Racing Gasbags

Fifteen hydrogen balloons rode a southerly breeze out of Houston, Tex. last week to race for two of the three places on the U. S. Team in the Gordon Bennett International Balloon Race in September.* Carried east by the shifting wind, ten of the bags were downed by storms near Texarkana, Ark. Two, the Aero-Digest piloted by S. T. Moore and Lieut. W. O. Eareckson, and United Van Service with pilots George Hineman and Milford Vanik, had the unpleasant experience of being shot at by woolly-wild Texas and Arkansas farmers. Last to land, three days after the start, was the Goodyear Zeppelin, piloted by R. J. Blair and F. A. Trotter, near Greensburg, Ky. with the winning distance of 850 mi. Second: City of Detroit (700 mi.); third: United Van Service (685 mi.), landing at Russellville and Kirkmansville, Ky., respectively.

* W. T. Van Orman, winner of the 1929 International Race, automatically becomes a member of the 1930 team.

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