Grand Forks herald., 1922-05-31
THIRTEEN BALLOONS START IN
RACE this AFTERNOON; WINDS
MAY TAKE THEM INTO CANADA
Believed Gas Bags Will Be,
Driven Over Great Lakes;
Several Pilot. Prepare
Waterproof Baskets Ia
Anticipation OF Landing
In Water; Winner, viii
Be Entered Ii Interna-
tional Contest In August. !

Milwaukee. May Shy The
!. Associated Press s)-With q wind
which came in sharp gusts,
sweeping the gas bags south and
slightly east, the national balloon
=, race began today when Pilot Roy =
Donaldson OF Springfield. Ill,
took thu, air At O'Clock, central
standard tima)
Associated t'ress. Thirteen balloons
..oday were. tusginy at their moors
oady to get away 1T $40 o'clock this
afternoon IN the thirteenth national
nalloon race which will decide the
n. ce entries of tho United States in
me International cortcsss 10 We nelu
n Switzerland in August
While the course Of Gignt' CT the
pilots will De dependent enllrely upon
,hc Wins and fancies OF winds, thou
sands Of feet above the ground, indi-
cations early today were SO far as
could be judged. that the final destin-
ttion Of most of the air travelerA
would be southeastern Canada.
Report on Air Currents.
AS the thousands of cubic feet OF
gas and helium struggled to tear loose
the giant bags from the ground ropes
through the day, the United States
weather bureau. which sent a corps
-of special agents here to sproGndsti-
cate the conditions of the upper air,
reported that the balloons would en-
counter a wind from the northeast at
the start but that, this would change
to wind from the southwest AZ
greater attitudes were reached.
Such winds would mean that the
big gas filled bags nrst would start
across the state of Wisconsin in
general northerly direction but that
this soon would turn into steady
flight northeastward across the Great
Lakes and into Canada. ~, /,
: -seTeraiH Of thu baskets attached ito
the balloons were of a. waterproof
floatiblc type. ARA nEed by the pilots
in anticipation, OF poss4 bic forced
landing in one Of the Great Lakes, but
others were just the ordinary woven
reed type which would fill with water
as readily as a sieve. A.few 'ofgths
men who are daring the perils of air
currents thousands of feet above the
earth carried with them outfits for
camping in case they come down in
the wilds Of Canada, but majority
were sacrificing such factors Of per-
sonal safety in favor of lighter equip
ment which might help them lenethen
the h1ght. s$.t' ,-'% r's4t$ 4
Fair Weather forecast. ~
Indications were that the weather
| would be, fair when the first gas bag
was released but this meant little.
| Small Balloons First Up.
! The first balloon to take Cir will be
the smallest entry-that of Roy Dom
| aldson of Springfield. Illinois. :, The
others will follow in the following or
der: ga, !.
Major Oscar Westover. Washington.
| Ralph Upson, Detroit. ~
Captain John Berry. st. Louis.
Lieutenant Commander j. p. Nor
fleet. Lakehurst,- N. j.
! Lieutenant W. F. Reed; Pensacola,
Fla.
! j. S. McKibbon, st. Louis. =
| Warren Rasor, Brookville. Ohio:
! Lieutenant James T. Nicely, Ross
field, Cal.
Captain Harold Weeks, Langley
! Field, Virginia,
| Bernard Won Hoffman, St. Louis, .
| Ward T. Van Norman, Akron, Ohio.
! H. E. Honeywell. st. Louis.