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saw me said they were amazed at how I maneuvered. I wasn't maneuvering - I was hanging on and I had to learn to fly that thing and do it pronto. I just missed the dome of the Brazilian Building, but i finally figured out how to handle it and took it around the Ferris wheel and was cruising along alright when the motor stopped, for no reason at all. With all that noise gone, it was just like being in a balloon and I drifted clear across the city of St. Louis and the river and landed in East St. Louis."
Baldwin was so pleased with Knabenshue that he engaged him to make most of the remaining flights at St. Louis. The "California Arrow" had proved its superiority over all other dirigibles of the day.
These were the days when young aeronauts who cared to walk the flimsy catwalks of the non-rigid dirigibles were at a premium, and Knabenshue became famous for his flights at the Fair. When Wilbur Wright learned of the dirigible flights at St. Louis, he wrote Octave Chanute on November 15, 1904, saying, "...The newspapers report a little whirl of excitement at St. Louis. The performance of the Baldwin machine is creditable though not remarkable, while the work of Knabenshue stamps him a man possessing qualities placing him in the first rank ...".
The most important thing about the "California Arrow" was that it was successful and practical. Baldwin's achievement was not lessened by the fact he had visited Europe and observed the efforts of others. Many other persons in America had attempted to make a workable dirigible and had failed. While somewhere in Europe in the 1890's the first successful dirigible was built, the zenith of its

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