The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1921-01-21
NAVAL AIRMAN
TELLS OF TRIP
Thrilling Story of the Adventure
of the BaIl0onists Who Were
Lost in WiIds of Canada.
DEATH NEAR WHEN RESCUED
Lost 10 the World % Days In ALL
Wandered Four Days In the Woods
With Nothing to Feat Except the
Pigeons They Had With Them.

Pigeons They Had With Them.
Mattice. Ont.-After being lost to
/ the world for 20 days, four of which
were spent wandering in the woods,
the three navy balloonists, Lieuts-
Farrell, Hinton and Kloor, arrived
here. Lieut.. Farrell told the following
story of their adventures:
Lieut.. FarrelPs story Of the flight
and wanderings OF the trio begins with
the morning hours In Rockaway naval
air station on December Is 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 train
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 TWEEN
ty minutes to u December 49, and
told me 1 could come on flight if 1
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 a 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 ] p. m.
Left With Four Pigeons.
1--WE had four pigeons; we let the
first one go with a message for the
Brooklyn navy yard.
Hinton and KlOor had heavy un-
derwear and uniforms under their fly
Ing suits. 1 had only the underwear
and the flying suit. had a grip with
my uniform and some other things in
it. We had eight sandwiches and two
thermos bottles of hot coffee. None
Of the underwear was electrically
heated.
"We expected to land next morn
ing in upper New York state. We had
DO maps or charts except a railroad
map of the Canadian Quebec Central
line, which l bought. We had three
chances to land before we did. We cid
atop once at Wells, n. Y.
I'VE made fast to tree near a
light. 1t was in a 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
kloor Game to Go On.
1--WE cast loose and went up again.
1t rained and blew during the night. |
We could have landed at Ottawa at |
IL p. m. We saw the lights of a big |
city. But KIoor is just a kid and he |
was enthusiastic about a long flight. |
We all agreed that we ought to do |
decent flight. There had been rain |
from Wells on.
1.-The wind was north by west That /
night 1t blew hard and rained There
was no sign of civilization. But we
thought 1t would be all right in the /
At daylight we saw only for
ests. ? The rain had Gained down.
There were low clouds and fog.
1.-The rain stopped at 8 a. IN. CDe-
renber 14). We ate all our food dur
ne the night. We had two packages
IF cigarettes and one box of matches,
but you cannot smoke I'm hydrogen
balloon. We realized we were In bad
hat morning"
Explains Flying Technique.
Here Farrell paused TO give a brief
explanation OF the technique OF bal
Don flying.
You have q lot OF dependable bal
asst" he said "We had twenty-one
weighing thirty pounds
apiece. At first the balloon rises with
LII the, cargo. Then it begins coming
Town as the gas deteriorates. When
you are down roo low you throw out a
'andbag and that sends you up again.
when all the ballast is gone you
70 up for the last time and have to
,Ome down as soon as the gas begins
o weaken.
Our twenty-flrst bag went over thar
After that we had TO throw
nut equipment to keep up. We hauled
n the drag rope which is used in
making landings and cut 1t into sew
raj pieces. We used each piece as
'allast. 1t was not very long before
he last piece went over the side.
AT IL a. m. the sun came out and
ieated up the gas in the balloon:
hat makes the gas expand and sends
he balloon up.
I'VE were fighting TO keep in the
IT. All we saw was trees. lakes, and
now. II was about 80 p. m. that
re saw shack I'm the woods. At
east we thought 1t was a shack. We