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the bag was inflated. Thus it can be seen that a fairly high revenue was necessary to make such a venture profitable, a fact which explains the subsequent decline in airship operations in 1910.
       Knabenshue kept his eyes on the airplane and continued to follow its development very closely. He realized the airplane held the promise of great potential as an exhibition means. On February 8, 1908, when Knabenshue learned that the War Department had accepted the Wright Brothers' bid for an airplane, he sent them a congratulatory telegram, opening a channel of communication with the Wrights.
       After the end of the 1907 season, Knabenshu began to contstruct a new three-man dirigible which he designed not only for exhibition work, but also to carry passengers. The gasbag was sewn together in Knabenshue's new barn near Toldeo, but it was necessary to take it to the Coliseum near the corner of Bancroft and Ashland Avenues in Toledo for varnishing. 
       The big dirigible had a gasbag 105 feet long and when it was completed on May 22, 1908, Knabenshue took the dirigible aloft on its maiden flight, with owner Charles K. Hamilton and George Dues-ler aboard. Knabenshue served as engineer, Hamilton as rudderman, and Duesler as runner or elevator man. Everything went along nicely until the pivot pin came out of the carburetor float, the engine choked out and quit. The dirigible immediately lost its dynamic lift. The crew dumped the ballast, and threw everything possible overboard. In spite of this, the powerless dirigible sank toward the ground. Maneuvering as best they could, the dirigible came down on the


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