from author and historian Jim Ignasher
Peaks Island is located in Casco Bay, and is part of the City of Portland, Maine. Click on images to enlarge.
Portland Daily Press
August 24, 1891
Portland Daily Press
August 26, 1891
Portland Daily Press
August 31, 1892
Portland Daily Press
July 6, 1893
Portland Daily Press
Portland Daily Press
July 22, 1896
Portland Daily Press
July 22, 1896
Portland Daily Press
July 3, 1900
Concord, New Hampshire – August 28, 1901
On 
August 28, 1901, well known Aeronaut Leo Stevens made a balloon ascension and parachute drop at the fair grounds in Concord. He parachuted safely, but when his unmanned balloon came down it fell upon the high voltage main feed wire to the city’s electrical plant, causing a city-wide blackout.
One of those who responded to repair the break was 19-year-old Harry Quint, a lineman for the electric company. While going about his work up on a pole, he was electrocuted and fell to the ground breaking his neck. He died instantly.
On August 29, Stevens made another ascension. In this instance, the shell which exploded and releases his parachute set fire to his clothing and he was badly burned.
Source:
The Evening Call, (Woonsocket, R. I. ), “Received Fatal Shock – electric light lineman killed at Concord”, August 30, 1901.
From The Washington Times, November 4, 1907.
The Washington Times
November 4, 1907
William Van Sleet, (Born ? – Died ?), of North Adams, and Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and sometimes reported as living in New York, was a well known New England aeronaut who made balloon ascensions in the early 1900s.
The first mention of Mr. Van Sleet in any newspapers that research could find appeared in The Bennington Evening Banner in 1907, and had to do with a car accident which occurred at “Shedd Bridge”, “east of Walloomsac”. Although both vehicles suffered damage, there were no injuries. There is some documentation which indicates that Van Sleet, besides being an aeronaut, also worked as a chauffer.
Beginning around 1906, balloon ascensions began to be a regular occurrence in the Berkshires section of western Massachusetts, and the towns of Pittsfield and Adams became involved in a rivalry of sorts for the bragging rights and the tourism dollars that each ascension would bring. It was around this time frame that the Aero Club of Pittsfield was established and Van Sleet became a member.
The first reference to Van Sleet’s aeronautical career was found in the Daily Kennebec Journal, July 29, 1908. The brief snippet stated in part: “The Aero Club of Pittsfield will dedicate their new balloon, the “Heart of the Berkshires” tomorrow at 10 a.m.” The pilot was Leo Stevens, a prominent aeronaut of the time, with passengers Allan R. Hawley of New York, and William Van Sleet of Pittsfield.
In light of the dedication, it was quickly announced that the balloon “Boston” belonging to the Boston Aero Club would ascend at the same time from the town of North Adams, and there would be a “race” between the two to see which could cover the greatest distance. The “Boston” was to be piloted by Charles Glidden, another prominent aeronaut of the time, with his passenger, Professor H. H. Clayton of the Blue Hills Observatory.
Both balloons were of the same size, 38,000 cubic feet. The “Heart of the Berkshires” took off as scheduled, but only traveled about eight miles before coming down near Wahconah Falls in Dalton, Massachusetts.
The “Boston”, on the other hand, didn’t fair much better. After being caught in a windstorm and carried up to 10,000 feet, the balloon began to fall rapidly and its occupants were forced to discharge all available ballast. It landed safely on a farm about six miles from its starting point.
Exactly who announced that a race would take place is not recorded, but Mr. Glidden later told the press that he was unaware of any scheduled race between the two balloons, and said that each had made independent ascensions.
Balloons of this era used hydrogen or coal gas, both of which were poisonous if inhaled. In mid August of 1908, Van Sleet was scheduled to make a balloon ascension from Pittsfield in the “Heart of the Berkshires”, when he was seriously affected by the release of gas from a malfunctioning valve. This was to be his fifth ascension to help him qualify as a balloon pilot for the Pittsfield Aero Club. When the balloon was nearly filled with gas, it was discovered that the valve cord near the top of the balloon had failed to uncoil, so Van Sleet climbed up seventy-five feet of the balloon’s netting to remedy the situation. When the valve unexpectedly popped open he was hit in the face with a rush of escaping gas. After closing the valve he made his way back to the ground where he nearly collapsed. He was attended to by three doctors, all of who warned him not to make the flight in his condition. Van Sleet ignored the warnings, and made the flight anyway with Dr. Sidney S. Stowell as a passenger.
