The Waterbury Democrat., 1935-11-11

grees below zero, Fahrenheit. Tenn perature inside gondola 20 degrees above zero.
 Forced to Fix Leak Early in Trip
 The leak, supposedly in the gon- dola, apparently was repaired with out difficulty.
 For Last Frontier
 Stratocamp, Near Rapid City, s. D., Nov. 11.-(UP)-Bound for the last frontier, two army balloonists scared aloft to-day in the largest free balloon ever built, an altitude of IS miles their goal, scientific ex- ploration of the stratosphere their purpose.
 Taking off at T a. m. (MST) @ a. m. EST) from this sheltered Black Hills bowl even miles west of Rapid City, Captain Albert w. Stevens, flight commander and technical observer, and Capt. Orval A. Anderson, pilot, followed a trial blazed only eight times previously and hoped to achieve a success u1- matched in history. Veterans of two previous unsuc- cessful stratosphere attempts under the same sponsorship, that of the U. s. army and the National Geo. graphic society, the two men then woved goodby to watching thou sands assembled in and around the bowl, and set forth upon their per- ilous adventure.
 Cleared Bowl 50 Feet
 The big balloon christened Exjlor- CT II, cleared the rocky rim of the bowl by 50 feet within few mo- ments after Anderson's shoutel cry of up balloon" had given the sig nal for the last of the army ground crew to release the ropes which had bound the bag to earth. In five minutes it was 100 0feet up.
 As Anderson, standing in the rope rigging binding the air-tight metal gondola to the gas-bag, cast away 9 final bag of ballast, the balloon mounted swiftly higher and higher its white fabric glistening.
 Above the bowls rim, a 10-mile breeze caught the balloon, and il began a slow drift eastward, direct ly over Rapid City, and in the same direction as that taken by Explorer I, ill-fated predecessor of today's craft, which in 1884 crashed to earth in Nebraska after taking of from here and ascending almost 60,000 feet.
 On Doomed Balloon Stevens and Anderson were aboard that doomed balloon, and they narrowly escaped, parachutine to earth along with Major William E. Kepner, their commander on that occasion.
 Last July a second attempt ended during imitation, when the bag burst and collapsed. The same balloon was used today, new top section of fabric having been inset, and the airtight metal gondola also was the same.
 Flight Preparations
 Preparation for to-day's flight be- gan at 10 a. m. yesterday. wher weather observers advised the bal loonists favorable conditions were | indicted oyer a 1000 mile ares stretching from Rapid City soutf and east, the expected direction ol drift.
 More than 300 cavalrymen were brought from Fort Meade to aid T imitation, and serve as ground crew for the takeoff. Actual inflatior was begun at 7:20 p. m. under floodlights, but was halted soon af' ter midnight for an hour when 2 20-foot tear appeared in the fabric of the balloon well down towart the bottom.
 This rip, believed caused by th' fact the near zero weather whict made the fabric stiff and brittle was repaired, and imitation finally was completed at about 3 a. m.
 The bag was filled with less thar 800, 900 feet of helium, not one-tentl its capacity, since the expanding gas at the extremely high altitude. to be reached would distend thu balloon to full capacity. 300 Feet in Air when m1latlon was complete, tns bag lowered upward some 300 feel above the floor of the rick-girdlet bowl, which is set in cliffs 450 feet high.
 Then the metal gondola, a glisten- ing black and white ball nine feet in diameter and literally a flying laboratory, was wheeled beneath tht bag.
 When it was lashed on, and rig ging was complete. the effect va: that of ginnt exclamation point with the gondola the dot beneath lik
 Wlthin the sOndOla were itstru-