The New York herald., 1922-06-11


feet; temperature. 54 degrees. Passed
] east of Kenosha at 6 80 p. NJ, at
| 2.20O feet then descended to get the
surface wind. and came over land
| when the navy's helium balloon was .
about three miles Off shore. bearing
southwest. and Capt. Berry was seen
with his basket In the water about 4
half way between Kenosha and Wau-
kegan. / called below to party to
send him assistance. but called again
TO never mind. as he had gotten Off
and was ascending rapidly. Captain
| Berry's basket was covered with
waterproof material, and tits probable
that 1t did not dip and fill with water,
| although II must have cost him con-
siderable ballast TO get away, and
therefore, affected his racing endur-
ance.
. We passed over -Waukegan 7:10 p.
NJ. and then remained overland pass
ing about ten miles west of Chicago at
tS:45 r. NJ, moving southwark at an
altitude of $500 feet speed, twenty
miles per hour temperature. so degrees.
From this time on to morning. our hour
~ positions were dead yeckoned by ref
erence to compass and ground speed !;
our course remaining southwark into
Iroquois countyJ Illinois at midnight
where 1t turned southwestward. /.
Hard to Check Ground Speed.
1t was difficult to keep an accurate
check on our ground speed and direction
on account of low clouds and fog, and
only occasionally could we see a dim
light on the ground. We released a
carrier pigeon in Jasper county at z
A. NJ, which should have reached the
<ac frai i,o eta haf tI,
night of the 1st The surface currents
over Jasper county were from the south
east. so we remained aloft. then drifted
slowly eastward, risking loss in dis
tarce for change in wind conditions,
J ut hoping 20 regain the lost miles At
10 A. NJ. we encircled city which we
took for Effingham, ILL.,, then drifted
scuthwestward.
Conventional currents from the ground
would occasionally send US up, but they
were not troublesome until p. M. sew
enty-fifth meridian time. Over Alton,
H., we were sent up to 10000 feet and
lost considerable ballast in a steep de-
scent, and regained equilibrium at 1900
feet. At Ais p. M. we almost landed in
Charles county. seeking a lower level to
get in current toward the southwest,
which was plainly visible by the smoke
OF steamers on the Missouri River and
W iiPPico OH tHc Wdlef
We dropped two drag ropes to the
ground. which enabled us to, bound up
ward again; one rope dragging over
farm house took a turn around brick
chimney-an tore it down a few seconds
before | called to a child by the back
perch to get out of the way of theorope
ard he just missed being hit by running
into the house.
We were sent up again to 1000 feet,
and drifted back across the Missouri
River. where we handled the valve with
care to prevent another precipitous fall,
put the ballast off in big doses TO check
the downward momentum and got down
to 1000 feet with less expense of bal
last than before in the unstable condi-
tons prevailing there; the last fall
caused us to lose only two bags of sand.
Everything seemed to work contrary.
When we let ordinary amounts of bal
last off we would go down and when we
Waived out gas we would go UP. so we
got to using both freely to check our
ascent or descent. Up to p. NJ. we
were in remarkably stable conditions
for daytime ballooning.
Our dead reckoned position at p. M.
vas Madison county. and at 2 p. NJ. near
Alton, Ill. We made very slow prog
ress until 4 p. NJ, when we reached
Atop III, where we encountered almost
uncomfortable vertical and cross cur
reits which seemed to bend us toward
the Missouri River at every descent, and
we thought we would not last until
P M. We were glad to get away from
ST. Charles county by =. NJ, finding
scuthwestward drift between 500 and
1000 feet, while above 5000 feet the
all was comparatively calm.
surplus Thrown Overheard.
Once settled into steady current, we
took an inventory of our ballast and
supplies, and of all disposabe materials.
We had groceries enough for weeks
stay in the wlds of Canada, SO we be-
gan dropping butter, bread canned
meats, extra water ballast fishing tackle,
emergency rations. ammunition. water
torches. life preservers, and miscella-
neous things not necessary in this ter
ritory we also chopped up the extra
dragrope and dropped the pieces over
Our idea was to get rid of this surplus
aterial before dark without injury to
pc ople or houses below. and save the
sand for ballasting in emergencies at
the termination of the flight, for in such
en- ergencies ballast must go off hur-
riedly to prevent the balloon from
Dumping ground. This disposal of ar
ticles left us with nine bags Of ballast
for operations after sunrise.
Daylight found us in the heart of the
Ozark mountains In the northern portion
OF Texas county, when we spoke ground,
found our exact position and sent off
another carrier pigeon with the mes
sage to Great Lakes training station
near Chicago Our course was south
ard between Pulaski and Phelps coun-
ties to Texas county, when the wind
changed TO northwest and took us over
Licking, Mo-, at an altitude of 500 feet
s:15 A. NJ. the sky then being clouded
with strato cumulus and alto cumulus
clouds.
our ups and downs became frequent
H. the tickle mountain air currents and
we dipped in the valleys with the drag
rope In the trees, overshot the hills.
600 to 5000 feet. using the valve freely
when 1t was evident that the sun would
not be shaded by cloud (Which always
causes contraction of gas and sudden
descent) and went on to Shannon county.
where the wind shifted to west A west
wind would reduce our distance from
Milwaukee and knowing that the usual
change to southwest could be expected,
ard would drift us back north we picked
several fields ahead for a possible land
irr. We Waived to come down in
wheat field. Our dragrope checked our
crift. and our basket almost sat in the
Current River. missing the water about
ten feet by dropping over three bags OF
sand. We jumped the bordering trees,
and Waived down in corn field beside
tall sycamore trees at the river on the
form, of Charles w. Wells