Later that same month Van Sleet made a solo trip in “Heart of the Berkshires”. He ascended from Pittsfield and traveled ninety miles before landing near Montgomery, New York. He’d made the trip alone as part of his pilot qualification process.
Van Sleet made another flight on September 2, which lasted 32 minutes and landed in South Deerfield, Mass. His two passengers were Frank Smith of Boston, and Oscar Hutchinson of Lennox, Mass.
On September 10, 1908, Van Sleet took off from Pittsfield at midnight and sailed eastward across the state covering a distance of more than one-hundred miles before landing safely in the the town of Kingston, Massachusetts, about two miles from the Atlantic Ocean. He had as a passenger Dr. Sidney Stowell.
On the same night Van sleet took his overnight flight, Charles Glidden did the same, and took off at midnight from Springfield, Massachusetts. There was no mention of any competition between the two aeronauts, and neither balloon was in sight of the other throughout the night. Glidden’s balloon landed safely in the town of Bridgewater, Mass.
Most of Van Sleet’s ascensions were without incident, but a flight he made in October of 1908 was anything but routine. On the afternoon of October 29, he took off from the North Adams Aero Park in the balloon “Greylock”, with M. Monard, or Mennard, as a passenger. Strong 40 mph winds were blowing at the time and it reportedly took forty men to hold the balloon in place while the two men climbed into it. Van Sleet was advised to abort the flight but didn’t take heed.
The “Greylock” began its ascension at 3 p. m. and was quickly caught in a strong air current which propelled it at 80 mph in a southeast direction. As the balloon approached Mt. Hoosick the men were forced to jettison ballast in order to clear the top of it.
As the balloon approached the town of Whately, Massachusetts, the anchor was dropped. It caught in the tops of some trees, then a stone wall, and then tore away part of a barn roof. Realizing that the anchor was useless, Van Sleet pulled the rip cord allowing the gas to escape. The balloon came down hard from an altitude of seventy-five feet and both men were pitched out, but neither was seriously injured. The balloon had covered forty miles in thirty minutes.
A few days later Van Sleet made another ascension in the “Heart of the Berkshires”, only this time he flew in and above a snowstorm, something that was extremely unusual for the time. With him on the flight was William C. Hill.
On November 17, 1908, Van Sleet made a rough landing in the town of Rockville, Connecticut. He’d attempted to land in an open lot, but when the anchor rope broke the balloon drifted into the center of town where it tore down some electric and fire alarm wires, and crushed a grape arbor when it landed in a private back yard. Van Sleet was not injured, but the chief of police arrived on scene and promptly “arrested” the balloon ordering it held until financial damages could be settled. This incident made national news, for it was believed to be the first case in which a balloon had been “arrested”.
On April 19, 1909, Van Sleet and his passenger Oscar Hutchinson came down in a wooded area of Biddeford, Maine, after traveling 160 miles, making it one of the longest balloon flights of the time.
In June of 1909, Van Sleet flew a honeymoon couple from Pittsfield to the outskirts of Boston. The balloon took off shortly after midnight on June 21, and drifted eastward throughout the early morning hours. At about 4:00 in the morning, Van Sleet spotted the Blue Hills Observatory and prepared to land. The anchor caught a tree in an orchard and the balloon came down with barely a bump.
At the time of the flight a Boston newspaper was offering a trophy to the balloon pilot that could ascend from western Massachusetts and land closest to the Boston Common within a year. Van Sleet had landed within fourteen miles, thereby breaking the previous record of twenty-six miles.
On July 11, 1909, Van Sleet set a new distance record for himself when he landed in Topsham, Maine, a distance of 176 miles. His previous record set in April had been 160 miles.
By May of 1910, Van Sleet had completed fifty balloon voyages.
On June 5, 1910, Van Sleet with two newspapermen aboard landed the balloon “Massachusetts” in the center of the town of Bennington, Vermont, about a half-mile from the famous battle monument. This was the second time that a balloon had landed in that town.
