Balloons

Looking down on Akron, Ohio, from an airplane a mile high, it seemed as if some gigantic bird had laid 15 spherical eggs on a field near the city. Soon the eggs rose and floated away to the northeast. The illusion was shattered; for no egg that can float in the air has yet been laid. Closer inspection revealed that these objects were balloons with baskets tied to their bottoms. In the baskets were anxious, active specks of men. They jockeyed with the wind, sailed away to Canada, New York, New England.

Twenty-four hours later, the Goodyear balloon containing Pilot Ward T. Van Orman and his assistant, W. W. Morton, descended on the beach near Bar Harbor, Me. (715 miles from Akron). It had floated a greater distance than any of the other 14--thereby winning the National Elimination Balloon Race and the right to represent the U. S. in the Gordon Bennett Trophy (international) race in the autumn. Second and third places went to the Detroit Flying Club entry and the Army No. 3 balloon from Scott Field, Ill., who respectively floated to Skowhegan, Me. (665 miles) and Biddeford, Me. (610 miles). The pilots of these two balloons are also eligible to enter the Bennett Trophy race.

Pilot Van Orman, 33, lean, studious, is such a wise meteorologist that his fellow employes at the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. consult him upon whether or not to go fishing. He won the Bennett Trophy last year, is perhaps the ablest of U. S. balloonists.