| New York Daily News, 16-November-1924 |
Both sound like fun.
Showing posts with label dirigible. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dirigible. Show all posts
Thursday, March 14, 2024
Saturday, August 17, 2019
The Pup and the Dirigible Hangar -- August 17, 2019
| Philadelphia Evening Public Ledger, 05-August-1919 |
Sunday, July 21, 2019
Twelve Die in Balloon Holocaust -- July 21, 2019
| Seattle Star, 22-July-1919 |
Twelve Die
in Balloon
Holocaust
CHICAGO, July 22. -- (United Press.) -- Twelve dead and 26 injured was the final count today of casualties in Chicago's most modern tragedy -- the fall of an aircraft thru the skylight of a metropolitan business building. Late yesterday a 100-foot dirigible fell blazing into the counting room of the Illinois Trust & Savings Co.
Two members of the "Wingfoot" express, a photographer, and nine employes of the bank were among the dead. Most of them were burned to death when the gas bag with its heavy fuselage burst thru steel and plate glass and spread burning gasoline in all directions. A score of investigations, headed by the coroner and the state's attorney, opened today. Seventeen men, mostly employes of the Goodyear Rubber company, owners of the "Wingfoot," were held for examination.
The flight of the balloon was watched by thousands in the streets.
The great "blimp" was making a test flight and had been flying above the city for several hours. When about 500 feet above the bank the dirigible burst into flames and fell, crashing thru the glass skylight of the bank and its iron supports, and falling to the marble floor in the rotunda beneath.
The two gasoline tanks exploded and burst into flames, scattering the flames over the people in the bank. Many were cut by great chunks of broken glass from the skylight.
Women on Fire
The employes of the bank, mostly women, some with clothes afire, ran screaming from the building thru the two exits. The exits became blocked and jammed with bodies. Meanwhile hurry calls had been sent for every available ambulance and police patrol in the city. Many of the surviving women won their way to the sidewalk to collapse in a faint.
The Intense heat inside the bank broke the plate glass windows on the outside and made rescue work difficult. The work of rescuing the bodies of those burned beneath the huge craft could not be started until 35 minutes later, when the wreckage cooled sufficiently to allow approach.
John Boettner, pilot of the craft, telling of the wreck, said:
"When we were about 500 feet up, I felt the machine buckle and saw a spurt of flame shoot from the side of the bag. Calling to the others to jump, I leaped overboard. The others followed milt. My parachute caught fire, but I landed safely."
Henry Weaver and Harry Wacker, mechanicians of the "blimp," followed Boettner. Weaver's parachute caught fire and he was caught beneath the falling ship and wan killed.
Parachute in Flames
K. M. Norton, cameraman for a morning newspaper, jumped, but his parachute caught fire. He landed In the street below, breaking both legs and sustaining internal injuries.
Karl H. Davenport, publicity man for an amusement park, for some reason did not jump, and he was carried to his death in the blazing ship.
Carl Otto, another mechanic, was caught in the wreckage and died.
The dead are:
CARPENTER, Jacob, 16, bank messenger.
BERGER, Helen, bank stenographer.
DAVENPORT, Earl H., publicity man in the "blimp."
FLORENCE, Maria, bank clerk.
GALLAGHER, Mary, bank stenographer.
MILES, Irene, bank stenographer.
MEYEr, Evelyn, bank stenographer.
MUNZER. Edwin, bank clerk.
OTTO, Carl, bank telegrapher.
SCANLAN, Joseph, bank messenger.
WEAVER, Carl, mechanic in the dirigible, Akron, Ohio.
Boettner, pilot of the machine, was taken into custody last night until an investigation can be made.
The council, at a meeting last night, passed a resolution ordering the corporation counsel to draft an ordinance which prohibits aircraft from flying over the city.
With hastily gathered furniture, the bank reopened today. A loss of $50,000 in bonds, supposed to have been burned, was announced.
President John J. Mitchell hesitated to estimate the amount of property loss involved.
"I'm thinking of the deaths of those people whom I knew personally," he said. He thought $15,000 would replace fixtures.
Mitchell indicated the Goodyear company had offered to settle damages and "do whatever was right" for families of the victims.
Pilot J. A. Boettner at first blamed static for the burning of his machine. Later he said sparks from the rotary motor -- an experiment for "blimps" -- may have set the gas bag afire. The motors, he said, were intended to "pull" instead of drive a machine. Attached as they were, he said, exhaust flames may have been blown against the fabric.
Tuesday, July 2, 2019
Big Dirigible Explodes -- July 2, 2019
| South Bend News-Times, 02-July-1919 |
BIG DIRIGIBLE
EXPLODES; MANY
BADLY INJURED
Was Bound for Cape May
With Crew of Six When
Accident Occurs.
BALTIMORE, Md., July 2 -- The big navy dirigible C-8, commanded by Lieut. N. J. Learned with a crew of six men and two passengers bound from Cape May, N. J., to Washington, exploded with terrific force just after landing at Camp Holabird, near this city Tuesday to adjust rudder trouble. The explosion shook the cantonment and the eastern section of the city like an earthquake shock. The great balloon instantly became a mass of flames.