Bennington Evening Banner
March 26, 1910
Click on image to enlarge.
An advertisement found in a 1910 newspaper indicates that Mr. Van Sleet was the sales manager for the Tower Motor Company of Adams, Massachusetts, which sold “Overland” automobiles.
On October 8, 1911, Van Sleet and a passenger, Jay B. Benton of Boston, traveled 200 miles in the balloon “Boston”, ascending from Pittsfield, Mass. and landing in Lakewood, New Jersey. This was the longest trip to date made by the “Boston”, and it took three hours.
The following year, on October 30, 1912, Van Sleet and Benton completed the longest balloon flight to date in New England when they traveled at night in the balloon “Springfield” from Pittsfield, Massachusetts, to Pittston, Maine, a straight-line distance of about 250 miles.
It is unknown exactly how many balloon ascensions William Van Sleet made during his career.
As of this writing, no further information about his career was found.
Sources:
The Bennington Evening Banner, “Van Sleet in Auto Crash”, October 18, 1907
The Morning Journal-Courier, (New Haven, CT.) “Air Race Today”, July 29, 1908.
Daily Kennebec Journal, “Will Dedicate New Balloon At Pittsfield”, July 29, 1908, pg. 4
Evening Star, (Washington, D.C.), “Aeronauts Exciting Adventure”, July 30, 1908.
The Evening World, (N.Y.) “Warned Of Death Peril By Doctors Goes Ballooning”, August 19, 1908.
Evening Star, “Qualifying For A License”, August 29, 1908, pg. 2.
The Morning Journal-Courier, “Flight of Thirty-Two Minutes”, September 3, 1908, pg. 9.
New York Tribune, “Balloons in Moonlight Journey”, September 11, 1908, pg. 5
New York Tribune, “80 Miles An Hour In Air”, October 31, 1908
The Bennington Evening Banner, “Aeronauts Go A Mile A Minute” November 2, 1908.
The Morning Journal- Courier, “Balloon in Snowstorm”, November 7, 1908.
The Marion Daily Mirror, (Ohio) “A Balloon Is Arrested”, November 18, 1908, pg. 2
Bennington Evening Banner, “Balloon In Tree Top”, April 20, 1909
Bennington Evening Banner, “Van Sleet Best Yet”, June 22, 1909
Bennington Evening Banner, “New Record For Van Sleet”, July 12, 1909
Bennington Evening Banner, Overland Car Advertisement, March 26, 1910.
Bennington Evening Banner, “Balloon Lands At Bennington Center”, June 6, 1910.
Daily Kennebec Journal, “Makes Quick Trip”, October 9, 1911.
The (NY) Sun, “Take Long Trip Above Clouds”, October 31, 1912.
Pittsfield, Massachusetts – March 10, 1906
In early March of 1906, two balloons were brought to Pittsfield, Massachusetts, to take part in a race scheduled for Sunday, March 11th One balloon, the Aero Club No. 1, “American”, was to be piloted by famous New England aeronaut Leo Stevens; the other, “L’ Atonette” by well-known French aeronaut Charles Levee. Both balloons were secured to moorings at the Pittsfield Gas Works and the inflation of them began. A guard was posted to supervise the inflation and to keep the curious at bay.
At about 9:23 a.m. on the morning of March 10, a sudden gusty windstorm passed through the area which tore both balloons from their moorings. Both were reportedly about 3/4 fill with gas by that time, and neither were manned.
The “L’ Atonette” was dragged across an open area and became snagged on an iron stake and was torn apart. Meanwhile, the “American” reportedly “shot up with tremendous force”, and disappeared from view. It was last seen heading in an easterly direction towards Boston.
There were no reported injuries.
It is unknown what became of the “American” balloon.
The race was postponed until new balloons could be obtained. It is believed to have taken place in October of 1906.
Source:
The Daily Kennebec Journal, (Augusta, ME.), “Not On Program – Balloons At Pittsfield, Mass. Break From Moorings”, March 12, 1906, page 4.
Some Perilous Early Balloon Ascensions
The following newspaper article appeared in the New York Tribune on February 23, 1908.
