Evening star., 1934-07-29
ANXIOUS OFFICIALS.
HAIL BALLOON|STS.
FoUIois and La Gorce Lead
in Tribute TO
Flyers.
CONTINUED Prom F7rst Page.) }

jump Tor their lives. their nerves
scarcely could have been more frszzled
than those Of the tense representa-
tiyes Of the sponsoring organizations
here.
For nearly half an hour an ominous
wall OF silence had met repeated
efforts OF short-waye radio operators
TO re-estabIish communication WITH
the torn and wfnd-buffeted balloon.
For two long hours before that the
beleaguered trio, huddled in their
cramped. instrument-cluttered ball OF
metal alloy, had. at intervals, in-
terrupted their feveriSh preparations
for escape IN order 70 keep their
friends ON the ground advised OF the
Kaleidoscope. menacing Developments.
Kepner had stlffened the sptnes Of
the listeners at 3;25 pm. with a curt
announcement that the balloon had
ripped underneath and was coming
down. The giant bag then was at It's
maximum altitude of approximately
10000 feet, ,237 feet short Of "Tex"
Settles record.
sort Of Hanging Here"
The commanders voice did not be-
tray a sign Of emotion as he said:
"The bag probably viii hold for a
while. We're trying 10 come down,
but we're sort of hanging here"
Subsequently he told how he heard
noise overhead and, looking UP
through a glass portfolio, saw @ long
cash in the rubberized fabric about
so feet long and yard wide.
DR., La Gorce, Or. Frederick V. CO.
vile, chairman OF the Geographic So
ciety's Research Committee: George w
Hutchinson. secretary of the body. and
other officials and members hung onto
every word with bated breath The Air
Corps officers leaned forward in Their
chairs. alarm written OH their fur
rewed brows.
once Kepner was heard to COM
ment: "Tais damn thing has gone
nutsl"
Again the listeners overheard a re-
mark not intended for their ears;
THAT damn thing burst In the
middle before you get half way up"
After a pause q radio representative
on the ground asked Kepner If 1t
would be possible for him to describe
the situation on commercial net
work for the public at large.
What for2" he snapped back petu-
lantly. I'm in trouble up here. We're
busy"
Hard to Manage.
Then he continued:
Were going to have TO come down.
The bottom Of the bag is ripped in
several places. The balloon is rather
diflcult to manage"
The announcer at Chicago broke in
with: do you expect any serious
trouble?"
II don't know what to expect" was
the laconic response.
Rapid City came in on the network
of wires connecting the ground sta
tions and asked Kepner to keep the
ground crew advised of his altitude
and position, as Mrs. Kepner was
somewhat worried"
The major replied that he thought
the balloon was right near North
Platte. Nebr."
What is your altitude?" the ground
man repeated. Gan you tell us
Toughly2"
why, we are about $1,000 feet now.
and the balloon doesn't want to come
down"
20. k" the ground voice said. LET
1t stand there, then
Apt to Do Things"
well" Kepner shot back eve want
to get it down if we can, because in
this condition II Is apt to do a lot Of
things"
There was no further report from
the balloon for about is minutes, but
the tumbled voices of the crew in the
descending ball could be heard as the
men discussed their plight. The con-
versation was too indiStinct to under
stand.
Then, at 3:45. Kepner asked Rapid
City for ground wind report. The
answer was West northwest, miles. -
"Oke," said the major, adding as an
afterthought. We're rapidly drop
ping"
At pm. when, nothing had been
heard from the balloonists for quar-
ter of an hour, Rapid City asked
Kepner If the balloon was coming
down all right
Il don't know" the major replied
sit is a pretty hard fight"
You don't know for sure?'
I'VE are trying to-" Kepner ex-
planned.
Descent Is Slow.
Capt. Albert w. Stevens made a re-
port at AIT. He said he could not
tell whether the balloon was descend
ing Ok" but added: we are tryine
to bring her down as easy as we can.
What is your altitude now?" he
was asked.
'Seventy-six millimeters of mer-
curry, which is about $4,000 feet" he
said. This thing happened at SIS
millimeters, which is approximately
10000 feet
Your descent is very slow, then?"
"Yes. We are down TO $4,000 feet
now. At the highest we were up to
just about $4,000 feet and We are GO
ing down slowly now. We have
dropped about 5000 feet"
A few moments later Stevens re.
ported the altitude as $1,000 feet ano
the temperature outside as minus So
centigrade."
In two minutes the bag had dropped
to $4,000 feet.
We are still holding together,
Capt. Stevens remarked, but VIZ
don't know how long"
Westover Calls Ship.
Gen. Westover and Mai. Kepnel
then had a conversation as follows:
Hello. Kepner."
Hello"
"This is Gen. Westover."
"Hello, general"
'Oh, Maj. Kepner, 1 purposefully
avoided calling you before. as l knew
you were having your difficulties, but
] understand that you have now ex.
pressed desire 10 make some report
Can you give me some pointers or
how fast you are coming down anC
what your present altitude tsp"
My present altitude is $1,000 feet
and We are having a great deal o
rn1ass,o .s,..,