nearly wrecked by some
of the mechanism going wrong. but it
was landed without serious mishap.
The longest flight the balloon made
was last fall when 1t spent the greatest
part Of the day in the air in the vicinity
of this city. At that time the gas in the
bag was not sufficient to keep the big
ship constantly in the air and it had to
make several landings. During the win
ter Vaniman improved the ship through
lessons learned in that flight.
In general appearance the Akron was
not unlike the America in which Walter
Wellman and vaniman attempted to
cross the Atlantic ocean in October, 1910,
but there were many differences in the
construction. The gas bag was thirty
feet longer than that Of the America, but
was smaller in diameter The dimensions
We're: Lenth of bag, 25s feet, diameter
forty-seven feet The bag was made of
composition of rubber and was constructed
In Ohio.
Three Motors and Dynamo.
Beneath was the car, similar In shape
to the Americas, but longer, perhaps 1SO
feet long. The bottom of the car was
composed of round steel tank two feet
in diameter and about 100 feet long. In
this tank was stored the gasoline. The