Floaters

Like twelve fat vegetables in a soup plate, twelve great balloons nestled in Pitt Stadium at Pittsburgh. The evening light was fading as the first bag, piloted by W. A. Klikoff and Pete Lawson representing Aircraft Development Corp., slowly rose into the air and, once above the rim of the stadium, swam rapidly away in a brisk westerly wind. One after another the rest of the bags rose and floated away.

It was the elimination race to see who shall represent the U. S. in the Gordon Bennett Cup Race abroad. Night came on. Rain, snow, conflicting winds buffeted the bags. Some bumped into mountains, crashed into barns. One was almost run down by a night-flying mail plane. Day broke. Two of the balloons descended, discovered they had been blown in circles all night, were only 27 and 32 miles from Pittsburgh. One other balloon came down in Pennsylvania. Seven others descended across the broad expanse of upper New York. After 36 hours, all but two had been heard from: Navy No. 1, piloted by Lieut. Thomas G. W. Settle and Ensign Wilfred Bushnell; and Detroit Times, piloted by Arthur G. Schlosser and E. J. Hill. Far beyond the marks of any of the others, Navy 1 came to earth, nearly 43 hours after starting, at Canavoy, Prince Edward Island. More hours passed, with the Detroit Times no man on earth knew where.