By Erwin A Sautter-Hewitt
One year after the 1st Gordon Bennett Balloon race took place in 1906 from
Paris a series of successful gas balloon trips followed. Balloonists flew
like birds over the valleys and fields and rose even higher above the
forests and villages. Some crossed large areas of water in gas balloons,
but for most aeronauts at that time, a trip out to sea often ended fatally.
As a result, the courageous pilots with their beautiful balloons were lost
for all time.
On the 10th of April 1907 two Germans, Dr Kurt Wegener and M Koch landed
successfully in Leicester, England. Their balloon "Ziegler" (1'400 m3) took
off from Bitterfeld near Leipzig and the journey lasted 19 hours. They
travelled more than 930 km without being forced to touch the waters of the
English Channel whereas, the British crew Caulfield/Leake, had no such
luck. Their aerostat "Thrasher" was found drifting southwards from
Dorchester on the 28th of May. Their bodies were discovered a month later
on the English coast. On the 2nd of June Ulivelli rose 900 meters from
Piazza Ponte-Molle over the Tyrrhenian Sea when lightening struck his gas
balloon in front of the Lido west of Rome.
The American Gaudet was thrust out to sea on the 7th of June after his
start in Jamestown (Rhode Island). His balloon fell abruptly into the
Atlantic and was later picked up by the tanker "Alabama". Only eight days
later the French aeronauts Cormier and Mury were fished out of the English
Channel and taken aboard the vessel "Président Fallières". Three weeks
later Bulkaen and Tannay left from Dunkerque (France) in the basket of the
"Floréal".
The following day their balloon landed in Holland without its crew. Their
bodies were later found shattered on the Belgium beaches of the North Sea.
Four Russian aeronauts also took off ninety years ago on the 19th of July
1907 from Pushkin, south of St Petersburg, and were blown out to the Baltic
Sea where they drowned in the Gulf of Finland.
| | Andrée's balloon on the ice. 1897 |
However, there was some good news in between. On the 20th of July 1907 the
Swiss Balloon Captain Eduard Spelterini piloted "Augusta I" (1'800 m3 )
from Andermatt in Central Switzerland over the Gotthard Pass to Bergamo in
Northern Italy successfully, without sinking in the waters of Lake Lugano
or Como. The Spanish pilot Kindelan was also lucky with his balloon "Maria
Theresia" (600 m3 ) who set out on the 25th July from Valencia and was
blown towards the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea. On the
following day they were rescued by the crew of the English steamer "West
Point" after getting into difficulties. Then soon afterwards a whole series
of accidents followed, one after the other: On the 11th of August a
four-man crew from the balloon "Ouragan" fell into the Lake of Geneva. All
of them were rescued by a lifeboat and brought to safety. The American
Olney took off in his balloon from Boston and eight hours later was fished
out of the Atlantic. On the 30th of September a German steamer salvaged the
French crew Delobel/Lepers out of the North Sea waves, whilst a few days
later the crew of a French ship saved the balloon "Nord" of the English
coast. Aeronaut M Scharf and his passenger Beckman were not so lucky when
leaving Bordeaux (France) aboard the "Fernandez Duro". The weather
conditions were not ideal when they took off on the 18th of October at 5.45
PM. During the night there was a fierce storm over the Bay of Biscay and
they must have drifted out to the Atlantic Ocean, where they disappeared
forever.
| | Andrée's Polar expedition. 1897 |
A most spectacular take off took place on the 12th October 1907 when the
"Mammoth" (3'000 m3 ) started from the Crystal Palace, London, with its
pilot AF Gaudran and two English passengers on board. After 19 hours in the
air the trio landed safely on the shores of Lake Väner, north of the
Swedish port Göteborg. They found themselves 1'175 km away from the Thames
and had flown over 700 km of water without an interval. Dr Kurt Wegener's
crossing of the English Channel was not less successful. With his balloon
"Ziegler" and the two passengers Böhm and Sauerwein he left on the 1st of
November from Rheinfelden (Germany) and landed 90 minutes after midnight in
Harlington, west of London. Their tour in the wind lasted 17 hours.
The Italian balloonist Demetrio Helbig lifted-off from Rome on the 15th of
December 1907 with his aerostat "Fides IV" and the passengers Tcherkoff and
Bobrinsky. They flew over the Appennini and the Adriatic but they were
confronted with difficulties. However, rescue came from a crew of Italians
on board a ship. Only months before had Helbig made a name for himself in
the best Roman circles, as a great professional aeronaut. What really
counted most, that he made it possible for the Countess Grace di Campello
Della Spina and her fiancée to leave Rome by night and cross the mountains
to San Severino, east of Perugia, by air. The Countess herself, as a member
of the Italian Aeronautic Society, spoke of the "Sport of the Gods", that
the aeronauts were pursuing.
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