To boldly split infinitives no one had dared to split before, said Douglas Adams.
by Practically
Everybody
Clockwise from upper left: Spain, England, Spain again, France, England. I'd like to be a mouse sometimes, myself.
The
Brown-Eyed Susans of Autumn
by DG
They're reaching their goal: seeds. Making more
Brown-Eyed Susans.
Adventurous
Sheep
(Video)
by Robbie Stamp
Climb every mountain, baa...
Adventurous
Birds
by the h2g2 Post Photographers
Birds: they hold the sky up.
The Enterprise
and the US Balloon Corps
by DG
In honour of the 60th anniversary of
Star
Trek.
These are the voyages of the Balloon Enterprise:
its mission, to seek out and tattle on Confederate positions, to boldly go
where no silk gas bag had gone before.
Here is
a story about the Enterprise, a ground-breaking balloon. Like its
later, fictional namesake1, it suffered damage, got lost, set a speed
record, and crashed several times. You shall learn. But first, we must meet
Professor Lowe, whom the US National Air and Space Museum refers to as 'the
grandfather of the United States Air Force2.
A Man with a Dream and a Good Line of Patter
Thaddeus
Sobieski Constantine Lowe (1832 - 1913) had little formal schooling and no
money to start with, but he loved science. He was also fascinated by the idea
of flight. His first attempt, sometime before his fourteenth year, involved a
kite, a lantern, and a very angry tomcat. At fourteen he joined the entourage
of Professor Reginald Dinkelhoff, who did chemistry demonstrations to a paying
public. A couple of years later, he bought out Professor Dinkelhoff and became
Professor Lowe. In those days, all you needed to be called 'professor' was some
good material and a calling card. This was, after all, the age of PT Barnum,
and TSC Lowe, like Barnum, was New England born and bred.
Lowe was
enthusiastically self-taught and – you will pardon the expression – an
enterprising showman. He did well on the lecture circuit – people back then
were as easily bored as they are now, and there was no radio, television, or
internet. So they would pay to sit in a lecture hall and listen to educational
stuff. They'd even pay to see slide shows. The alternative was sitting at home
playing cards or listening to the kids recite their party pieces, which goes a
long way toward explaining the popularity of early TED talks.
In 1855
Lowe met and fell in love with another show business personality, an actress
from France named Leontine. Leontine and Thaddeus went on to have a happy
marriage and ten children together. Leontine also embraced her husband's
lifelong love of flight. When he started making balloons, she sewed the silk
pieces that went together to make the bags. She was his biggest fan. Lowe's
father also joined the family business.
These
gas-filled balloons are also called 'aerostats', from the Greek αηρ (air) and
σταος (standing). The French were pioneers in balloon-making. For that reason,
US newspaper reports sometimes referred to gas-filled transportation devices as
'montgolfieres' after the Montgolfier Brothers. The French military had used an
aerostat named L'Entreprenant ('the enterprising one') at the
Battle of Fleury in 1794. There is no indication that this influenced Lowe's
choice of name for his balloon, as there had already been four US ships
named Enterprise by this time. Lowe is said to have picked the
name because of his 'enterprising' New England nature.
On 7
July, 1858, Lowe made his first flight aboard Enterprise, which was
powered by coal gas. People took Professor Lowe seriously, as they should. He'd
invented his own formula for the varnish on the balloon bag. He'd designed an
improved altimeter3. He had interesting theories about how to
use the jet stream – high-altitude winds – to navigate. To make use of these
winds, an aeronaut either discarded ballast (sand) to rise, or partially
deflated the bag to descend. It wasn't a dilithium crystal, but it was pretty
impressive for its time.
Like Wernher von
Braun, Thaddeus Lowe had a dream. Lowe's was to be the first to fly across
the Atlantic Ocean in a balloon. But as with von Braun, there was an obstacle
in the form of a war. As so often happens, innocent exploration had to take a
back seat to military greed for technology.
A Speed Record and an Arrest (or Two)
Lowe
planned to make a really big balloon to cross the Atlantic in, and that
required deep-pocket backing. To raise awareness and needed cash, he spent 1859
and 1860 giving rides to prominent people, curious fellow-enthusiasts, and
newspaper reporters who could be counted on to gush for a column inch or two.
