Balloon Clan

Beaming with paternal pride, two elderly gentlemen entered a room in Manhattan's Roosevelt Hotel one day last week to greet two young men and to listen appreciatively to what the young men had to say. The juniors were Lieut.-Commander Thomas G. V. Settle, U. S. N., winner of the James Gordon Bennett Trophy in this year's International Balloon Races in Switzerland (TIME, Oct. 10); and Ward Tunte Van Orman who finished second. They had just returned from Europe via Graf Zeppelin and South America.

The oldsters were retired Broker Alan Ramsay Hawley, a round-faced, grey-haired gentleman who won the International in 1910; and famed old Aeronaut-Poet Augustus Post, an arresting figure of lordly carriage, with grey trowel beard, curling mustaches and somewhat rambling speech. He was Mr. Hawley's co-pilot on the 1910 flight in which they made an unofficial distance record which has never been surpassed--1,172 mi. Other oldtimers. proud of their kinship in the venerable clan of ballooning, came to congratulate Settle and Van Orman. (Their respective copilots were Lieut. Wilfred Bushnell, a portly, moon-faced Navy officer; and Roland J. Blair who, like Pilot Van Orman, works for Goodyear-Zeppelin Corp.) There was white-shocked Capt. Horace B. Wild, 61, who 40 years ago exhibited two 'chute-jumping goats and later (1905) became the dare-devil aeronaut of Chicago's "White City" amusement park. His eyes are still red and watery from a 1910 crash which all but cost him his sight. With him was Roy Knabenshue who barnstormed for years with Capt. Wild in their dangerous little "rubber cows" (small dirigibles).

Around the new Gordon Bennett winners these patriarchs formed an admiring circle, prompting them with technical questions about the race, clucking over the answers with nostalgic appreciation, marvelling open-mouthed at Van Orman's description of his instruments that sound a buzzer and flash a red light when the altitude of his balloon begins to fluctuate. Lieut.-Commander Settle, a mathematically-minded engineer who inspects the construction of Navy dirigibles, described their homeward voyage on the Graf in precise, unimaginative terms. But Van Orman's gaunt face brightened, his eyes shone as he exclaimed: "Never have I had such a thrill as when I went aboard that ship! After being knocked about by thunderstorms in the most primitive craft that flies--then to stretch my legs under a table in the Graf's saloon and have a steward hand me a wine list about this long--the contrast left me speechless!" To the "Early Birds," as the pre-War airmen formally call themselves, Lieut. Settle brought news of one of their own. Just before his steamer reached Manhattan he had seen a radio despatch from Paris relating that Clifford Burke Harmon had offered to renew the Bennett Trophy for international ballooning which the U. S. had just won permanently. The original endowment by the late Publisher fames Gordon Bennett provided only the first cup in 1906. Not for 18 years did any nation score the three consecutive victories necessary for permanent possession. Then Belgium won it. The Aero Club Royale de Belgique posted the second--cup which stood only until 1928, fell to the U. S. In return for Belgium's courtesy the Detroit Board of Commerce gave the third trophy, now en route to Washington. Of the group in the Roosevelt Hotel room, Augustus Post had best reason to remember Clifford Harmon. Together in 1909 they had ballooned from St. Louis to Edina, Mo. for a 48-hr. U. S. duration record which still stands. Next year Harmon made another endurance record, which does not survive. It was in an airplane, first flight across Long Island Sound, from Mineola, L. I. to Stamford, Conn. Time: 2 hr. 3 min. At 64 Col. Harmon is dapper, bulky, heavy-jowled, horn-rimmed eye-glassed. He is currently much better known in Paris, where he has resided for 15 years, than in New York where he was an affluent realtor. He established Harmon-on-Hudson, the Manhattan suburb where outbound New York Central trains exchange electric for steam locomotives. He is a brother of the late William Elmer Harmon who established the famed Harmon Foundation for social uplift.

Since the War (he was a major in the air service) Col. Harmon has spent considerable time and money in the interests of world peace, particularly among flyers of all nations. He established the Ligue Internationale des Aviateurs which awards a Harmon Trophy for each year's top air feat among the nations. He has long tried to interest the League of Nations in establishing an international air force to be called "Silver Wings of Peace." One of its functions would be to fly over troubled countries and drop tracts begging them to forgive their enemies. Col. Harmon (variously nicknamed "Major" and "Judge"') housed the League in the Bois de Boulogne where he occupies an office as president. (Albert, King of the Belgians is honorary president.) The office, like his apartment, is a museum of aviation trophies, medals and photographs (in which Col. Harmon figures prominently). The Colonel is an indefatigable greeter, proud of his meetings with royalty. He likes to say: "Modesty never was one of my strong points."

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