COLD TRIP IN BALLOON
Stevens and Forbes in Peril – Food and Sand Freeze.
Springfield, Mass., Feb. 22 – Benumbed with cold, which was so severe as to freeze their food, their bags of wet sand, and render their registering instruments useless, A. Holland Forbes and Leo Stevens, of New York, who ascended in a balloon at North Adams early this afternoon, came to earth at Wales, a village three miles from the Connecticut line, southeast of this city, after a trip of about ninety miles. When the aeronauts left North Adams that hoped that they might reach Boston, but although they found air currents which swept them in a general easterly direction the extreme cold forced them to descend. Soon after passing Springfield it was found that the cold had so contracted the gas in the bag that the balloon was descending rapidly. The aeronauts decided to break an unwritten law of balloonists and to throw over some hard substances in order to lighten the balloon. At this time they were rapidly approaching Wilbraham Mountain, and it was evident that they could not clear the top of that eminence unless the balloon were lightened.
One of the anchors attached to the car was drawn up, and, used like a pick, served to break the frozen sandbags so that lumps of the sand could be thrown over. Considering it inadvisable in their half frozen condition to attempt to make a longer trip, the balloonists decided to descend. They made a landing in a road in the woods near the village of Wales two and a half hours from the starting time.
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On the afternoon of June 19, 1908, well known aeronauts Charles J. Glidden and Leo Stevens were passing over West Brattleboro, Vermont, in a balloon when they heard two gunshots, the bullets from which struck the balloon. Both men were positive the shots had come from a large white barn on a farm below.
Investigation by authorities led to the arrest of two men. One claimed the other had fired the shots from a rifle thinking the balloon was a toy, after which he took the gun away from his companion. Both men were held for trial, and one was ultimately convicted.
Sources:
The Brattleboro Reformer, “For Shooting At Glidden’s Balloon”, June 26, 1908
The Brattleboro Reformer, “Aerial Assault Case Up For Today”, July 3, 1908
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The following newspaper article appeared in The Bennington Evening Banner, (Bennington, VT.), September 13, 1911.
SHEARMAN’S LONG FLIGHT
Williams College Aeronaut Suffers Severely From Exposure.
H. P. Shearman, president of the Williams College Aeronautical Society who made a balloon ascension from Aero Park, Pittsfield, yesterday morning at 2 o’clock, landed in Auburn, Maine, 200 miles distant by air line, yesterday morning about 6 o’clock. He was in an exhausted condition as the result of exposure, and was taken to a hospital in Auburn for treatment. He was in an unconscious condition when found on the farm of H. B. Estes, but no bones were broken, nor was there any indication that he was otherwise injured. The flight is the longest ever made from Pittsfield. The nearest to this record was made by William Van Sleet and Oscar Hutchinson when they landed in Biddeford, Maine, 165 miles air line from Pittsfield.
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The following newspaper article also relates to H. P. Shearman’s balloon flight. It appeared in the Arizona Republican, September 13, 1911.
AERONAUT ALMOST FROZEN TO DEATH
College Professor Has trying Experience in Long Flight Across the Old Bay State.
Auburn, Maine, Sept. 12. – Half benumbed from his flight through the rain and cold, and unable to make the outlet valve or rip cord of his balloon work, President H. P. Shearman of the Williams College Aeronautical Society, climbed through the ropes and with a knife slashed the silken bag, then fell back into the basket unconscious. The balloon dropped swiftly to the earth and tonight Shearman, resting comfortably in a local hospital, is able to tell of his experience. He ascended at Pittsfield, Mass., early this morning, and flew to this city (Auburn, ME.), 200 miles, the longest flight ever made by a single aeronaut. Soon after ascending he ran into heavy rain, which, turning to hail, caused bitter cold. Feeling the effects of the weather, Shearman several times tried to land, but was unable to deflate the huge bag. His strength was nearly gone when he resorted to his knife.
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The following newspaper article appeared in The Bennington Evening Banner on November 14, 1911.
