BALLOONING DISASTER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18565, 24 November 1923, Page 2 (Supplement)

BALLOONING DISASTER.

■>• • V GORDON-BENNETT RACE.

LIGHTNING PLAYS ' HAVOC.

FIVE COMPETITORS KILLED. ■ Death and disaster attended the GordonBennett balloon race, the greatest event of its kind in the world. Fifteen balloons • ascended : from ' Brussels for the start just as ominous storm clouds were gathering in the heavens. Three came down in flumes, struck by lightning, it is believed, and five occupants lost their •lives'.-.-;- , ,

Another balloon struck . a live electric wire and came clovv'n, fthd the two occutpants . were Injured, One of the British •competitjrs dropped into the sea- without hurt of any kind to the crew, and the ; others landed Safely." .... < .V . ; The • threatening, storm did not deter any of the intending competitors, and all of them got away to a good start. As the storm 'burst, however, three balloons were struck by lightning with terrible results, as the, following brief reports indicate , , : Polar, (Spain) struck by lightning near Ma lines, \ Pilot killed and his ; * companion injured. ' S6 (United States Army) struck by lightning at Niestlerode, North . Brabant. Two men killed. Geneva (Switzerland) fell in flames near Antwerp. Two killed. Espheria (Spain) struck a live electric wire at Woldendorp in Holland, and came down. Two officers of the

Spanish Navy, and Julio Guiliin and • Emanuel Delalieux : were injured. j All the 1 other balloons were accounted for, including the Margaret (Britain), which fell into the sea off the Danish coast. The occupants, Messrs, C. W. Spencer and Berry, were rescued. The American S6 fell from a great height and at a terrifying speed. The two occupants were killed instantly. Lieutenant Choptaw having been struck by lightning. Both officers, -according to American Air Service officials iii Washington, were experienced pilots. The Swiss Geneva, another of the balloons to be struck by lightning, drifted about .:i4o(Jft.;„;,above Moll, in .the province of Antwerp,-, and crashed into a field near the River Nethe. The impact with the ground was so terrific that the basket was partly buried. Both occupants, Lieuts. von Gruningen and Wehren, were thrown out of the basket. • The pilot's body was picked up some 16ft. away, and that of his assistant still further. Both were dead, apparently killed, by the lightning. '•■■■■. '■>'! Only one man out of six survived to tell of the dreadful experience in midair. He is Senoi' Gomez, of the Spanish balloon , Polar, who is now nursing a broken leg in Brussels, whither the body of his comrade, Senor Penaranda, has been taken. f '" .. . Capt. Spencer, describing the descent of the Margaret into the sea, says: "When we , came : beneath the clouds we found to our amazement that instead of being over land there was nothing ,to be seen but water. It was to late to check effectually the descent of the balloon which continued to come down very rapidly. We began throwing out everything there was in the basket. , All the ballast went first', but in vain. Then we threw out the grapnel, followed bv empty bags, spare rope, our food and waiter supply,. any personal effects we had, including a valise of Capt. Berry'seve ything, in fact, except our instruments. It was all without avail, and we went down and down, five minutes after the descent began front.2l,oooft. There was a fairly rough;' sea at the time/ and a large wave broke over the basket,- thoroughly ' drenching us. t' We clung to the rigging, and luckily the balloon envelope did not touch the,water, but acted as a huge sail with the basket as a kind 'of anchor.', ' \ We had climbed up to the hoop above the basket,but even then we only - just succeeded keeping heads above the water. ,• •. We coul4^§j^j^^,fi!je. had sighted was, paw v approaching, but & very funny ; thin% " happened.\H It was ' coming in our line, and we made frantic signals for help. To our amazement* .the ship, when she was some distance away, passed right across, our track, , and)' we werei dragged on by the ' flying galloon for perhaps another quarter of arifyour. To our relief- we saw the ship *put about and come , after us. It wis a small trawler, and the captain navigated- beautifully, running the bows under the balloon, which enveloped the forward mast, and so brought the basket nearly to the side of the ship. Strong hands pulled us aboard, and we discovered that the vessel was the Helga, ; Gothenburg. Then we discovered the cause of the strange action of the boat in almost leaving us t> our fate. The captain told us he had 'never seen a balloon before, and thought it was some new kind of experiment in sailing." . ;-h A- :