BALLOON ASCENT

Hokitika Guardian, 24 December 1931, Page 7

BALLOON ASCENT

PLAN OF TWO BROTHERS. EXPLORING THE STRATOSPHERE. LONDON, November 12.

One of the most daring and picturesque adventures in the history of aviation—-an ascent in an immense balloon to a height of 15 or 16 miles above the earth’s surface—is plann-J by two brothers who are partners in one of the oldest and best known of British aircraft constructing firms. A few months ago a Belgian professor and his assistant startled the world by ascending nearly ten miles, using a large balloon from which was suspended a hermetically sealed aluminium sphere. Within that ball of metal, the two men rose at astonishing speed to the region of intensely rarefied upper air styled the “stratosphere,” which lies far above the surface of the globe and the breakable lower layers of the atmosphere. Physicists, and in particular the weather experts, believe that much may be learned by study of conditions prevailing in the stratosphere, and numbers of tiny “observation” balloons, carrying recording instruments, have been sent aloft in efforts to discover' what goes on so far above the earth, Now Utah himself is beginning purposeful exploration of the Upper air. The two British high-altitude explorers, Mr 'Eustace and Mr Oswald Short, began building aeroplanes in 1909, and since then their firm has gained a world-wide reputation in the design and construction of many types. Their successful large flying boats have lilncluded the three-engined Calcutta, boats used bv the Royal Air Force and by Imperial Airways, and the new lourengined Kent air liners which rank

among the largest passenger-carrying marine aircraft yet placed in service anywhere in. the world. They are •therefore, eminently fitted for the task of constructing a .balloon which in capacity will be the largest ever built, and the stirl more difficult work of building the sphere of light metal to contain the aeronauts and their elaborate equipment. Mr 'Eustace Short, who is a keen balloonist and aeroplane pilot, had 27 years ago thoroughly investigated the problems of an ascen.t to great heights in just this kind of hermetically sealed sphere. 'Recently he and his brother have worked intensively on the project, which is being planned with a care that should ensure success on the scientific as well as the aeronautical side. Every device modern science can suggest will be included in the equipment of the sphere, i-n addition to special breathing apparatus and a wireless transmitter intended for the sending out of messages at, brief intervals all through the -flight. Eor the first time a human voice may •be heard by listeners, on earth speaking from the of more than 1.10,000 feet, Calculations show that the vast balloon should tench its maximum height in the incvedibfy brief space o! one hour, After remaining there just long enough to make the proposed readings the aeronauts, who will probably take with them a skilled scientific observer, will begin a slow descent. From start to finish the adventure should last six or seven hours.

The most likely place for the ascent is Cardington, at one time designated to be 'Britain's main airship port. So little is known about the air currents prevailing in the stratosphere that no man can estimate exactly where the balloon ! will land ; it may touch the ground once more as far east as the steppes of Russia.