The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-09-17
CONTESTANTS r OR BALLOON RACESHERE
Major Lambert Holds Confer. ence With Aviation Com
 mittee of Chamber

Major A. B. Lambert of St. Louis, official representative of the Aero Club of America, arrived in Birmingham yesterday and following a conference with the aviation committee of the l Chamber of Commerce, steps were taken for the preliminary balloon races that are to be held in this city 1 on September 2.
 1 Yesterday afternoon the committee,
 Major Lambert and some of the conees- tants in the forthcoming race. went out
 to the field in front of the by-proddct i plant of the SlossSheffield Comoany l and arranged for the details of con-
 meeting with the gas flow of the plant, supply of sand and the like.
 The final race for the international | trophy will be staged at the same place lOctober 23 From the first race will I be chosen the representative of the United States to compete with the rep resentatives of Great Britain, France Italy and other countries.
 CONTESTANTS ARRIVE l Among the contestants who have arr rived on the scene are the following l First Lieutenant E. T. Burt, pilot of No. 2 balloon. and his aide, First Lieu tenant H. Olmstead of Camp Berney. l First Lieutenant George Mcintyre, pilot of No. balloon, and his e.ide. Captain Dale Mabry.
 First Liutenant Richard E. Thonp- son, pilot of No. 1 balloon, and his aide, Second Lieutenant Harold B. Weeks, are expected this morning. Lieutenant Burt is in command of 1 the army detachment. He went over seas early in the war and trained as an observer with the French. He par tcipated in the Verdun offensive; also at St Mihiel and in the Meuse-Ar- gonne. Four times he was shot down. His decorations include the D. s. C., with three stars.
 Lieutenant Mcintyre and Captain
 Mabry are from Langley field, Vir- ginia Captain Mabry is in charge of the airship school and Lieutenant .dc- Intyre is an. instructor in aeronautics. Captain Mabry and Lieutenant burt served in France from the time the United States entered the war. He was trained with the French com : manded a company in the Mouse Ar Igonne.
 Lieutenant Mcintyre is veteran in the flying game and has the distinc-
 tion of being one of the oldest Amer lican balloonists in point of service. UNIQUE RECORDS Lieutenant Thompson, whose home is ! in Seattle, Washington, is adjutant at Fort Omaha, Nebraska Lieutenant Weeks is from Ross field, Arcadia, Cal. Both of these officers have unique rec ords in balloon races. In July, 1913, Lieutenant Thompson won the United States Army race, covering $50 miles in AM h,1 lloons to be flown here will have ca pacity of S0,0o0 cubic feet and ip- wards) Lieutenant Weeks won the western long distance balloon race in July. 1919. when he flew solo from Ar cada, California across the Rocky mountains and Mojav desert. The fol- flowing month he won the Army balloon l race for prolonged flight and close 1 landing to the starting point On this | occasion his balloon remained aloft for over thirteen hours, and when it de-
 scended it was found to be only six lm)ss from the point where it had been
 released.
 l These officers, with Major Lam pert
 of St. Louis. the civilian representa- five | of the Aero Club of America, will be the guests of pr. Courtney w. Shrop- shire at the Civitan Club luncheon to- | day. Elaborate plans are being made for the entertainment of these distin- l guished guests during their entire stay here. Mrs. Henry F. Beaumont, pres ident of Linger Longer Lodge, is invit- ling them to an old fashioned barbecue ISaturday, and Mrs. Joe Ross Mrs. Ross
 Smith, Miss Margaret O'Neill and a numb Der of other ladies are arranging Iparties both in town and al Roebuck
 and the Country Club, and it is un- de-stood that the entertainment com
 mittee of the American Legion are booking a number of events whereby IL visitors may have an opportunity | of meeting the thousands of our towns folks who want to make their acqu aint- | ance.