A S()l,() I- 1, Kill I' IN A sriIKHKAL BALLOON 



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The 'M.^tli solo si)lici'it-al lialloon lli,L;ln of llic l'\''(lri-alion 

 Aeronauti(|iU' ink'nialioiialc was made on lu-hniary 12, \')2\. 

 The free balloon llii^ln in lliis instance was conducted by the Air 

 Service Balloon School ot the I'nitcd States Army at Ross Field, 

 Arcadia. California. 



In itselt'. the occasion bein^- a pilot (lualification test, was not 

 an unusual one, but many of the attendant circumstances sur- 

 rounded the event with more than the obvious im]:)ortance to the 

 individual. First, the Might was made by a Consulting Meteor- 

 ologist under the' Army rules and in aircraft of the United States. 

 Second, the flight was practically an "economy run" breaking all 

 previous records (so balloonists stated) for the combination of 

 minimum amounts of the four elements: gas. ballast, distance, 

 and altitude. There was the smallest quantity of gas as well as 

 ballast used, combined with both the short distance traveled and 

 the low level maintained as shown by the mean and maximum 

 altitude. Third, it was the satisfactory working out of a theory 

 that no where exists more dependable atmospheric conditions for 

 the control of a balloon than in Southern California. For over 

 one hundred years in France where ballooning is popular, it has 

 been considered a feat if the veteran balloon pilots sailed their 

 balloons at a low level with the least amount of ballast and the 

 most infrequent diminution of the gas supply ; this, the aeronauts 

 considered, evidenced the skill of the pilot in taking advantage of 

 the principal weather elements such as wind and temperature. 



Before giving a narrative of the solo balloon flight, it may be 

 worth while to consider a few preliminaries such as a comparison 

 of the balloon and the airplane, the construction, equipment, and 

 the navigation of a balloon. 



Balloons and Airplanes Compared — To the majority of peo- 

 ple a balloon flight is an anomaly, for have they not seen balloon 

 ascensions where the circus performer rises in a hot-air balloon 

 and descends in a parachute, or have they not known a few ven- 

 turesome people who have ascended in a captive balloon? A 

 balloon flight is, however, a reality; it is claimed by aeronauts to 

 be the "joy-riding of the air". Historically, it was the first means 

 of mechanical suspension and flight ever tried and remains today, 

 after one hundred and thirty-seven years since Rozier (1), who 



1. Douglass Archibald. The Earth's Atmosphere. London, 1915. 



