Chinese Exhibition Of U.S. Balloons

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27962, 8 May 1956, Page 7

Chinese Exhibition Of U.S. Balloons

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

(Rec. 8 p.m.) PEKING. May .5. An exhibition in Peking of military reconnaissance balloons, said by the Chinese authorities to have been sent over China from Europe by the United States, has attracted 160,000 visitors in the last three weeks. It is the third of a series of exhibitions put on by the Chinese Government, as showing the “aggressive intent” of the United States in Asia, and particularly towards China. The other exhibitions were on “germ warfare’’ and “spies.” Reuter’s Peking correspondent, the only western journalist in Peking, visited the exhibition. He saw displayed prominently pictures of pilots who were said to have shot the balloons down. Several Galloons were dismantled to show the workings of camera and radio equipment. \ One balloon was complete, together with its equipment. Size and Weight The balloons were between 50 and 30 feet across, and with equipment, were said to weigh about 15001 b. Young girls acting as guides showed stream of visitors a map illustrating how the balloons had allegedly

been launched in Europe and carried by prevailing winds to the Pacific. The girls explained the working of the radio equipment. They showed how the release mechanism was controlled so that boxes containing camera and radio equipment could float to earth on parachutes. The boxes bore a message in several languages which said: “This box came from the sky. It is harmless, it has weather information in it. Notify the authorities and you will receive a valuable reward when you return it.” The guides said that meteorological equipment took up only a very small part of the space for equipment. It could work for only a few hours, but the cameras could work for a week, they said. The main camera could take 1160 pictures which would cover an area of about 10.000 square miles. A second camera recorded the number of picture, the altitude, the direction of drift, and the position of the sun at the time the ground photograph was taken to enable its location to be established. Photographs said to have been taken from the cameras showed planes on an airfield and a harbour in considerable detail, but most were of barren terrain.