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NEW YORK HERALD TRIBUNE, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1949 [[article]] Balloonist, 76, Rides Upper Air Again in Trial Major Augustus Post Who Won Bennett Trophy in 1910 Shows His Skill By Ansel E. Talbert LAKEHURST, N. J., Nov. 13. – Major Augustus Post, seventy-six-year-old balloonist, rode the air currents in a free balloon here today thirty-nine years after he became co-winner of the coveted Gordon Bennett International Balloon Racing Trophy. Major Post, a classmate of President Calvin Coolidge at Amherst College, is one of a group of pioneer aeronauts and aviators interested in reviving the international ballooning classic and holding it next year in the United States. Baron Amaury de la Grange, former French Senator and Under Secretary of State, is in the United States at present as official representative of the Aero Club of France working on the project. The last Gordon Bennett Trophy Races were held in Europe before the start of World War I without United States participation but replete with international incidents. In the 1937 race Germany charged Czechoslovak fight pilots with forcing down German balloonists prematurely. During a previous race Soviet frontier guards fired on Poland's entry as it drifted eastward. Got Lost but Won Race On October 17, 1910, Major Post and Alan R. Hawley, a noted balloonist of the period, took off in a free balloon from St. Louis and forty-six hours later landed in a wilderness area near the Quebec-Labrador border after a non-stop flight of 1,173 miles. They were lost for nine days while the world speculated upon their fate, but emerged under escort of Canadian trappers to discover that they had won the race. Only two other contests in the history of the Gordon Bennett International Balloon Races have been won by flights of more than 1,000 miles. Today Major Post, who began ballooning in 1900 in Paris and is one of the first fifteen Americans to become heavier-than-air pilots after the Wright brothers, frowned intently as he watched the direction taken by tiny scraps of paper dropped from his outstretched hand in an open field near the Lakehurst Naval Air Station. Then in the booming baritone wit which he sang grand opera roles including that of the Count in Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro" early in the century, Major Post shouted: "Let go all." Drifted With Wind At once a balloon containing 19,000 cubic feet of helium lifting gas soared skyward after being released by its Navy ground crew. It immediately began drifting with the wind towards the exact compass point indicated by the fluttering paper scraps. Standing in the balloon's four-by-six foot wicker basket during the ascension was a team consisting of Major Post and Lieutenant (j.g.) A. R. Dunn of Salt Lake City, a Navy officer some fifty years his junior who is completing airship training at the Naval Air Station. The Navy entered crack teams in many Gordon Bennett Balloon Races and now requires all students taking lighter-than-air training as a prelude to anti-submarine airship work to become expert free balloonists. It is the opinion of Captain George Watson, commanding officer of the Lakehurst Naval Air Station, at whose invitation Major Post came down today to give a few pointers to the students and do a little ballooning of his own, that the familiarity with air currents and other phenomena given by this training is "invaluable." Ballast Carried In the basket suspended from ropes beneath the concentration ring of the Navy balloon used today was ballast consisting of a half-dozen bags of sand weighing thirty-five pounds each and this correspondent, who weighs 187 in his stocking feet. Before the balloon left the ground it was balanced so carefully by the two aeronauts that the lift of its round gas envelope, contained in a netting resembling a losely-woven fish net, exactly equaled the weight of the load it was about to carry. When Major Post and Lieutenant Dunn were ready to go they cautioned the ten-man ground crew to keep tight grasp on the balloon basket and then removed enough ballast to allow their aircraft to rise into a moving current of air. The balance was so delicate that rays of the sun coming out from behind a cloud momentarily and striking the bas bag caused the helium to expand and take the balloon suddenly upward. The two aeronauts counteracted this by valving a little helium. On another occasion when conditions caused a rapid drop earthward they began dropping sand ballast. Expert Control Shown An experienced balloonist is likely to waste both helium and ballast in his anxiety for control, but Major Post nonchalantly measured out the sand in handfuls. Once he said severely to the correspondent: "Don't spit unless you tell me first – it might affect our equilibrium." As the balloon drifted over the New Jersey countryside, Major Post became reminiscent. He recalled how he and Mr. Hawley, now dead, had seen the stars during daylight hours and discussed philosophy between glasses of port wine and chicken sandwiches on their record-breaking flight. He remarked: "There's really no sensation in the world like that of floating between the earth and the heavens with the winds of the world. Some of my friends claim you can create the same feeling by partaking of four very dry Martinis on an empty stomach – but I don't believe it." Shows Old Clipping At another point Major Post drew from a leather wallet a yellow and crumbling newspaper clipping which turned out to be the lead page one story from The New-York Tribune of Oct. 12, 1908. The first paragraph of the story, special correspondence from Berlin, read: "Two American aeronauts had a miraculous escape from death at the start of the international balloon race from the suburb of Schmargendorf today. The American balloon Conqueror, the only American-built craft in the contest, having on board A. Holland Forbes and Augustus Post, less than two minutes after the start burst at an altitude of 4,000 feet. For 2,000 feet it shot down like a bullet and then torn silk formed a sort of parachute checking the rapidity of the descent." Major Post recalled that the balloon basket crashed through a Berlin roof top and landed the two aeronauts uninjured in the upstairs bedchamber of its owner. They were received the following day by Kaiser, he recalled, and later received a formal note from the lady of the house where the landing took place regretting that she was not at home to receive them. Today after a flight of several miles, Major Post and Lieutenant Dunn set the balloon down gently in front of the huge dirigible hangar where it is stored. In addition to his aviation exploits Major Post, who was born in Brooklyn in 1898, purchased the first automobile put on public sale in New York and later was one of the co-builders of the city's first garage. He lives at 58 West Fifty-seventh. [[/article]] [[article]] Pioneer Balloonist, Now 76, Takes to the Air Again in a Free Balloon [[image - photograph of six men in and around basket of balloon]] [[caption]] Major Augustus Post ready to take off at Lakehurst Naval Air Station. With him are Ansel E. Talbert of the New York Herald Tribune (left), and Lieutenant (j.g.) A. R. Dunn, the pilot [[/caption]] [[image - photograph of balloon in air]] [[caption]] The balloon coming in for a landing after flight. In background is the Navy's blimp hangar. Major Post was invited to Lakehurst to give a few points to students in ballooning [[/caption]] [[image - photograph of man]] [[/article]] ^[[To Fred Wiseman and best wishes from Augustus Post 1950]] [[/newspaper clipping]]
