IN THE AIR.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13650, 18 July 1908, Page 3

IN THE AIR.

A TEiUUBLJi: DISASTER

Uisacter occurred at San Vvanciscp on June Stfrd, to tlie- great Morrell airship in which sixteen people who made the accent in it were, very (seriouslyinjured, and several came cxcceuiugiy near losing tueir lives. Tnroiigh the lipping of a gab bag, when .the ballon was at a height of between three hundred and lour hundred feet, the machine leii to i;ue groiinu, gradually at lust, i)d so rapidly towards the end that tlie occupants ot the car were dashed to the ground with great force, and many of them pinned down under the machinery. '.-■■- Tlie ascent took place from the ground's of the University ol California at Berkley, over-looking San l<'raiicisco Bay. It had b.eu made known far and wme that the trial of the Morrell machine was to take piace on Saturday and thousands ol spectators gathered to see the ascent of whatis said to be the greatest airship ever constructed.

iiie iUorrell machine, which is a. combination of aeroplane and dirigible balloon, was constructed of a. lung cigar shaped gas bag, containing half a minion cubic feet of gas, with a car of considerable size extending under it. The gas cyclindcr was fully 450fi. long, and about 4*l/ft. in diameter, while the car had accommodation for about twenty people, and contained live gasoline engines of 40 house-power each. ' jjicse motoia were in the middle ol the car, and were manned by an engineer and one assistant. Passenger space was reserved at tidier end of the car.

Sixteen people, all meu who were residents of Berkeley and Oakland, and who were ..interested "m the company owning t.'ln.' machine, made the ascent. The airship rote with some rapidity for a. couple of hundred feet, ami then came to a i-top for a moment, rising again for a similar distance and stepping dead. The crowd cheered with delight to sea the nuui-t-r balloon rise, bud presently is was discovered that some hing was wrong.

At the height of about 400 ft. the engineer started his propeller, and llie action of starting thrust the stern of the machine high in the air. .This caused a. rush of ga»« to the stern and burst tho cuvclope, which we leant was not constructed in seel ions, but as one receptacle. The rip. which .was. .small at lirst; let out a considerable .(jiiauily of gas, and the balJnbn liv-gunlo ■ settle slowly towards- the ground. .'....' It fell .in.,.this .Jiiaimer for about three hundred- feet, and .-when it was about, eighty feet or niue'y feetl from the ground the ri,|) in th©' envelope had so inerei'sed that the. last of the gas w r «it out with a rush, and tho 'i.mmerscly. heavy machine weigblied : wi ! li .its, human freight fell like a-projectile to the ground, entirely wrecking the ainship. and hurling its occupants in all • directions. ' *

Unfortunately the spectators,, many of whom were women, wno screamed wi h tear and (some of whom- faiuued, teemed fascinat-ed by the disaster,and were rooted to the spot. ' A Inv of them wei-e injured by tiw tailing machine, though not. 'autre was a general rush on the part of the moil in vhe company to the wreck, and it was coon discovered that every one of the occupants was injured m some fashion. Some were unconscious, and all were removed to the hospital., The engineer of the machine is suffering from toucustion of the brain, he having been pinned uowu under one of the motors. The machine was a iearfut wreck, not a wecvion- of 'it remaining intact, the motors also being destroyed. The Mcrrell machine had not been sufnciently tested before- its initial flight. There is-great criticism over the. fact \hai, so ambitious an < ascent as that of taking on its first real trial the largo number of-sixteen people, should have been made wi hout more, experience to go upon. 'According-to Keutcr, one of the injured peisonsmay die.