BALLOON CRASHES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21758, 24 March 1934, Page 2 (Supplement)

BALLOON CRASHES

ASCENT TO STRATOSPHERE BID FOR ALTITUDE RECORD •'A f—: —r— y SOVIET RUSSIA'S VENTURE ' ' CREW OF THREE PERISH V r :— — •' . • : 4 After ascending last month 13 milei above the earth—the greatest height ever attained by man—the Soviet stratosphere balloon, the Osoaviakhim Syrius, met with dire disaster on regaining terra firma. The, successful bid for a new altitude record commenced at Moscow under conditions of great secrecy. The monster balloon reached 67,570 ft. with almost incredible swiftness, and the three occupants signalled their triumph by "wireless messages. Then came an ominous silence. In its progress earthwards the balloon, unsegft from the ground, drifted many miles to the south-east of Moscow and in the darkness crashed in an almost impenetrable forest. The three members of the crew perished. The pioneer flight into the stratosphere was made by Professor Piccard a Belgian, who ascended to 63,151 ft' This record was beaten by another Russian balloon, the U.S.S.R., attained a height of 63,327 ft. ■ ' Mystery surrounded Soviet Russia's latest venture into' the unexplored realms of the stratosphere. No one but the authorities were let into the secret, and no one in Moscow and the surrounding country saw the balloon go up because of the overcast sky. Only those who had wireless sets and who happened to tune in to the conversations of the balloon with the earth knew what was going on. Triumph and Disaster . I Within an hour or so of the ascent of the Osoaviakhim Syrius from/a Moscow flying field, the listeners heard the news of its triumph. Less than '24 -hours later all Russia " was mourning the loss of three men : Paul Fedoseenio' commander and pilot; Andrew Vasenko' the engineer responsible for the construction of the balloon's sealed gondola; and Professor Hia Usiskin, a noted physicist. The balloon wan built by the Osoaviakhim Society, which promotes the interests of aviation- in Russia. It was intended to supplement the work dona by the first stratosphere balloon, the U.S.S.R., which last September established the previous height record of 63,327 ft. The Osoaviakhim Syrius was slightly smaller than the U.S.S.R, Its envelope had /.a! capacity of 850,617 cubic feet. The ."gondola was spherical, with a diameter of about Bft. and was \ made of stainless steeL It had three hermetically sealed windows at the side and one at the bottom for making observations and photographing. Special precision .instruments were

carried for studying the cosmic rays, magnetic phenomena and the composition of the air. Special photographic apparatus was carried for making infrared ray photographic studies. Message by Wireless

An hour - after the start the Syriuß had reached a heigjht of approximately 63,000 ft., and shortly afterwards tha orew .reported~by Wireless that thej had reached the record height of about 12$ miles. Then came the following wireless message:—We can hear you excellently. We are continuing our scientific observations - and study of the cosmio rays in the atmosphere. The temperature in ~the gondola is 20deg. Centigrade (68deg. Fahrenheit). The height is now 20,500 metres (about 67,240 ft.), and we are beginning to descend."

When the last wireless. report war received the balloon's crew indicated

that its probable landing point was Kolomna, a village 70: miles from Mos-

cow, where the U.S.S.R. came down last September. With the coming of darkness and the absence of further reports from the balloon grave anxiety was aroused. A fleet of aeroplanes and " blimps " was sent up from Moscow to search for the missing craft, and messages instructing officials to keep a sharp look-out were broadcast. The balloon drifted to the south-east in the direction of Riazan, 180 miles from Moscow, where most of the sur-j rounding country is covered with forest growth, which made a landing extremely hazardous. Many hours of silence followed, for this region is sparsely populated, but at length came the news that the balloon had crashed and all three occupants had been killed. "Position Hopeless^" A dramatic wireless message was published as the last sent out from the balloon. Claimed to have been picked up by a private citizen at Gomel, near the Polish frontier, it runs as follows: — " tratostat calling—grave report >this—Stratostat in zone of heavy moisture—ice-coated. Position hopeless. We falling. Ice sticks on us. My two comrades in bad state. That is all." The official announcement of the catastrophe was made as follows to the Congress of the All-Union Communist Party:—'' Between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. the gondola of the stratosphere balloon was found torn away from the balloon in the Insarsk region of the Mordov Province, near the village of / Potijsky ostrog, eight kilometres south of K.idoshkino, a station on the Mos-cow-Kazan railway. Freed of the gondola, the balloon rose and disappeared. Witnesses report that two explosions were heard at the time of the crash: Three bodies were found in the gondola, "All. the scientific instruments and the other contents of the gondola were smashed, so it presumably will be impossible to verify the record which tho balloonists said they established. A special commission of investigation has left Moscow for the scene of the catastrophe." Scientific Exploration . Since Professor Piccard's pioneer flight into the stratosphere, Soviet Russia has taken a lively* interest in this new sphere of scientific exploration. Reports from Leningrad revealed plans for the construction of an automatic " stratostat " which would not carry passengers, but would have radio apparatus to record meterological con- >• ditions and other apparatus for the study of cosmic rays. \\ hen tho balloon reached its maximum height it was to burst, allowing the scientific apparatus to float to earth by parachute. America, too, is seeking altitude records. A contract for building the world's largest free balloon has been awarded to the Goodyear Zeppelin Corporation of Akron. The balloon, which is 'to be used in a joint attempt of the National Geographic Society and tlie United States Army to .carry a crew and scientific instruments 15 miles above the earth's surface, will be 170 ft. in diameter when filled with gas. Tho diameter will not be reached, however, until the-bag gains its highest point. When it leaves the ground it will look like a giant tarnation mark, with the top of the ■ .rtly inflated gas container 29oft. above the" gondola. Tho society estimates that it will take four months to complete the bag, for which two and one-third acres of cotton fabric will be used.