The Waterbury Democrat., 1934-03-17
BY SWANEE TAYLOR (Cnited Press Aviation Writer)

New York, (UP)-The recent
 tragic end to the Russian strato-
 sphere balloon, with the various
 guesses as to what happened, calls
 to mind that free" ballooning
 has become a lost art.
 Early in the century the spheri-
 cal balloon was quite popular, both as a means of adventure and
 racing vehicle. in this coun- | try as well as abroad Periodic
 races were held in North Adams, | Mass, and the environs of St | Louis. Mo, and Akron. Ohio, fur nished the midwestern bid for honorsr in annual National Bal i loon races. Ballooning at the | time, gripped with a result that
 most everyone read avidly all tech
 nical papers, and understood the finer points of sky floating. Yet, ballooning had but a brief , day, as it immediately preceded the coming of the mechanical fly ing age.
 There are many conditions,
 ence the flight of lighter-than- air gas bag. First, the expan- sion and contraction of lifting gas within the envelope is regulated by
 the change in density of the air.
 As the balloon rises, the earth's
 atmospheric pressure becomes less, allowing the gas to expand. This expansion in turn, gives the bal loon increasingly greater lift,
 which is very well as long as the pilot is content to climb. But
 once he reaches a desired altitude,
 considerable finesse is required to
 reach what balloonists call an
 "ecuilibrium" where the internal
 and external pressure are the same. It calls for a most judi cious "valving out' of the proper
 amount of gas.
 Then. once equilibrium has been established, your ballonist finds that his work has just be- gun. For. as he floats lazily across country in the breeze. Inc is constantly being affected by unforseeable changes. Such. for instance as crossing d river. The fact that he passes through a i cooler column of air reaches sev- eral thousand feet up above the 1 river. will cause his gas to con- tract with resultant drop. Similarly. the atmosphere high over q iuEHc lOJcSl lS 'OVl. d'iN i will cause him to drop five bun ] hand. the air on ton of large. Grv field. also above town or
 city. will "kick" him up several , hundred feet or SO Also, the re- rlncted sunlicht from the top of cloud will hit the rether hemi- sphere Of his bag and destroy the equilibrium.
 None of these rises and falls are violcnt. They occur. in most cases. after the balloon has passed over the specific locality. But it means that unless the pilot is
 constantly on the job. he will be wasting precious sand ballast, in ease of drop, or lifting gas. due i to the overflow from expansion. Now to venture balloonist's explanation as to what probably l happened to the Soviet's ill-fated | Syrius:
 | One terrifically important point Is that the descent was made late
 in the afternoon, if not after dark. Tn the face of setting
 sun, the upper air was chilling Nff rapidly. This was responsible 1 for an undue amount of con
 traction of the lifting gas. Had i the descent been made during the | forenoon. while the suns rays i were getting hotter and hotter a distinct advantage would have beon obtained.
 Next we have a message from Inc gondola. reporting that the
 balloon was plunging into pre- cinitation." Whether this was
 rain. snow. sleet or just big. arippy clouds. we don't know. However. any one of the follr wond have added terrific weight to the balloon. The Syrius was about as large as an average seven story building. and when