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Dirigible Flight Back In 1904 By Louise Flint San Gabriel - Rudder control through a rope and pulley arrangement... a man precariously perched on a pole two inches in diameter... a two cylinder motorcycle engine that had been discarded for work on the ground - this was the way the first dirigible flight in the United States was completed just 41 years ago Thursday. And the man who flew the "contraption," and lived to laugh about it 41 years later, is Roy Knabenshue who now lives with his wife at 309 South Pine Street - the home of his old friend, George (Daddy) Dake. The two men met in 1904 at Tucson, Ariz., where Knabenshue was exhibiting his aircraft and Dake had just completed one of the famous road races from Los Angeles to Tucson. With many a chuckle, Knabenshue Friday reviewed that famous first flight made October 25, 1904, at the St. Louis World Exposition. Up to that day, only one man was known to have navigated motorized craft above the ground. That was Santos Dumont Frenchman, who bought his seventh ship to the exposition to compete in a race for $100,000. A triangular course was laid out and each craft had to be guided over it three times at a minimum speed of 20 miles an hour. Knabenshue teamed with the famous sports-showman, Tom Baldwin, who contributed a cigar-shaped balloon and a motorcycle engine he had bought in San Francisco for $10. The engine and its 10-foot cloth and light wood propeller was placed in a frame made for it near the front end of the balloon. 'Uncontrollable' Baldwin assured Knabenshue that the craft could not be controlled. All he has to do was ride with his feet on one pole and his elbow hooked over the other, and manage to get the dirigible across a small near-by fence. "Well they let go the guy ropes," Knabensue chuckled, "and of course she shot up with a swoosh and then started down. I danced back and forth on the pole trying to balance the thing At the same time, I frantically pulled on the two ropes that were supposed to control the rudder. "About that time I saw the fence zipping toward me. I managed to drag the ship away from there, only to see the dome of the Brazilian Building loom in front of me. Again I swung and there was the center of the Ferris wheel, dead center. Well, I though, at least I can slide down one of those pipes! "All of this had taken a couple of minutes. I suddenly realized the craft could be controlled. The trouble in the past had been over-control, incidentally still the greatest hazard in flying. "There I was puttering along between 400 and 500 feet in the air. "At that moment a great puff of black smoke blew out of the engine. It died. "Of course the ship swung up into space. At about 6000 to 7000 feet she went gliding over the countryside. At each current of air and wind it would slide this way, dip to that side, turn lazily about. People on the ground looked up and said, "Why look how wonderfully that man is controlling it!" Corn Field "It finally came to rest in a corn field and I got the farmer to help me load it on a hay wagon. "About that time I realized we had neared town and a swarm of people were waiting for us. They turned out to be newspapermen. I will never forget how one fellow kneeled down in the dust and hastily sketched a picture of me sitting on the tailboard of that wagon." As for the race, the government stepped in and collected all gate receipts, and the prize money, as partial payment on the $3,000,000 loaned to St. Louis to complete exhibition buildings. Dumonts' ship was sabotaged and the race never was run. Knabenshue continued to exhibit his craft about the country. He severed his relations with Baldwin in about a year because that showman could see no future in the "freak." He had become acquainted with the Wright Brothers, who made their famous first flight one year before the first dirigible flight. He urged them to tour the country on exhibition. This was the only method for financing further experimentation. He became general manager of the Wright Exhibitions in 1910 and began the tour with [[240?]] airplanes and five pilots, later increased to eight or 10. $500,000 Profit The season ended with six ships left; two pilots killed; innumerable unnecessary expenses and, very important to future experiments, a net profit of a little more than $500,000. In 1914, Knabenshue had perfected a dirigible which was the forerunner of the Navy C type craft. He offered it to the Navy and was interviewed by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, assistant secretary of the Navy, who was interested. But the government had no money for this purpose. He ended by bringing the ship back to the lot in Hollywood where he had built it and setting it afire. His original ship is in storage. All of his papers, blueprints and other items pertaining to the first years of the development of dirigibles in the United States now are preserved in the Aeronautical Science Building along with those of the Wrights and the other pioneers in this field.