AERIAL PIONEER

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIII, 14 November 1928, Page 4

AERIAL PIONEER

NEW ZEALAND BALLOONIST

TRIALS AND DISAPPOINTMENTS

A story of pluck, and determination in the face o.f many trials and disappoint- . ments is associated with the efforts of . Air W. Jonassen, of Thames, the pioneer , of aviation in New Zealand twenty years ago. Mr Jonassen thrilled thousands of people with perilous acrobatic feats on a trapeze, slung from a bailoon 5,000 f- to 6,000 ft above the ground, before descending by means of a parachute. Between tho years 1906 and 1913, Air Jonassen made over 100 drops in various parts of the Dominion in order to finance , tho building of an aeroplane of his own design. Mr Jonassen had many exciting experiences, some involving serious injuries, during his years of ballooning. Oil one occasion at Gisborne his balloon burst when at a height of 600 ft. The parachute could not bo used, and Mr Jonassen fell to earth with the balloon, fracturing his left leg and several ribs. Numerous other falls from the four balloons he used necessitated costly hospital treatment.

Mne aeronaut’s first departure from ballooning was the construction of a glider; this was an oblong-shaped contrivance worked on the kite principle. When the tethering rope was let go the passenger controlled his slow descent by hanging by the armpits from the framework. It was in this machine that Mrs Jonassen achieved tho distinction of being the first woman in the Southern Hemisphere to ascend til a heavier-than-air machine. Prior to the outbreak of war Mr Jonassen invented and built a monoplane, for which he sought a grant of £2OO from the Government to assist in the purchase uf a specially-, designed engine. The Government was unsympathetic, but the project was finally brought, to the notice of Colonel E. S. Hurd, director of military training, in 1912. However, the request was . again rejected. In a letter to the inventor Colonel Hurd

said: ‘The Defence Department estimates have been cut down to the lowest ! possible, and there is no allowance for experiments in aviation. Perhaps it is rather early to take up the subject. We have not learned to walk vet, so living seems a little previous.” Disheartened hv this and other reverses, including rejection for war service owing to the effect of his ballooning injuries, Mr Jonassen returned in his calling of a motor engineer, and now owns a garage at Thames. His keenness for flying has in no way diminished, however, and negotiations have been completed for the landing in New Zealand early in January of a Aluth machine similar to that recently presented to the Auckland Aero Club by the “Herald.” Air Jonassen says he proposes to give exhibitions of parachute descents over Auckland and other cities, in the course uf which lie will repeat his trapeze acrobatics of his ballooning days.