Early Burlington Vermont Airport Articles

Early Burlington Vermont Airport Articles 

     The Burlington (Vermont) International Airport had is beginnings in 1919 with the U. S. Government seeking a suitable place for an airfield.   The airport was officially dedicated on September 22, 1921.

     Click on images to enlarge.

The Bare (Vermont) Daily Times
April 28, 1919

     The following newspaper article appeared in The Bare (Vermont) Daily Times on May 18, 1920.

Airplanes Went From Boston To Burlington In One Hour, 49 Minutes

     Burlington, May 18. – Two airplanes arrived at Fort Ethan Allen yesterday afternoon in record breaking time from Boston.  One plane was piloted by Col. Grennan, chief of the air service of the New England division, and the other by Colonel G. C. Brant of new York City.  Both planes left Boston at 3:30 yesterday afternoon.  Colonel Grennan, who arrived five minutes ahead of Colonel Brant, made the trip in one hour and 49 minutes, which is believed to be a record for this flight.  His average speed was 110 miles per hour.

      Colonel Brant made a detour on the way to fly over the town of Groton, where he is acquainted.  The machines used were Dehaviland planes equipped with Liberty motors.  The trip is one of several which the officers are making in New England for the purpose of promoting airplane landing fields for the coming season.  Burlington has been considered as a very important location for a landing field and various locations here will be inspected during the officer’s visit.

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Evening Public Ledger (Philadelphia)
August 11, 1920

The Bare Daily Times
(Bare, Vermont)
August 12, 1920

The Caledonian Record
(St. Johnsbury, Vt.)
September 20, 1921

     Also see Early Postcard Views of Burlington Airport

N. Y. To Boston Balloon Airline – 1908

     The following newspaper article appeared in The Sun, (New York, N.Y.), on July 21, 1908.

     N. Y. – BOSTON BALLOON LINE

Company Forming To Carry Freight and Passengers by Dirigibles.

     Boston, July 20. – Whipple, Sears & Ogden, at the request of Charles J. Glidden, are preparing organization papers to incorporate the American Aerial Navigation Company, to be created for the purpose of manufacturing and operating aerial devices and the establishing of aerial routes for the transportation of freight and passengers in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

     Mr. Glidden anticipates that within the next eighteen months the new company will be carrying passengers and merchandise by the “air line” between New York and Boston, either by use of the dirigible, balloon, or aeroplane.  He believes that with relay stations near Springfield and New Haven the trip can be made 300 days in the year, the one from Boston to New York during daylight, and from New York to Boston in seven or eight hours.

     The first experiments will be made with small dirigibles with a capacity of one or two passengers in addition to the operator.  Stations will be established close to the street car lines on the outskirts of cities with suitable facilities to house the dirigibles and supply any loss of gas en-route.

     An inexpensive plant to manufacture hydrogen gas will be in operation at each station.  As the dirigibles will travel at an average height of 500 to 800 feet very little loss of gas should take place.

     Pending the establishment of the air lines and to familiarize people with aerial voyages, ascensions will be made from Pittsfield and North Adams in the spherical balloons.

    The people interested I the new company hold options on a large manufacturing plant for aerial apparatus and are in negotiation for the manufacture of dirigibles.  The form of dirigibles to be adopted will depend upon the success of the experiments now being carried on by the Governments of the United States and France.  “Aerial travel,” says Mr. Glidden, “will be, when thoroughly established, the cheapest and safest form of transportation.”

 

Aerial Lodge, No. 1, A. F. & A. M. – 1909

Aerial Lodge, No. 1, A. F. & A. M. – 1909

     On Tuesday, September 16, 1909, the balloon “Massachusetts” made an ascension from Pittsfield, Mass., and while more than 7,000 feet in the air became the first balloon in aviation history to have a Masonic meeting conducted in its basket.   The Massachusetts was owned by the Aero Club of New England.

     The following article appeared in the Essex County Herald, (of Guildhall, Vermont) on September 24, 1909. 

     “Aerial Lodge, No. 1, F. & A. M., was formed last Thursday afternoon in the balloon Massachusetts at an elevation of more than 7,000 feet, it being the first meeting of the kind ever held, and the lodge was conducted with all Masonic observances possible under the conditions.  The balloon ascended from Pittsfield, and the Masonic ceremony was the chief feature of a short but most interesting aerial journey.  This item has a peculiar interest to our readers in Essex County, inasmuch as Jay B. Benton, formerly of Guildhall, is senior warden of the new lodge.”  

     The following article appeared in the Evening Star, (Washington, D. C. ), on September 25, 1909, page 3.   

     “The latest in the way of novelty is the institution of a Masonic lodge in a balloon more than a mile in the air.  This happened at or near Pittsfield, Mass., recently, when Aerial Lodge A. F. & A. M., was instituted in the balloon Massachusetts at an elevation of more than 7,000 feet, this being the first meeting of the kind ever held.

     The lodge was conducted with all Masonic observances possible under the conditions.  J. J. Van Valkenburg of South Framingham was worshipful master; Jay B. Benton of Winchester was senior warden, and Charles J. Glidden of Boston junior warden.

     The Masonic ceremony was the chief feature of a short but most interesting aerial journey, the details of which were recounted when the party descended at Greenfield, Mass., after considerable difficulty in getting the huge gas bag and its numerous trappings out of the forest.

     The start was made in the afternoon at 2:05 o’clock from the grounds of the Aero Club of New England, at Pittsfield.  At the highest point recorded, 7, 200 feet, the Masonic ceremony took place.”  

Aero Club Of New England Balloon Fares – 1909

Aero Club Of New England Balloon Fares – 1909

Click on image to enlarge.