WILLIAMS STUDENTS’ TRIP
Balloon Landed Near Clairmont, N. H. – Rescued By Farmers
The balloon containing three Williams College students which ascended from Pittsfield Saturday made a landing near Clairmont, N. H., ;ate Saturday afternoon. The balloon bumped the tops of forest trees where the anchor had caught for some time before the three students were discovered by some farmers of Unity, a small town near Claremont, and rescued from a perilous position. After some of the smaller trees had been cut away the aeronauts were able to slide down their anchor rope. The sky voyagers were H. Percy Shearman, president of the Williams College Aeronautical Society and pilot of the balloon, the Stevens 21, H. R. Corner of Cleveland, O., and J. A. Jones of New York City. Unity is 77 miles from Pittsfield.
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Near Providence, RI – November 19, 1910
On November 19, 1910, the balloon Cleveland, took off from North Adams, Massachusetts, with five men aboard. The craft was piloted by Leo Stevens, and carrying four Williams College students as passengers.
Strong winds on the ground delayed the ascension for nearly an hour, but when it finally took to the sky the balloon “shot up like a rocket” before being carried away in an easterly direction. Three hours and thirty-five minutes later the balloon was over Rhode Island approaching Providence when it began to lose altitude. Ballast was dropped, but the balloon continued to fall, and appeared to heading for a large lake. The aeronauts were forced to strip off their clothing to lighten the weight in order to avoid a water landing. The tactic worked, and the balloon sailed across the lake before crashing onto the far shore.
Upon impact, one of the occupants, H.P. Scharman was pitched out and received serious injuries. Thus relieved of significant weight, the balloon suddenly rose upwards leaving Scharman behind. It then continued onward several hundred feet, propelled forward by heavy winds, before it slammed into a stone wall. The crash sent the others tumbling out causing relatively minor injuries.
Source: New York Times, “Balloon Up In Gale, Spills Aviators”, November 20, 1910
Near Middlefield, Massachusetts – May, 1907
(Exact date is unclear.)
At 8 a.m. on a morning in late May of 1907, aeronauts Leo Stevens and Harry Maroke took off from Pittsfield, Massachusetts, in the famous balloon Le. Centaur. (This was the same balloon that had carried Count Henri de la Vaulx in a record breaking trip across Europe from Paris, France, to Kiev, Russia in October of 1900.)
The balloon quickly rose to 6,000 feet as the winds carried it on an eastern course. The craft reportedly rose so rapidly that the heat of the sun caused the gas inside to expand to the point where holes blew out in two different places creating leaks and a sudden loss of buoyancy. As the balloon began falling the men quickly ejected all ballast and other items of weight including their lunch baskets, shoes, and outer clothing. They did however keep the anchor and two other items, a stethoscope and a thermometer aboard.
At the time they were reportedly “near the town of Mansfield, Massachusetts”. As the balloon fell it was still being pushed along by strong winds, and it seemed certain to crash. As it neared the ground, the anchor was dropped and it caught on a fence and immediately tore it apart. The balloon continued on for another one-hundred feet before the anchor snagged in a maple tree which halted movement long enough for the occupants to quickly climb down the anchor rope and down the tree to safety.
It was reported that the damage to the balloon was such that it would never fly again. The balloon had a capacity of 1,600 cubic feet.
The Le Centaur was brought to the United States in 1906 by its owner, Count Henri de la Vaulx, and later acquired by the Aero Club of America.
Sources:
The Evening World, (NY), “Frightful Fall In Burst Balloon”, May 24, 1907.
The Plymouth Tribune, (Plymouth, Ind.), “Two Men Fall A Mile”, May 30, 1907. (This is not a new England newspaper and the exact date of this occurrence is not specified.)
The Balloon Le Centaur – 1906
The following articles concern a famous balloon know as Le Centaur, which was sometimes referred to in the press as simply “Centaur”. The Le Centaur was well known for having set a new world distance record for a balloon in October of 1900 when it flew non-stop from Paris, France, to Kiev, Russia, a distance, (Reportedly measured, “as the crow flies”) of 1,304 miles.
The Le Centaur and two other balloons, the L’Orient, and the L’Union, were owned by Count Henri de la Vaulx of France, who brought all three to the United States in March of 1906.
