the hatches and rewelded them once they were inside. The repairs 

 were, in any case, completely invisible. 



Augsburg, September 1930. On the 14th September the balloon was 

 inflated. Knowing that the wind would hinder the rigging of this 

 large balloon and could even render departure impossible, we had 

 waited several weeks for favourable weather forecasts. But to our great 

 despair the weather changed abruptly, a violent wind took a hand and 

 we had to empty the balloon and give up the idea of departure. A 

 great disappointment, it goes without saying, for the public and the 

 Press! 



We waited once more for a more clement sky, but in vain. We had 

 to wait until spring, winter not being a season favourable to an 

 experiment of this sort. Finally, on the 26th May 1931, the weather 

 forecasts were favourable. In the night of the 26th-27th May we got 

 the balloon inflated : 100,000 cu. ft. of hydrogen. But on the morning 

 of the 27th the wind rose once more and knocked the balloon about : 

 the cabin was thrown out of the transporter and put slightly out of 

 shape (later we were to notice the consequences of this). However, 

 with my friend and collaborator, Paul Kipfer, I went into the cabin 

 and we closed the manhole behind us. The wind increased. To hold 

 the balloon, they attached, without my knowledge, a supplementary 

 rope to the hoop. At 3-57 p.m. Kipfer, looking out of one of the 

 portholes, said to me: 



*A factory chimney is passing underneath us!' 



They had let the balloon go and forgotten to give us the signal 

 of departure that had been agreed upon ! 



We went up very quickly. Some moments afterwards I perceived 

 that the insulator of an electric sounder going through the wall of the 

 cabin was broken at the time it fell : the air — our precious air — was 

 rushing out, whistling through the hole. Fortunately I had had pre- 

 pared a mixture of tow and vaseline, expecting that this paste would 

 be useful in case of a leak. I surrounded the insulator with insulating 

 tape and with this paste. The work was not easy. 



Soon Kipfer, who was observing the pressure gauges, said to me : 



'We are at 2-J miles and there is still an equal pressure inside and 

 outside the cabin!' 



Well, why have I had this beautiful aluminium cabin built } Since 

 it leaks like a basket, a simple wickerwork car would have been as 

 serviceable ! The situation was critical. I said to my companion : 



[9] 



