TERRIFIC EXPLOSION.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 834, 4 June 1910, Page 2

TERRIFIC EXPLOSION.

« ■ FOUR AERONAUTS KILLED. GERMAN BALLOON STRUCK BY LIGHTNING. Following upon the accident to the Pommern balloon at the beginning of April, when three aeronauts fell into the sea and perished by drowning, comes the- sad news of a disastrous ascent mado at Bitterfeld, in Saxony, 'on ApriL IC, whori the balloon Delitzsch, the property of the Bitterfeld Aeronautical* Society, was struck by lightning and' the four. occupants of its cage- weroi thrown to earth and killed. Tho Delitzsch, containing Herreni Luft, Lcuchsenring, Hocker, and Graupner, of Bitterfeld, ascended at nightt from that town, and in the morning shreds of the balloon, fragments, of the cage, and tho mutilated bodies of four* aeronauts were- found in a garden at 'Reichensachson. It was evident from', the appearance of the wreck and the* bodies that a flash of lightning was the canso of the disaster. Experts state) that tho lightning must have struct! the balloon at a great altitude, causing a terrific! explosion, Tho four aeronauts' may havo been killed by tho lightning,; but it is also possible that they escaped' the immediate effects of tho and experienced the additional horror' of a headlong fall to tho ground before death overtook them. This is dependent on the direction inl which the lightning struck the ballooiw The lightning may.have been horizontal,! going right through the balloon from) side to side, and shreds of the ballooni silk show distinct zig-zag traces oil lightning. One of the bodies also' shows traces of burns, these being odj ' tho_ left arm, so that it is possible to conjecture that the victims may havov beon killed instantaneously. The- only, certain fact which caa be deduced from, the mangled condition of tho bodies 13| that tho destruction of the ballon place at a high altitude. Althoughl' tho noiso of the explosion must havei been heard, it was doubtless mistake* for a thunderclap, for a violent thunderstorm passed over that part of thai country between three and four a.m. Herren Luft and Graupner each leaves a widow and two and four children; respectively, whilst Hocker was engaged! to be married. . ' . Router's Berlin correspondent tele-t graph that, in support of the that tho aeronauts survived the ex-< plosion of gas, all were found . withi their fists convulsively clenched. Ai villager of Eeicheiisachsen relates 'thati ho was awakened at ono o'clock in the: morning by a , tremendous crash. Ha thought lightning had struck his house,, but hearing nothing more ho went toj sleep again. In the morning, going iai the stables, he found the torn envelope of the balloon hanging in the boughs o£ a cherry tree. -Two of the aeronautshad been flung clear of the car, and the? others were found in iti. A consideration which the frequency, of these accidents suggests is the ex« traordinary development which balloon* ing for the purposes .both of science and of sport has attained in Germany.. Apart from official and commercial en* (jouragement of airship flights, cveryi largo town has a balloon club, and' ascents are so numerous that tho frequency of accidents is less surprising, than it appears to be at the fasit glance.

CAUCHT IN THE STORM.

BALLOONISTS' DESCENT IN.Sc \. .., ..BACI£..GAI?I>Ei\. . '....;. r Oaptaiu E. M. Maitland, of the Esser( Regiment, a well-known aeronaut, ac-v companied by a lady, had a thrilling) experience. They ascended .in a balloon? from a Crystal. Palace in the and when the thunderstorm came found themselves drifting ■ northward) over London, and ultimately they had; to descend in the neighbourhood ofi Islington. An attempt was made to. bring the balloon to earth in a side; street, but this was not successful. Nearing ltothcrfield Street/ the baskete struck a chimney, which was dislodged,, after which the balloon dropped into a( garden. The unexpected appearance of a oal-. loon from the storm-clouds caused considerable excitement in Islington, and] crowds, of people swanned into Bother* field Street, several hundreds making their way iuto the garden, and doing; much damage to the flowers. The? captain and his companion were entew tained at tea by Miss Burns, who occnx pies the honse with a married sister* Neither of the occupants of the balloon) waa much the worse for the and they were in receipt of numerous; messages congratulating them upon( their fortunate escape, i ■ Captain Maitland said: —"I am feel-* ing all right, and I am pleased to _ be? able to say the same of my companion,We had no particular idea as to where we would descend when we , left the palaco at 3.30, but certainly we didi not intend to land in London. We> ascended for a pleasure trip, but founds ourselves ■in a south-easterly wind, which blew us across London. Then! the wind subsided, and wo wero over' taken by a violent hailstorm. Wa watched the lightning playing below us while wo clung to the ropes, and then,1 decided to descend, remembering that* balloons have been struck by lightning on occasion. "I deflated tho balloon, and wei dropped until I could distinguish through the darkness that we ..were somewhere above Islington. It was fearfully cold, but my companion behaved heroically. We thoroughly enjoyed our experience, exciting though! it may have been at tho time. "I have experienced adventures with] balloons before to-day, though nothing similar has happened to mo in London. In November of 1905 I was in a huge balloon in which an attempt was being imado to boat the world's record. Wβ were driven in a furious snowstorm over Russia for about fifty miles, and when we dropped we wero dragged along ihe ground for about half a niile'.' "Wβ did not accomplish our purpose, falling short by'about seventy miles."