Roosevelt High School - Bwana Yearbook (St Louis, MO)

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Twenty-seven -L' 'C K, .1 -C D. ws L. un E o -r: 9-4 Pi G IE O TGSPI-IERE RA GRAPHIC SOCIETY ST EO RPS-NAT'L G CO AIR E U. S. ARMY TH OF REW C E. TI-I A. Anclersonl O fa. M U aI O G D- as bd Lzi 5' :- O '5- 2 Stevens, W. 4 In GI U 4-v .-C 90 :- O 4-H a-1 u-4 U -- E o -.II UD E -o KS 0 E

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EWZHE the queer signals which interest Marconi. Professor Piccard has proved that the air in the stratosphere, instead of lying in layers each colder than the one below, stands in huge columns, each with its own temperature, and is much less dense than near the earth's surface. On October 23, I934, Professor Piccard and his wife made a balloon ascent in which they hoped to reach a height of sixty thousand feet. Their purpose was to observe the cosmic rays. They were forced to land without making the intended study. Piccard's flights are important and have served to focus public attention upon the stratosphere. A very recent Stratosphere flight was the National Geographic Society- United States Army Air Corps Stratosphere Expedition, which was planned in the fall of I933 and took place in July, I934. The members of the crew were Major Wm. E. Kepner, pilotg Captain Albert W. Stevens, observer, one of the foremost aerial photographers in the world, and Captain Orvil A. Anderson, alternate. The base of the flight, Stratocamp, was loated in the Black Hills of South Dakota, twelve miles southwest of Rapid City. This site was chosen because it was a point far enough west to permit the balloon to drift seven or eight hundred miles east and land in comparatively unforested countryg the record of the region was promising for good summer flying weatherg and the spot was sheltered from surface winds. The camp, estab- lished in June, was like a small city with its own drainage system, sawdust- paved streets, waterworks, two electric lighting systems, parking spaces, a fire department, a hospital and an ambulance, traffic officers, three telephone lines, two radio stations, and a special weather station, which ranked in fullness of information furnished with the half dozen most important weather stations in the United States. It was inhabited by scientists, army officers, veteran balloonists, troops, and many civilian workers, all of whom were kept busy for almost two months in preparation for the flight. As the instruments were to be of full laboratory size to insure accuracy, it was necessary to build a gondola larger than any previously sent aloft. ln view of the enormous weight of the gondola and instruments and the height to which the weight had to be lifted, the balloon had to be the largest ever constructed. At the end of five months, the balloon, airtight and holding three million cubic feet of gas when fully inflated, was completed. The crew took a Fairchild aerial camera to record instrument readings, showing the position and altitude of the balloon at all times, the rate of ascent or descent, the direction of drift, and the velocity of air currents. The instrument that would afford new information regarding the distribution of ozone and the height of its center of concentration was the spectrograph. Three electroscopes for use in obtaining data on the penetration of cosmic rays and a Geiger counter apparatus to record the directions of movement of cosmic rays were also taken. Two sealed barographs were hung outside to determine the altitude reached. An extra light transmitting and receiving Twenty- six 935

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BWENE set, enabling them to receive weather and other important information and to give reports of their changing positions to the earth during the trip, was built for the flight by the National Broadcasting Company. This preparatory work, begun early in June, was completed July 9. As photography was to play an important part in the work, it was essential to make the flight during very special weather conditions covering an area of seven or eight hundred miles to the east. Cloudless skies and good visibility were needed. Current weather maps were completed every morning and evening. On July 27 the weather conditions were suitable. The men took off shortly after sunrise. At forty thousand feet they stopped. On no previous Hight had a balloon been stopped halfway between the ground and the maximum altitude. They had planned that at a height of about sixty-five thousand feet the balloon would stop rising and that by discharging additional ballast they would rise to at least seventy-five thousand feet. At sixty thousand six hundred thirteen feet, however, only six hundred twenty-four feet from equalling the official world record for altitude in a balloon ascent, the bag ripped. In three-fourths of an hour they had descended to forty thousand feet. Half an hour later they were down to twenty thou- sand. It became urgent to lessen the weight in the gondola. They discharged ballast, attached some of the instruments to parachutes and dropped them, poured out the remaining liquid air, and threw out the two empty containers attached to parachutes. Even in this crisis Captain Stevens, Major Kepner, and Captain Anderson were careful to throw out nothing in a way which might injure people on the ground. At a little more than half a mile from the ground the men jumped, coming down safely in a cornfield near Holdrege, Nebraska. They really should have left sooner, but they did not wish to abandon the scientific apparatus and wanted to be near it when they landed. Lieutenant F. Phillips and Sergeant G. B. Gilbert, making pictures as they followed in an airplane, photographed the Hnal collapse of the balloon. Much of the valuable apparatus was a mass of wreckage, and many feet of film were a total loss. If some of the negatives on which nearly all the reports were registered can be salvaged, much valuable information will be disclosed. It is believed that some of the photographs will furnish valuable scientific information. The preliminary reports from the several scientific laboratories are somewhat encouraging, and, if sufficient data were saved, it is possible that the laboratory measurements originally planned can be made. The balloon, gondola, and apparatus of the Hight, which lasted nine hours and fifty-seven minutes, cost less than sixty thousand dollars. This cost, borne largely by the National Geographic Society, was also shared by indi- viduals, corporations, and laboratories interested in the advancement of knowledge. During the flight small quartz tubes containing ten different kinds of spores furnished by the Department of Agriculture were hung outside. ln Twenty-eight 9