The Arvada enterprise., 1921-01-20
OFFICER TELLS
OF BALLOON TRIP
Naval Officers Lost to the World
for Twenty-Nine Days.
ARE FOUND BY AN INDIAN
Wandered -Four Days In the Dense
Weeds and Wsrs on Verge Of Death
When Rsseusd-ThriiIlne Story Of
Trip Told BY an ofssesr.


Trip Told BY an offiesr.
Mattice, Ont.-The three American
naval officers, Lieuts. Hinton, Farrell
and KlOOr. 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.. Farrell's 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 llves.
1T was just an ordinary balloon
hop" Farrell began. ut 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 twen.
y minutes to 12 December 1S) and
told me I 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 DOugias.
Il am senior officer Of the three.
but Kloor was In command Of the
flight. as he ls balloon officer and
am q gunnery officer. have been In
aviation for three years and have
Aown in every kind Of aircraft. We
left At p. m. :
Lett With -Four Pigeons.
I'VE had four pigeons; we let the
arst one 60 with message for the
Brooklyn navy yard.
"Hlnton and Kloor had heavy un-
derwear aud uniforms under their ily.
ing suits. l 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
thernos 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 q 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. 7.
I'VE made fast to = tree near q
light. 1t was In q WINDOW Of q farm.
house. A man came along and we
asked him where we were. He told
%, but he could not say what big town
Ne were near.
kisee Game = q On.
I'VE cast loose and went up again.
II rained and blew during the night.
We could have landed at Ottawa ut
IL p. 10. We saw the lights Of big
city. But kl0Or u just kid and he
was enthusiastic about long flight.
W. all agreed that We ought to do Q
decent liight. 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 Ne
thought Il would b all right In the
norniag. At daylight we aaw oaly for
sstA The rain had caimed down.
There were low clouds and fog.
TIE rain stopped At 3 .. m. (De-
csmber ~. We ate all our food dur.
ins the night. We had two packages
et cigarettes asd one hog Of matches,
bot you cannot smoke In . hydrogen
balloon. We realized We were In bad
that morning"
At II Q. .. the sun came out and
heated up the gas Ia the balloon !;
that makes the gas expand and sends
The balloon up.
I'VE were fighting to keep In the
air. Al Ne saw WAS trees, lakes. and
snow. 1t was about 30 p. m. that
Nc aaw . shack 10 the woods. AZ
least we thought II was = shack. We
wera In doubt about this until We
hsaFd . dog bark.
II took bearings with the compass
On the shack and the place where the
dog barked. We decided to land. We
were In low clouds about l!0OO feet
high. The wind was north by west.
the sun had been heating up our bag
and We began to 20 up. We reached
$500 feet. II takes q long time to 20
from that height.
Make Q 0sd LANDING.
''rhe clouds were below us and
sbove us. We x0 down about two
o'clock. II WAS u had landing and We
werc pretty badly shaken up. We
were not hurt or thrown out. hut the
basket WAS smashed ngninsf the
grOmnd.
The hali'On caught between the
trees. We had taken the pigeons Into
IN" basket tO protect them from the
landing. Usually they ride In \ cage
tteti outside ~ the hnsket. The wealth.
~ WI. clear and nearly freezing.
IAN three Of ns stepped out NJ the
basket in 0ir hyinx clothes. I took
the grip. We wew soaking wet. klOor
took the pigeon cage. We started m
a. terrific pxcc to get where the
doe bnrked. We did nOt stop 10 In.
spect the hAlls,n. From the hearings
Z ss>s,k In shn hs 11s.ns~ %ru 0n,sr>sl thss