SHOT HIMSELF DOWN.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 208, 3 August 1937, Page 9

SHOT HIMSELF DOWN.

BLAZING BALLOON DRAMA. Using his revolver to burst some of the remaining envelopes, Professor Jean Piccard made a rapid descent from 10,000 ft when the 80 tiny balloons supporting his gondola caught fire. It was his first ascent on the multi-balloon principle, which he desired to test before making an attempt by such means to reach the stratosphere. For a while after fire broke out in his “bunch of grapes,” Professor Piccard fought the flames and released some of the blazing balloons in an attempt to make a gradual descent. But the flames spread rapidly, and it became necessary to descend quickly lest the experimenter be burned to death in the air. Professor Piccard then burst most of his remaining balloons by flring revolver shots through them. Falling fast, the gondola crashed on a hillside in lowa. Professor Piccard grabbed his instruments and scrambled out unharmed just as the flames flared up again. He expressed his conviction that the experiment had been a success, and declared that he would attempt a stratosphere flight with a cluster of 2000 small balloons. After he landed, Professor Piccard sent the following telegram to his wife: “Landed safely Lansing, lowa. Balloon under perfect control. All equipment burned_up.”