From the Corvallis Daily Gazette, May 25, 1909

From the Corvallis Daily Gazette, May 25, 1909

 

A New Kind Of Balloon Race – 1908

A New Kind Of Balloon Race – 1908

   old balloon  It was said to be a new kind of balloon race called a “point-to-point race”, the first ever held in the United States.  Balloons were to take off from North Adams, Massachusetts, but the contestants were to predict ahead of time where they expected their balloon to land.  The landing point had to be at least thirty miles form North Adams, and the one who landed closest to their designated target would be the winner. 

     The race was held August 14, 1908, and the winner was Mr. Arthur D. Potter of Greenfield, Massachusetts, who piloted the balloon, North Adams No.1, which came down on a farm about five miles from its anticipated destination of Haydenville, a village in the town of Williamsburg, Mass.  Accompanying him on the trip was A. Holland Forbes, and his 12-year-old daughter, Natalie.    

     Source: (No. Dakota) Bismarck Daily Tribune, “New Kind Of Balloon Race”, August 15, 1908

Updated April 4, 2017

     The following newspaper article appeared in The Morning Journal-Currier, (New Haven, Connecticut), August 6, 1908, page 4.

BALLOON RACE IN EAST NEXT WEEK

Challenge Cup Will Go To Pilot Who Lands Nearest The Place he Selects Before Flight 

Six Balloons, Size Unrestricted, Are Expected To Join Unique Test Next Thursday 

     New York, Aug. 5 – With a record of 25 successful balloon flights from North Adams, Mass., during the present season, and with many more booked for the near future with the certainty that they will continue up to the close of the ballooning season in October, the North Adams Aero Club will start on August 14 the first point to point balloon race ever held in the United States and the fourth race where more than two balloons are started that has ever been held in this country.

     At least four balloons and probably five, with a possibility of six, will be sent away during the afternoon, the pilot of each being required to name the landing place he selects prior to his departure. This place must be at least thirty miles from the starting point, and the pilot who lands nearest to the post office of the town or city he selects, providing he is within a ten-mile radius of the post office, will be awarded the trophy given by A. Holland Forbes of new York, a well known balloonist who has made the majority of his trips from this city and who is to be one of the contestants representing the United States in the international balloon races at Berlin, Germany, in October. 

     This trophy is to be held by the winner subject to challenge after six months, and if the challenge is not accepted after thirty days the cup reverts to the North Adams Aero Club, which will arrange for a second race, as will be done immediately in the event that no one of the contestants succeeds in carrying out the provisions of the race on the first attempt.

     The balloons already entered are: Heart of the Berkshires, owned by the Aero Club of Pittsfield; pilot Alan R. Hawley, third vice-president of the Aero Club of America, and a contestant in the recent international race from St. Louis.  Sky Pilot, owned by Mesers Wade and Morgan of Cleveland, Ohio: pilot J. H. Wade.   Boston, owned by the Aero Club of New England; pilot, Charles J. Glidden of Boston.  North Adams No 1, owned by the North Adams Aero Club; pilot, Arthur D. Potter of Greenfield,  who will be accompanied by Mr. Forbes, the giver of the trophy.  Greylock, owned and piloted by Dr. Roger M. Randall of North Adams.  

     No restrictions as to the size of the balloons or the number of people each may carry is made, and each pilot, after witnessing the direction taken by several piloting balloons, is at liberty to pick his landing place, announcing it as he is ready to leave the grounds.

     The first of the balloons will not be sent away until 1 o’clock at the earliest on Friday, August 14, and the others will follow at fifteen or thirty minutes intervals, as mey be determined upon the day of the race by the race committee. 

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     The following newspaper article appeared in The Marion Daily Mirror, (Marion, Ohio) on August 15, 1908, page 2.      

     POINT TO POINT BALLOON RACE

Three Airships In The Race

Balloon That Won The Prize Offered For Victory Had A 12-Year-old Girl As One Of Its Passengers

     North Adams, Mass., Aug. 15 – The balloon North Adams No. 1, with A. D. Potter of Greenfield as pilot and Holland Forbes and daughter Natalie, aged 12 years, as passengers, and owned by the North Adams Aero Club, undoubtedly won the cup offered by Mr. Forbes in the first point-to-point race ever held in this country.  The race was started from North Adams Friday afternoon.  The North Adams No. 1 landed on the farm of Lyman Sanderson at West Whateley, about five miles from its previously declared destination, Haydenville.  This was the first balloon to get away.  The Greylock, owned and pilotd by Dr. Roger M. Randall of North Adams and having Clarence Wildman of this city as passenger, landed at Bryant farm in Ashfield, fully 12 miles from its desired destination, Leeds.

     The third balloon to start, the Heart of the Berkshires, owned by the Aero Club of Pittsfield, was the last to land, coming down in Amherst, within six and one-quarter miles of Whateley Station, its destination.

     The conditions of the race were that, previous to the race, the occupants of the balloon should designate some place, at least 30 miles from North Adams, where they would attempt to land, that they should land within ten miles of the post office of the place and that the balloon landing nearest the announced destination should win the cup.   Further, the winner should hold himself open for six months to a challenge for the defense of the cup.

     Charles J. Glidden of Boston was to have made the fourth competitor with the balloon Boston, owned by the Aero Club of New England and having as a passenger Mrs. Helm Clayton, wife of the meteorologist of the Blue Hill Observatory.   Mr. Glidden did not desire to start until late in the afternoon, but the committee on the race decided that the contestants must be ready to start at 1 o’clock.  Mr. Glidden would not consent to go up at that time, so he was disqualified from competing.  

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