The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-07-02
DIRICIBLE BALLOON COLLAPSES
 KILLING VANIMAN, WITH HIS '. -BROTEER AND THREE OTHERS
Air Graft Falls 1000 Feet Tragedy is Witnessed by VanimaTs
 Wife and Wives of Three Members of Crew

descent the body of man shot out
 to the left of the wreckage and hit
 the water before the rest of the de-
 scending mass
 This was the body of Calvin vani-
 man.
 Captain Lambert Parker, of Absecon
 life saving crew, reported that the
 rest of the crew were entangled in the
 wreckage beyond reach at present in
 g feet of water, between bars. Ef-
 forts were made to drag them to the
 surface
 Thousands of persons from every
 part of this resort and those main
 tained within reach of the trolley ser
 vice gathered along the boardwalk
 and about the Vanirnan cottage, just across from the hangar at Inlet where
 Mrs. Vaniman is unconscious from the
 shock.
 The greatest excitement prevailed
 throughout the resort. Boats were
 darting out from Inlet and all along
 the shores of Thoroughfares Beach
 Police fought back the crowds about
 the Vaniman villa where boats from
 the wreck reported every few min
 lltes.
 Vaniman recently had been making numerous secret experiments with an interior air bag by which he expect ed to control the rising and lowering of the balloon. His plan was to
 pump air into the interior bag which would expand and thereby compress the gas within the balloon. Vaniman was positive that he had solved the problem of aerial navigation. It is believed by many that he had equip ped the Akron with this new device l and that it's operation may have caus- l ed the accident.
 l Vaniman talked in public but usual l ly acted secretly when he had experi- mentS to make.
 "I am perfectly certain that this in- vention combined with a new woven | steel wire fabric, will solve the prob | lem of the air., said Vaniman, few l days ago. We will soon see such wonderful improvement that the pub- 1 lie will realize the truth of my con 1 tention-that the air must be conquer ed by the dirigible and not by the aeroplane. am positively certain that I can make the trans Atlantic
 flight. have made countless inn
 provements in my balloons since the
 Wellman flight. I probably will not attempt the flight until I can con- struct a new balloon, but cannot say
 about that. The Akron is the finest
 balloon in the world as she flies to- day. Vaniman, who acted as the chief
 engineer of the Walter Wellman flight which ended diSaStrouSly, had held a strong ambition ever since to succeed
 where Wellman failed. Vaniman
 gained much fame from the Wellman flight.
 It is believed here that Vaniman en-
 deavored to use his new interior air
 bag control with the result that he
 and his companions all lost their lives When 2,000 feet high, the balloon was
 seen to descend gradually but this was
 not sufficiently surprising to attract special attention until it was recalled after the explosion. It is supposed that Vaniman pumped air into the in terior bag, compressing the gas, which already was affected by the air condi-
 tions in that altitude. The pressure, in this way, was so increased that the big envelope gave way.
 It had been reported, last evening, that Vaniman would fly early today, and for that reason many persons were on the lookout when the big diri- gible took the air at o'clock It
 was beautiful sight as she mounted the atmosphere easily and gracefully | under perfect control.
 After circling to the 1000 foot level, Waniman cruised about for few min utes. Then the' balloon started to | descend. few minutes later the watchers saw the great envelope sud denly part
 Tn a moment the whole airship was enve1oped in flame and with flashing flame roaring upward the balloon, with it's passengers, dropped earth | ward It fell rapidly and long before anyone could reach the scene, the bod ies of Vanirnan and his companions had been submerged in an inlet about l half a mile from the baseball park. The water in the inlet was about nine feet deep. What remained of the hiG haz and the framework fell