The following article about a balloon race from Pittsfield, Massachusetts, to Bennington, Vermont, appeared in The Bennington Evening Banner newspaper on October 22, 1906. Only two balloons were involved with the race, the Centaur, and the Orient.
Note: Although the article states the balloons are named Centaur and Orient, other sources identify them as being Le. Centaur and L’Orient.
SMALL BALLOON WINS CONTEST
“The contestants in the balloon race which started out of Pittsfield at 10:23 o’clock this morning arrived here about 1 o’clock this afternoon.
The Centaur , the larger balloon of the two, piloted by Charles T. Walsh and having as passengers Captain Charles F. Chandler and Major Samuel Reber, U.S. Signal Corps, reached the village several minutes ahead of the Orient. After passing over the village in an easterly direction the balloon began to sink. People at the house of Frank Cromack, by means of a glass, saw the balloonists throwing out ballast, but the big bag had apparently begun to lose gas. An anchor was thrown out and caught in the trees so that the occupants were in no danger of injury. The balloon still had sufficient buoyancy to keep clear of the trees and the occupants were apparently not at all alarmed.
The smaller balloon, the Orient, piloted by Leo Stevens and containing Captain Homer W. Hedge, president of the Aero Club of America, passed over town in a northerly direction almost in a straight line along North Street and went out of sight shortly before 2 o’clock.
Soon after the small balloon passed over the village the first of the five automobiles that started out in chase of the balloons from Pittsfield arrived , coming down South Street like an express train. The men were covered with mud and said that the trip had been a hard one. After taking in gasoline at Phelan’s Garage the automobiles again took up the pursuit of the larger balloon.
At 3 o’clock observers at Arlington informed the Banner by telephone that the balloon was still in sight from there but far to the northeast and working north close to the mountain range.”
Source: The Bennington Evening Banner, (Bennington, VT.), “Small Balloon Wins Contest”, October 22, 1906
The following article appeared in the Abilene Weekly Reflector on October 25, 1906.
A BALLOON RACE
“Pittsfield, Mass. Oct 23 – Two balloons, Centaur and L’Orient, which remained here after the aero-automobile race between balloons and automobiles for the Hawley Cup had been declared off last Saturday , participated in an endurance contest Monday which carried them miles over northwestern Massachusetts and southern Vermont. The balloon L’Orient outsailed the Centaur by about three hours and a half, finally landing in the little mountainous town of Jamaica in Windham County, Vermont, 57 miles from the start. The Centaur came down in Bennington, Vt., 30 miles from this city.
The balloons rose from here at 10:20 a.m. The Centaur carried Charles T. Walsh, pilot, and Maj. Samuel Reber and Capt. Charles F. Chandler, of the signal corps U.S.A. L’Orient was piloted by Leo Stevens, who had as his companion Capt. Homer W. Hedge, president of the Aero Club of America. The balloons were in sight of each other for about three hours and after them sped three automobiles which had been entered in the Hawley Cup contest on Saturday. The Centaur was slightly behind L’Orient in crossing the Vermont border, and after getting over Bennington, Pilot Walsh decided to land. The descent was successfully accomplished on the slope of Woodford Mountain.
The occupants of the Centaur said on landing that they considered their object accomplished and that their trip has been highly successful from a scientific standpoint. The Centaur reached a height of 6,200 feet.
After seeing the Centaur descend, Pilot Stevens of L’Orient decided to keep on. Twenty-seven more miles of southern Vermont was traveled and at 4:30 L’Orient came down in Jamaica.
Mr. Stevens said after landing that L’Orient went 8,000 feet into the air. Above the clouds the heat was so intense that all outside clothing had to be discarded. At one time the thermometer registered 106 degrees.
Twenty-five minutes after Centaur landed in Bennington an automobile driven by Floyd Knight of this city stopped by the side of the car. Half an hour later an automobile owned by C. F. Bishop of Lenox arrived on the scene.
Both these machines had followed the balloons as an experiment, although both airships were out of sight much of the time.”
Source: Abilene Weekly Reflector, (Abilene Kan.) “A Balloon Race”, October 25, 1906
On November 3, 1906 the Centaur, or Le. Centaur, took off from Pittsfield, Mass. and landed in a clump of trees on Short Beach in New Haven, Connecticut. (Some sources put the location in Branford. Each town apparently has a “Short Beach”.)
