Balloon Collapses; Replacement Coming

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30884, 18 October 1965, Page 16

Balloon Collapses; Replacement Coming

(Sew Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, October 17. The first manned balloon flight in New Zealand for 50 years did not happen at Hutt Park Raceway on Saturday.

Bernina 11, the 22,500 cubic-foot balloon, burst as it was being filled with hydrogen.

Within hours of the failure, a replacement balloon was being packed to be sent to New Zealand. Another attempt will be made at Auckland on Saturday by the two German balloonists, Herman Scheer and Alfred Schultz, who were to have made the ascent.

Mr A. F. Harding, the New Zealand managing director of the Swiss sewing machine company which sponsored Bernina 11, said tonight that the second balloon would arrive on Thursday. It had been put on a flight to New Zealand from Zurich. Unlike Bernina 11, the replacement had proved itself in 50 flights, he said.

Mr Schultz had been on most of these. The new balloon, which has been lent by a Swiss manufacturing firm, is the same size as Bernina 11. The balloonists expect to take off from Ellerslie racecourse in it after noon next Saturday. Static displays at Featherston and Napier this week have been postponed. Mr Harding said it was hoped to hold these and a flight in Hutt Valley later. Faulty stitching is believed to have caused the trouble on Saturday. As the pressure in the balloon increased, a 30-

foot split developed and the balloon collapsed. A crowd estimated at 15,000 was at the raceway for the ascent, which was to have been part of the Plunket Society’s gala day. The German balloonists and a radio and television commentator. Mr B. Turbert. were to have made a 70-mile free flight. Last Saturday they were to have floated from Hutt Park to Cape Palliser to catch the southerly wind. They had then planned to drift to Masterton to take advantage of a northerly wind to drift back to the Hutt Valiev. Workmen at a Featherston factory today began repairing the balloon. However, Bernina II will never fly. It will be used only for static displays.