PIONEER AVIATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20086, 25 October 1928, Page 14

PIONEER AVIATION.

ACROBATICS IN THE AIR. BALLOONS AND GLIDING KITE. UNDAUNTED NEW ZEALANDER. []JV TELEGRAPH. —OWN" CORRESPONDENT. J THAMES, Wednesday. A story ol' pluck and determination in the face of many trials and disappointments is associated with the efforts of Mr. \V. Jonassen, of Thames, to pioneer aviation in New Zealand. Twenty years ago Mr. Jonassen thrilled thousands of people with perilous acrobatic feats on a trapeze slung from a balloon 5000 to 6000 ft. above the ground before descending by means of a parachute. Between the years 1906 and 1913 Mr. Jonassen made over 100 "drops in various parts of tho Dominion, in order to iiiianco the building of an aeroplane of his own design. Mr. Jonassen had many exciting experiences, some involving serious injuries, during his years of ballooning. On one occasion at Gisborno his balloon burst when at a height of 600 ft. The parachute could not be used and Mr. Jonassen tell to the earth with tho balloon, fracturing his left log and several ribs. Numerous other falls from the four balloons he used necessitated costly hospital treatment. The 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 rqpo was let. go tho passenger controlled his slow descent by hanging by tho armpits from tho framework. It was in this machine that Mrs. Jonassen achieved the distinction of being the first woman in the Southern Hemisphere to ascend in 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 f/om tho Government to assist in the purchase of a specially-designed engine. Tho Government was unsympathetic. The project was finally brought to the notice of Colonel E. S. Iltud, 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 yet, so flying seems a little previous." Disheartened by this and other reverses, including rejection for war service owing to the effects of his ballooning injuries. Mr. Jonassen returned to his calling of motor engineer, and now owns a garage at Thames. His keenness for flying has in no way diminished, however, and negotions have been completed for the landing in New Zealand early in January of n Moth machine. Mr. Jonassen says he proposes to give exhibitions' of parachute descents over Auckland and other cities, in the course of which he will repeat his trapeze acrobatics of ballooning days.