Middletown transcript., 1921-01-22
OFFICER TELLS
Of BALLOON TRIP
Naval Officers Lost to the World
for Twenty-Five Days
ARE FOUND BY An INDIAN

Wandered Four Days In the Dense
Woods and Were On Verge Of Death
When Rescued-Thriiiino Story Of
Trip Void by an Officer.
Mattice, Ont.-The three American
naval officers, Lieuts. Hinton, Farrell
and Eloor, who abandoned their
wrecked balloon near Moose Factory
on the shore Of James bay on Dec.
ii, arrived safely here. The follow
ing story Of the balloon trip Of the
airmen was told by Lieut.. Stephen
Farrell: -
Lieut.. Farren's story Of the fight
and wanderings Of the trio begins with
the morning hours ii Rockaway naval
air station on December 13 and goes
on through the flight, the landing, and
up to the meeting with the Indian at
Moose Factory who saved their lives.
1T was just an ordinary balloon
hop" Farrell began. 1T was for trainj
ing. Hinton told me after we left
that the gas in the balloon was ten
days old, stale and impure.
Hinton called me up at about twen-
ty minutes to IL December 49, and
told me l could come on flight II !
wanted to. No special orders are
needed. We just got permission from
Commander Cummings of the post
and Executive Officer Douglas.
Il am senior officer Of the three,
but Kloor was in command Of the
flight, as he is balloon officer and ]
am a gunnery officer. have been in
aviation for three years and have
flown in every kind Of aircraft. We
left at l p. m.
Lett With Four Pigeons.
1--WE had four pigeons; we let the
first one go with message for the
Brooklyn navy yard. ....
Hinton and Kloor had heavy un.
derwear and uniforms under their fly.
ing suits. I had only the underwear
and the flying suit. l had grip with
my uniform and some other things in
1t. We had eight sandwiches and two
thermos bottles Of hot coffee. None
of the underwear was electrically
heated.
1--WE expected to land next morn.
ing in upper New York state. We had
no maps or charts except railroad
map of the Canadian Quebec Central
line, which I bought. We had three
chances to land before we did. We did
stop once at Wells, N. Y.
1--WE made fast to a tree near q
light. 1t was In q window Of a farm.
house. A man came along and we
asked him where we were. He told
us. but he could not say what big town
we were near.
kioor Game to Go On.
Eve cast loose and went up again
1t rained and blew during the night
We could have landed at Ottawa al
II p. m. We saw the Nights Of a big
city. But Kloor is just kid and he
was enthusiastic about long flight
We all agreed that we ought to do g
decent flight. There had been rain
from Wells on.
"The wind was north by west. That
night it blew hard and rained. There
was no sign Of civilization. But we
thought it would be all right in the
nerning. At daylight we saw only for
ests. The rain had calmed down
There were low clouds and fog.
1.-The rain stopped at a. m. De
cember 14). We ate all our food dur
ing the night. We had two packages
of cigarettes and one box Of matches
but you cannot smoke in a hydrogen
balloon. We realized we were in bat
that morning."
At II a. m. the sun came out ant
heated up the gas in the balloon
that makes the gas expand and send,
the balloon up.
1--WE were fighting to keep in th'
ctr. All we saw was trees, lakes, ant
snow. It was about 80 p. m. tina
we saw shack in the woods. A
least we thought it was q shack. W.
were in doubt about this until WI
heard dog bark.
II took bearings with the compass
on the shack and the place where th'
dog barked. We decided to land. W.
were in low clouds about 1000 fee
high. The wind was north by west
the sun had been heating up our ba,
and we began to go up. We reached
$500 feet. It takes a long time to g
from that height.
Make Bad Landing.
"The clouds were below US an,
ebove us. We got down about tw,
o'clock. 1t was bad landing and w
were pretty badly shaken up. w,
were not hurt or thrown out, but tn,
basket was smashed against tn
ground.
''The balloon caught between tn
trees. We had taken the pigeons init
the basket to protect them from tn
landing. Usually they ride in cag'
fled outside of the basket. The wealth
or was clear and nearly freezing.
"All three Of us stepped out Of th'
basket In our flying clothes. tool
the grip. We were soaking wet. Klool
took the pigeon cage. We started of
at a terrific pace to get where thu
dog barked. We did, not stop to in
speet the balloon. From the bearing.
took IN the balloon we figured tn,
dog to be south by east from us.
Start on Long Trek.
"We started through the forest o.
that line. I carried my grip for on