The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1935-07-12
Army Shakespeare
Balloon Exploded
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orvil Anderson, pilot, both of
whom were beyond range of the
crumpling bag, pulled away the
cloth.
Had the balloon been inflated
with explosive, inflammable n.y.
drogen gas, such as was used in
last years attempt, a major disas-
ter undoubtedly would have oc-
CURED.
Explosion Was Surprise
The explosion came as COM
p1ete surprise, and observers were
at a loss, pending Investigation, to
assign any cause for 1t. The bag
was inflated at the time with only
about 10000 cubic feet of gas, as
compared with a capacity, when
fully inflated, of about 100000
cubic feet.
There had not been a hitch in
Preparations. Everything pointed
toward start at dawn, up to the
moment of the explosion.
Captain Stevens in a radio mes
sage to the National Geogra phic
Society at Washington, expressed
pleasure that no one had been in
jured in the explosion, but said he
was naturally very disappointed"
A full investigation of the dis
aster awaited daylight, when Cap
tain Stevens said, every foot of the
fabric fthe balloon would be gone
over carefully in an effort to de-
termine exactly what occurred.
Crashed Year Ago
Stevens and Anderson were men,
bers, year ago. of the crew of the
Inflated Explorer 1, which crashed
in a corn field in Nebraska after
the balloon bag had ripped at
tremendous altitude under the
pressure of the expanding gas.
With Major William Kepner,
commander of that expedition.
they escaped death by leaping
with parachutes.
Both had believed positively that
this years balloon, Explorer II,
was perfect in every way, and that
the worst of luck could prevent
them establishing a new altitude
record of about 15 miles above sea
level.
Anderson wept as he aided in
the work of stripping the fabric
from the area Immediately about
the gondola, to be sure that no
member of the ground crew had
been trapped there.
No. Hitch Up to Blast
Until the moment of the explo-
sion the work of initiation, and of
other preparation for the takeoff,
which was to have been made with
the first light of dawn, had pro-
ceeded without a single hitch, I'M
der perfect army discipline. A de-
tachment of cavalrymen from Fort
Meade made up the ground crew,
apd experienced ballonists the
work of initiation.
son the rocky rim of the bowl,
thousands who had gathered dur
ing the night to watch the take
off shrieked in terror as the ex-
plocfon occurred.
They saw puffs of what ap-
peared to be a white smoke rising
believed that the gas had been
from the bag. For time many
ignited, forgetting the balloon was
inflated with helium, which is
non-inflammable.
Confusion in Bowl
Confusion reigned over the en-
tire sheltered take-off bowl, from
which the balloon had been sched-
uled to rise at dawn, as the fabric
Of the great bag parted.
Imitation of the balloon had
almost been completed, and 1t
lowered almost 500 feet into the
still air of the bowl, when the
explosion occurred. No cause for
the disaster could be seen by the
thousands who watched from the
ricky rims of the bowl, or by the
few hundred in the bowl proper.
There was no sound similar to
that of a gas explosion, and no
flame. The huge bag simply
seemed to crumple near the upper
half, and the helium escaped with
the kissing sound of an air hose
gene wild.
Slowly the white fabric, which
a moment before had lowered high
above the gondola like the upper
portion of a mammoth exclama-
ton point, crumpled to earth, en-
folding the 9-foot metal sphere be-
meath it in fabric.
Only Partially Inflated
The great envelope was designed
to hold, when fully inflated. some
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