The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-10-24
By HELEN BETHEA

AIllO Cuc CIICcIS Ol 4U,OOV enthusiastic onlookers, and the national anthems of the four contesting countries played by two brass bands, the seven con- testants in the ninth interna- tional balloon race took the air yesterday afternoon be. tween 4 80 and 5:05 o'clock al the Sloss-Sheffield by-products plant field. All of the balloons went northwest.
 r The balloon, Birmingham" pilotet by Roy F. Donaldson. of Springfield Ohio, left the field at 4:12 with he, cargo of four men in basket measur. ing four feet by four feet.
 Just before the balloon left the
 ground, the three Birmingham men. 4 PaoIi Smith of the Birmingham
 Chamber of Commerce, F. c. Wilson
 of The Age-HeraId. and 0. V.
 Hodges of the News were bidding
 their friends goodbye and sending home their '1ast words" to loved
 ones who were not gathered about
 at the crucial moment.
 Said Paoli Smith: T don't mind the going up. boys. I don't mind the fall ing through the air, but it is the nit ting that is the final test of nerve If I don't go all to, pieces when I hit l won't have any more cause to worry about my nerve, or my life, either, for that matter"
 VERY SILENT
 MT. Hodges, correspondent for tht News. achieved a fixed smile, which slowed the assembled multitude that lie was keeping up his courage, ant Mr. Wilson of The Age-Herald looked as if he were thinking some long long thoughts.
 How does it feel? yelled facetious tcwnsman.
 Great" answered MT. Donaldson and the other occupants of the little icker basket said never word.
 Just before they went out of sound. ing distance some one of them yelled We'll boost old Birmingham to tht skies" probably thought that wa:
 STRAIGHT UP
 The "Birmingham" went almos straight Unto the air for approximate ly 2.000 feet. then gaining speed svers Iapidly disappeared toward the north west almost immediately. American flags hung from every available incl Of the balloon netting. the big silve E iall was decorated with streamers an, Birmingham slogans, and as the. 2 cleared the ground they dropped { number of smoke bombs, which lief , a trail of white smoke as far as tn, bubble could be seen. t : RACE STARTS
 z At 4:3o.to the tune of the Mar
 seiIIaise the French balloon, pic loted by Capt. Louis Hirschaucr and M. Leo c. Nathan, the first official entry in the race, took the
 air, flying almost due west. though
 slightly north of>,fhc setting sun. It disappeared very rapidly.
 As the tal<e-off progressed tue wind died down gradually and each succeeding bubble left the vicin- ity more slowly than the one pre- ceding. The United States army balloon left the field nt 4;44, piioted by Lieut.. R. E. Thompson and Capt. Harold Weeks. The
 "Belgica." official Belgian entry, under the direction of Lieut.. Ern- l. est DeMuyter and Lieut.. M. La- brOussc. rose in the air at HAS Maj. J. Vnlfe and Maj. D. Leone, in tue entry, "AuOenS,' fOI- lOwerd the "Belgica at 4.JO, and V after them came the American en- try. "kansas City H." pflOted by the winner of the national elim- ination race, H. E. Honeywell of St. Louis and Dr. Jerome kingsbury, aide. 'I<ansas City IIy left at 4s54.
 She was heavily laden with ballast and left the field very slowly. A number of seasoned balloonists
 " hp iap nh rpv,,nr rts n that leaving the ground and gain ing headway gradually was n very plan, as 1t gave the maximum amount of ballast for the longest possible trip and allowed the bnI- ioonists to get their bearings. The .'rriumphale,v second Italian entry, piIoted by Mai H. Madori and Lieut.. A.. PfraxxoIi, left mt ! o'clock sharp. The "Goodyear,o piIOted hy Ralph UpsOn. intcrna- tfonal champion since 1913, and with W. T. Van Ormnn hide, left the field last. just as the night z was falling and the hands of the watch were pointing to 5;O0 o'clock. The band played "Dixie," and the crowd yelled itself hOarse, cheer-
 ing for the success of the inter- national champion.
 All of the contestants were few mil : utes late in leaving the field, but, at : cording to Allen R. Hawley, the talk. offs could not have been more success: full There was not a hitch and not s minor accident
 Mir Hawley had charge of the entii race for the Aero Clubs of America an vas assisted in his management by ! 1, F. Meyers of Detroit. also of the AeI : Clubs.
 RESIST RAYS
 A unique feature of the French ar { Belgian entries was that they wel ]. painted orange color. The reason, a cording to the pilots, was that the co.' and quality of the paint used resists Z the actinic rays of the sun. which wou kill the rubber in the silken bags ar cause the fabric to stiffen and orea The Italian entries were truly beaut ! ful. Made of silken material and paints !. silver, they resembled great sparklir . soap bubbles. They weighed approx