Shooting flames and bits of blazing fragments scattered over the crowd of nearly 200 men, women and children who had gathered on the camp field to see the monster flier. Seventy-five persons, mostly women and children, were burned or otherwise injured.
None of the officers or crew of the C-8 were hurt though several of them sustained severe shocks. They were at work on the disabled rudder when the explosion occurred. The explosion is believed to have been caused by rapid expansion caused by heat, according to the commander. The bag contained more gas than was required after descending from a colder altitude temperature. Lieut. Learned was in the office of the camp adjutant notifying naval authorities at Washington by phone of his rudder trouble, when the shock of the explosion nearly took him off his feet. Some of the persons including Camp Holabird men who were near the dirigible were blown 20 or 30 feet by the concussion. Houses nearly a mile away were shaken and windows broken by the shock. The air was filled with gas fumes. The home of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Pank, a half mile away from the scene, looked like a cyclone had struck it. Door and window frames were twisted. Window panes were broken. There were burned marks all over the house. Mrs. Pank, who was on the second floor, was severely injured.
Relief was organized immediately from the Camp Holabird hospital and 60 persons went there to have their wounds dressed, about 20 being burned seriously enough to remain at the institution.
Samuel DeLuca, a Young Men's Christian association officer, who was standing on the railing of the car when the big bag burst, was flung several feet out of the range of the fire, badly burned about the hands and legs.
Joseph Staks, 11 years old, and Joseph Kudek, 13, who were burned about the face and body, figured in one of the freakish effects which the explosion produced. They were driving near the balloon in a little cart behind a pony. The explosion blew them out of their cart and threw them some distance from it. It threw the pony to the earth violently. The pony was burned about the body more seriously than the boys.
The men who formed the crew of the dirigible besides Lieut. Learned were: Navigation officer, Commander F. W. Wyerbach; directional pilot, Ensign C. W. Tyndall; engineer, Warrant Officer B. F. Sherman; first class Machinist, Keller, and Radio Officer W. Lynch. The passengers were Lieut. Commander R. D. Quigley and Lieut. A. R. Tilburne.
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
The Military Supremacy of the Air -- May 7, 2014
The cover of the 29-December-1912 Scientific American featured "dirigibles of the leading European military powers." The note next to the German Zeppelin at the top says that the German Empire had 20 dirigibles. Great Britain had three dirigibles. France had 16, Russia had 10 and Italy had 7. I need to look for a copy of the article, "The Military Supremacy of the Air" by Theodore M. R. von Kler. Be sure to click on the image to see a larger version.
Monday night, the Giants played the Pirates in Pittsburgh. At one point the Giants were down 8-2. They tied it at 10-10 in the top of the 9th. The game went to the 13th when the Giants went ahead without getting a hit. Tuesday night, the Giants tied the Pirates late in the game. In the bottom of the 9th, a Pirate got a triple and then tried to go home when the throw got past the third baseman. Buster Posey tagged him out, but the Pirates appealed. The replay umpires in New York ruled that the runner was safe, so the Pirates won. This was the first replay walk-off win. All the replays we saw on television were not clear and decisive. The Giants lost again today.
Monday, July 2, 2012
Won in the Clouds -- July 2, 2012
Roy Knabenshue was a pioneering American dirigible pilot and builder. He flew Tom Baldwin's California Arrow at the 1904 Saint Louis Exposition. He built an early passenger-carrying dirigible, the White City, in California in 1913. That may be the dirigible featured in this Universal film.
The ad above is from the 28-February-1914 issue of Moving Picture World. The two ads below are from the 07-March-1914 issue. Be sure to click on the images to see larger versions.
The review below is from the 03-April-1914 Washington Times. Kaffir is not a polite term.
Won In The Clouds.
(Universal.)
CECIL JAMES, an Englishman, accompanied by his daughter, Grace, is hunting big game in the wilds of Africa. One day. Bangula, a Kaffir, steals a rifle from the gunrack. When Bangula .s captured by his fellows he is saved from death by the interference of James. Out of gratitude, Bangula leads James and his daughter to the fabled diamond mine of the Kabangans. In the city of Bloemfontein, Roy Knabenshue, an American aeronaut, arrives with his dirigible balloon for the purpose of carrying agents of Bjornsen, a banker,. to the diamond mines of the interior. Knabenshue falls in love with Bjornsen's daughter. Mary. Far in the interior James and his daughter reach a Kaffir village near the diamond mine. From the fact that he smokes a pipe. James is taken to be a fire god by the natives, and meets Portuguese Jack, a renegade, who is worshiped as a fire god and virtually held a prisoner James locates the diamond mines and secures many rough diamonds. Portuguese attempts to force his attentions on Grace, and when they attempt to escape with the diamonds he reports them to the chief of the tribe. They hide the diamonds in the floor of the feast house where the Kaffiirs feed their victims to the lions, and when they finally escape they are obliged to leave the diamonds. How they enlist the American aeronaut in their attempt to recover the diamonds and the thrilling experiences they have make a series of great pictures.
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