Balloon Flight In November

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30847, 4 September 1965, Page 18

Balloon Flight In November

The first manned balloon to be seen in New Zealand for many years will ascend from Lower Hutt on October 16. The balloon, Bernina, is being brought to the Dominion on a demonstration tour by Bernina Sewing Machines Ltd. The flight of the Bernina at Christchurch is planned for November 2.

The project has been cleared by the Department of Civil Aviation and was subjected to stringent conditions imposed to ensure the safety of participants and spectators. These conditions were necessary because the 22,250 cubic foot balloon is filled with hydrogen gas for free flight. Three flights in New Zealand are planned for the Bernina which will be flown by the world-renowned balloonist, Mr Herman Scheer, and his balloon-master, Mr Alfred Schultz. The Bernina has already made several flights on the Continent, including one over the Swiss Alps. The Bernina Company in Switzerland has assisted Mr Scheer in his ballooning in Europe as all proceeds of the flights have been given to the Pestalozzi Children’s Village—an orphan’s home in West Germany. In New Zealand all proceeds from the flights will go to the Plunket Society. The Post Office has agreed to allow the first New Zealand balloon flight mail to be carried on the three flights and special balloon flight postcards have been designed. These will be available at fid each from Bernina, P.O. Box 36007, Lower Hutt, and from Bernina centres throughout the Dominion, as well as from other centres. Their sale will provide

Karitane hospitals with much needed revenue.

Cards will be postmarked at the point of departure of each flight and officially back-stamped at the landing place by the Post Office. All senders of the cards are requested to use health stamps on them, and as the cards will have a high philatelic value, they should increase the sale of health stamps considerably. To fill the Bernina with hydrogen takes four hours. It will then lift up to three persons. The greatest height reached on any one flight was 26,246 ft, but flights are normally made at from 6500 ft to 9800 ft. In balloon flying there is an initiation ceremony. Each new passenger is anointed with a mixture of champagne and sand. Ballooning as a public spectacle was known in New Zealand as long ago as 1890. At Lancaster Park a “Professor” Jackson made the first balloon ascent in New Zealand. On a November day in 1899 a young man called Mahoney, of Auckland, known to the public as “Captain Lorraine” attempted a flight from the park. The balloon, on being released, shot skywards and disappeared over the Port Halls. Soon after a signalman at Port Levy saw it descend into the sea. “Captain Lorraine” disappeared before help could reach him. In December “Professor” Jackson attempted an ascent

from a paddock in Manchester street (opposite Coker’s Hotel), watched by a crowd of 1500. A strong north-west wind drove the balloon down Manchester street with Jackson hanging on. To avoid striking a telegraph line Jackson jumped to the ground, falling only a few feet. The balloon disappeared over the Port Hills and came to earth on the southern side of Lyttelton Harbour.

Another balloonist wellknown about this time was Noah Jonassen, the selfstyled “Aerial King” who toured from Northland to Otago. Balloon flights were also made at Invercargill by a cycle dealer named Murie. and between 1910 and 1914 the Beebe Balloon Company, with two giant balloons, performed at Lancaster Park and at the Auckland Exhibition.