What was remarkable about the 126 mile trip (Some sources put the distance at 156 miles.) was that it was made in only two-and-a-half hours, which was considered very fast for a balloon to travel at that time. The aeronauts aboard, Leo Stevens, and Captain Homer Hedge, reported that at one point the balloon moved along at 65 miles per hour. News reports stated, “…the speed attained has not been equaled in this country.”
The trip would have lasted longer, but the aeronauts didn’t want to cross Long Island Sound, so they quickly brought the balloon down from an altitude of 3,000 feet in only 90 seconds. Captain Hedge suffered a minor injury climbing down from the balloon.
The Le Centaur, was later wrecked in late May of 1907 when it again rose from Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and developed two tears in the balloon envelope caused by a rapid expansion of the buoyant gas inside due to the heat of the sun. The craft came down near Middlefield, Mass., and both men aboard, Leo Stevens, and Harry Markoe, escaped unharmed. It was reported that the damage to the balloon was such that it could never be used again.
Sources:
The Plymouth Tribune, (Plymouth, Ind.) “Two Men Fall A Mile”, May 30, 1907
The Evening World, (NY), “Frightful Fall In A Burst Balloon”, May 24, 1907
New York Tribune, “Autos Chase Balloon”, November 4, 1906
The Barre Daily Times, (Barre, VT), Balloon Records beaten”, November 5, 1906
Deseret Evening News, (Utah), “Remarkable Ballooning”, October 12, 1900
New York Tribune, “To Fly To South Pole – Count de la Vaulx Arrives With Plans Of Daring Balloon Venture”, March 25, 1906
Springfield, Massachusetts – October 8, 1908
On October 8, 1908, well known aeronaut, Leo Stevens, was making a balloon ascension at Springfield, Massachusetts, when something went wrong with the safety valve on the gas bag. Aboard the balloon with Mr. Stevens were Floyd B. Smith, of Yonkers, New York, and Harlan T. Pierpont, of Springfield, Mass.
As the balloon rose to 1,000 feet Stevens realized that it was becoming over-inflated and was at risk of bursting open. If it did, the three of them would surly fall to their deaths.
With no other choice, Stevens climbed out of the balloon and into the rigging where he managed to tear open the safety valve with his teeth while holding on to the rigging.
With disaster averted, the balloon landed safely in the town of Granby, about 12 miles from Springfield.
For other balloon ascensions involving Mr. Stevens, see “Dalton, MA – July 29, 1908”, and “Near Providence – November 19, 1910” under Aviation Accidents on this website.
Source:
New York Tribune, “Teeth To Open Valve”, October 9, 1908
Dalton, Massachusetts – July 29, 1908
On July 29, 1908, a large gas balloon, Heart of the Berkshires, ascended from the Pittsfield Aero Park with three men aboard. There was Leo Stevens, the owner, and Allen R. Hawley, both of New York, as well as C. R. Van Sicle of Pittsfield.
As the balloon drifted over the nearby town of Dalton, it was suddenly caught in a powerful updraft and rapidly carried to an altitude of 7,00o feet, and was still rising. Stevens did what he could to slow the balloon by releasing some of the gas form the envelope, all the while the drag rope, which usually hung below the gondola, was being slapped against the side of the balloon by the strong draft threatening to tear a hole in it.
When the balloon reached 10,000 feet the updraft died away, but now, with the envelope relieved of much of its buoyant gas, the balloon began a rapid descent. All excess weight was jettisoned from the gondola to slow the fall, which included ropes, ballast bags, and anything else they could think of. The rate of fall slowed, but it was clear they couldn’t remain airborne.
As they neared the ground they saw they would be coming down in a field where men were at work cutting hay. One was operating a large mowing machine which it appeared the balloon was heading straight for. Stevens and the others tried to shout warnings, but the operator evidently couldn’t hear them. At the last moment he looked up and saw what was happening, and barely got out of the way in the nick of time.
The balloon struck the ground, but no injuries were reported.
Source: (Woonsocket, R.I.) Evening Call, July 30, 1908, pg. 1
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