Navy balloon A-5598 explained

The U.S. Navy balloon A-5598 was an American naval free balloon which went off-course and its crew of three were recorded missing for several weeks.[1]

History

The balloon departed Rockaway Naval Air Station (Queens, New York) on December 13, 1920, and went missing the following day. It crash landed north of Moose Factory, Ontario (Canada).[2]

The balloon was manned by three aeronauts, U.S. Navy Lieutenants Louis A. Kloor, Jr. (mission commander); Stephen A. Farrell (pilot);[3] [4] [5] and Walter Hinton (ground observer).[6]

After a flight of over 25 hours the group,[7] which had narrowly avoiding coming down in the James Bay, was stranded in the wilderness and wandered for four days before they came upon a Cree Indian fur trader. He initially mistook the Americans for Canadian revenue agents but then guided them to safety.[8]

The trio recovered at Moose Factory, and later were brought to the nearest town on a railway line, Mattice (Ontario) on January 11.[9] They returned to a heroes' welcome in New York City on January 14, 1921.[10]

An inquiry by the Navy[11] found that the flight was legitimate and there was no misconduct by the airmen.[3] Hinton and Kloor had written letters home which their families sold to newspapers describing the flight, which prompted the Navy to start enforcing rarely used censorship rules.[12]

See also

Notes and References

  1. https://books.google.com/books?id=DI1RAAAAYAAJ&q=%22current%20events%22 The American Review of Reviews
  2. Web site: Christmas Bies, Ernie, Miracle at Moose Factory October 28, 2014.
  3. Web site: STEPHEN FARRELL, ON LOST BALLOON; 30-Year Veteran of Navy, One of Trio in A-5598 When It Vanished in 1921, Is Dead. timesmachine.nytimes.com.
  4. Web site: Lieut. Farrell Tells Own Story of Flight and Rescue by Indian; Ignored Three Chances to Land, Then Dog's Bark Brought Them Down--Injured in Fall--Gave Hinton Flying Suit-- Worried by Forest.. January 12, 1921. NYTimes.com.
  5. Web site: United States Congressional Serial Set. January 16, 1925. U.S. Government Printing Office. Google Books.
  6. Web site: Sacramento Daily Union 17 January 1921 — California Digital Newspaper Collection. cdnc.ucr.edu.
  7. https://www.oocities.org/fort_tilden/rnas.html History of the Rockaway Naval Air Station
  8. https://www.nytimes.com/1921/01/06/archives/fright-of-indian-nearly-cost-lives-of-balloonists-lost-aeronauts.html "Fright of Indian Nearly Cost Lives of Balloonists", The New York Times, January 6, 1921, p1
  9. Web site: Balloon Safe Near Hudson Bay; All the Men Alive", The New York Times, January 3, 1921, p1. The New York Times.
  10. "Returning Airmen Cheered by 10,000", The New York Times, January 15, 1921, p7
  11. News: Naval court begins report on balloon . The New York Times . January 22, 1921 . January 16, 2021.
  12. Editor & Publisher. 15 January 1921. 11. Airman's letters may cause Navy to censor officer's writings.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Navy balloon A-5598".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.