The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-07-02
ARMY PAIR SET
FOR TRIP INTO
SHAKESPEARE
u. S. BaIIooniStS Will Be
Sixteenth TO Try Hop;
Five Killed.
fco1rr.sht. 1884 b. science serylcel

Copyright. 1884. By Science serylcel
RAPID CITY, S. D.. July q
When Captain A. w. Stevens and
Major w. z. Kepner take of IN
the giant shakespeare balloon Of
me Joint National Geographic So
ciety and the U. S. army air corps
from Moonlight valley from mere,
they viii be the fifteenth and six
teenth persons 10 leave the ground
10 90 up into the top Of the sea Of
air at whose bottom mankind lives.
Stratosphere ascensions really are
something new under the sun. 1t
was only a little over three years
ago. in May. 1881, that Professor
Auguste Picard and his companion,
Charles Klpfer, made the first OF
the high latitude flights which have
brought science into the new field
Of stratosphere research.
Despite the fact that stratOsphere
ascensions have been linked with
governmental agencies and scien-
fists from their inception and every
effort made to foresee possible
danger, the perils and risks of VEN
turing ten. twelve or fifteen miles
INTO the upper atmosphere hardly
makes the trip a joyride.
Beginning with Professor Pic
card and Mr.. Kipfer and ending
with the take-Off Of the forth
coming flight, fourteen persons have
gone into the stratosphere. All have
come back, but only nine have
come back alive.
L. :. Pioneer Killed
Prior to Professor Piccard's 1881
flight with its record of $1,000 feet,
the altitude mark for free balloons
was 35.424 feet. Captain Hawthorne
Gray Of the United States made
two attempts in 1927 to break it.
His first record of 42,470 feet was
declared unofficial because he de-
scended by parachute. On his
second trial he was killed. These
flights were made in an open bal
loon. not a closed gondola.
While Professor Picard and Mr..
Kipfer reached $1,000 feet in 1881,
and Professor Picard repeated the
flight in 1882 with Max Cosyns as
aid. and gained an altitude of
54166 feet.
Then came 1933-the StratOsphere
year. In April. Commander T. G.
w. Settle. U. S. N, received per-
mission to begin construction of a
balloon bag containing 100000 cubic
feet vOlume-1000 cubic feet
greater than the capacity of Pic
cards bag.
At the same time Russian ball
l0onists entered the stratosphere
picture, to give the flights an in
ternationaI aspect. with plans to
build huge bag containing a VOL
ume of 100000 cubic feet.
Fair Hop Is Failure
On Aug. 5, 1888. to the accom-
paniment of a Worlds fair celebra-
ton which lasted almost all night,
Commander Settle took off solo but
landed a few minutes later in the
railroad yards of Chicago. The first
flop" had come into stratosphere
flying
Speeding construction and spurred
By the preparations of Commander
Settle, the Russian balloon was
ready on Sept. 25, 1888. This bag,
the u. S. S. r. failed to get off the
ground that day, but on Sept. 80
reached an altitude of 1924 feet.
Although a record for altitude. the
flight was unrecogniZed because
Russia was not a member of the
international aeronautical body
sanctioning such flights.
Then in October, news leaked out
that Russia was planning still a
larger balloon. the Sirius. with a
volume of A million cubic feet. Be
fore this new Soviet bag was COM
plete. however. Commander Settle,
/ accompanied by Major Charles L.
Fordney. u. S. NJ. c.. took off Nov.
20 and came down the next day in
New jersey bog after reaching
61,243 feet for an official record.
Five Die in 1884 Crashes
Up to 1884 the box score" for
shakespeare flights stood at four
+ successes and two failures. Sue
+ cess came twice to Professor Pic
card, once to the Russian balloon u.
S. S. r. and once to Commander
. Settle and Major Fordney.
The year 1884. however. saw the
turning of stratoSphere luck from
good to bad The Russian balloon
T Sirius was ready on Feb. l and
sailed away over fog-enShrouded
( Moscow. It came back with a rec
ord of 81 sos feet but in pieces and
without its three occupants. The
first fatalities had come to Stratos-
phere ballooning.
Then, early in May, 1884, the Ger
man balloon Bartsch Won Sigsfeld,
engaged in the prosaic task of TAX
ing air samples near the bottom Of
the StratoSphere at $4,000 feet.
crashed with fatal results to its
aerial occupant.
When Captain Kepner and Ma ior
.. Stevens rise from Moonlight valley
shortly, they will know the past
record Of Stratosphere flights and
the risks they take. Safety devices,
including the giant parachute cap
able of gently lowering the entire
g0ndola. vii be only one safeguard
of many which their balloon Will
have. Their 100000 cubic feet bag
half as big as the S. S. Macon) is
large enough for them to carry ade-
Quate ballast and small but vital
niceueS Of balloon navigation which
prior fights have not been able to
take sloft. Three times as large as
any free balloon ever built. their
thirty-Story bag will have a good
chance to achieve a new altitude
record and aid science in the proc
ess.
tIM0IhM VII ANEs OTTO