The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1912-07-11

Made First Attempt to Cross
Atlantic.
ALSO FLEW TOWARD THE POLE
Restless, Inventive Genius Who Hard
ly Knew What Fear Was-The III
Fated Akron, Huge Wire Wound
Dirigbte. Was His Newest Balloon.

~ Knew What Fear Was-The III
Fated Akron, Huge Wire Wound
Dirigibie. Was His Newest Balloon.
OF all the tragedies of aviation which
have shocked spectators and the world
al large none of recent years was more
horrible than that at Atlantic City, N.
j.. which cost the lives of Melvin Vani-
man. his brother Calvin and three 9th
ers Vaniman, whose career as an
aeronaut was full Of adventure and
VINO faced dangers in many lands.
scared heavenvard midst the plaudits
OF enthusiastic onlookers at Atlantic
CIV with the confidence that marked
all OF his preceding performances in
the air. When the Akron was some
2,OOO feet up the heat of the suns rays
caused an explosion of the gas bag of
the car, and it shot to earth with its
I'VE human occupants. landing at Brig
antlne Beach. quarter of u mile from
Atlantic City. from which point Vani-
man had made his famous earlier at
tempt to cross the Atlantic ocean. The
Akron was d wire wound dirigible. and
Vaniman was confident it's strong en-
velope could Withstand any expansion
OF gas caused by the suns heat. Evi-
IDENTIFY he was mistaken.
His career included adventures in
almost every portion of the globe.
Starting as an actor in Chicago stock
company. he became stranded in Homo
lulu during plague scare. He de-
signed camera, with which he photo
graphed his way to Sydney. There he
conceived the idea. of taking pictures
from balloon and bought a captive
balloon for that purpose His pictures,
made after ten months of experiment.
ing, won gold medals at the st. Louis
worlds fair
From Sydney he moved with his bal
loon to Rome. where he took pictures
OF the Forum while cruising in the
clouds after getting a special permit
through the American ambassador,
Won L. Meyer who is now secretary
of the navy.
Vaniman built the first Antoinette
monoplane in a workshop just outside
of Paris He few with it, but smash
ed it on alighting. and from his expert
ments concluded that any aeroplane
heavy enough to carry any considera-
BILE load would be too heavy to bring
to earth without disaster He there
fore turned to dirigible ballooning as
the best hope in sight for the heavier
aerial traffic.
Al introduction to Walter Wellman
brought him an opportunity to join
Weliman's arctic expedition of 1907.
He designed the dirigible balloon used
IN that campaign and in the second
one, attempted two seasons later, in
which the party sailed for eleven hours
from Spitzbergen toward the pole, the
trip ending when a leather equilibra-
tor tore itself loose and carried away
with it the expeditions supply of food.
The idea of fight across the Allan
tic was conceived by Wellman, and
Vaniman after Commander Peary's dis
coVery of the north pole. The Well
man-Vaniman expedition was the re-
suit. Vaniman moved his balloon
headquarters from Paris to Atlantic
City and set about reconstructing the
balloon used in the arctic in 1909 They
built for it an equilibrator of gasoline
tanks. which Vaniman admitted was
a risky experiment. but incapable of
being tested except in a real storm
upon the ocean.
The expedition after many delays
got under way Oct. Is, and all went
we'll until a storm was encountered
two days out Then the America left
the course she had followed and was
lost to wireless communication. When
next heard of her crew had been taken
off by the steamship Trent 375 miles
east of Norfolk, Va, on Oct 49, The
crew arrived in New York harbor Oct
10, having abandoned their balloon
after pulling the gas valve wide open
and tying can of lubricating oil to
the string to keep it from closing.
They broke all previous dirigible rec
ords for time in the air, distance trav-
eled and weight Of load carried. the
time in the air being seventy-one and
a half hours and the distance Travelled
,OOS miles. s~.,
Vaniman was insistent upon the re-
turn of the expedition that the Allan
tic could be crossed in a dirigible and
that he could build one that would
solve the problems on which the Amer
lea had come to grief. >f1;" -
Wellman and Vaniman dissolved
their partnership soon after returning
on the Trent. and in the dissolution
Vaniman got control of the lifeboat
and the instruments brought back with
them. He began making plans for an
other trip at once in the meantime
raising funds through exhibitions of
the Americas cat mascot and Hfeboat
in department. stores.
Church With Roof Garden.
The first church in America to have