In early 1861 he was doing the same thing in Cincinnati on 20 April, just
before he and Enterprise set off for Washington, DC.
At
least, that's where he thought he was going.
Lowe
ended up in Unionville, South Carolina, quite a bit south of Washington. The
good news was: he'd set a speed record, covering at least 900 miles in the 9
hours of flight between 4 a.m. and 1 p.m.. The bad news was: South Carolina
wasn't in the United States at this time, having seceded from the Union the
previous December. The even worse news was: the United States was now at war
with South Carolina and had been, in fact, for over a week.
Lowe was
taken prisoner as a 'Yankee spy'. At least, he was taken prisoner after he'd
convinced the locals he wasn't an extraterrestrial. Or the devil. He ended up
in the Unionville jail. However, he was rescued by the town's newspaper editor,
AW Thomson. Thomson and others signed a certificate attesting to the speed
record – for proof of where he'd been, Lowe had brought along the Cincinnati
late-edition papers, hot off the press. As direct service to the enemy capital
had been suspended, Lowe and Enterprise were bundled onto a
train headed back to Cincinnati by way of Louisville, Kentucky.
He got
as far as Columbia, South Carolina, before being arrested again.
This
time, the mayor bailed him out. It pays to be famous. The citizens of Columbia
reckoned the Professor was a scientist, not a spy. They sent him on his way.
Back in Cincinnati, he reinflated Enterprise and gave more
rides to more journalists.
BALLOON ASCENSION YESTERDAY. – Professor Lowe
made a second ascent from this city yesterday, in his balloon, accompanied by
Junius H Browne, of the DAILY PRESS, WW West, and TC Freneau....
The ballast being rather heavy, the basket swayed to and fro in the crowd
several times, but it finally moved off in a south-easterly direction, at an
angle of about twenty five degrees, which necessitated the casting off of a
portion of the ballast, to avoid the roofs of the houses. As the voyagers moved
smoothly away they waved handkerchiefs to the crowd, who responded with
enthusiastic cheers, and other demonstrations of interest in their welfare
[sic]....
It is the intention of the Professor to descend, after having traveled an hour
or two, discharge the passengers, and then proceed in his observations, as in
his last voyage.
–Cincinnati Daily Press, 9 May, 1861
After
this, Professor Lowe set out for Washington again.
This
time, he ended up in Ottawa, Canada.
General of the Skies? Seriously?
When he
finally got to Washington (by train), Lowe was sure about one thing:
transatlantic balloon crossings could wait. The Union had to be saved first. So
he reinflated Enterprise and set about convincing the US
government that they needed an air force. In practical terms, this was a bit
easier than it sounds. That was because Abraham Lincoln,
another fierce autodidact, was a technophile.
Lowe
gave demonstrations, and many were impressed.
To-day [20 June] Professor Lowe ascended, from
the Armory lot. The capacity of the balloon was 20,000 cubic feet. It was
provided with signal flags and a powerful telescope; but as the ascent was made
late in the afternoon, and chiefly for the purpose of testing the
practicability of maintaining a magnetic circuit and operating in the balloon,
no reconnoisance [sic] was attempted. A circuit was established by looping one
of the adjacent telegraph wires – the one between Alexandria and the War
Department – with helix wires several hundred feet in length, wound upon a reel
at the spot from which the ascent was made. The helix wires are very fine and
flexible. They communicated with a delicate pocket Morse apparatus carried by
the operator in the balloon. The helixes were paid out from the reel as rapidly
as the ropes attached to the balloon. An ascent of five or six hundred feet was
made, and the telegraphic arrangement worked charmingly. When at the utmost
elevation attained, dispatches were sent to the President of the United States
through the War Department.
After demonstrating the success of the experiment, Prof Lowe was tugged through
the streets in his balloon, a distance of over half a mile, to the open lawn
south of the White House, when the balloon was safely anchored for the night,
with a view to repeat the experiment to-morrow, in the presence of the
President and the Cabinet. With this telegraphic apparatus, and the means of
making an aerial reconnoisance [sic], a General may be accurately informed of
everything that may be going on within a long day's march of his position in
any direction.
– Daily National Democrat, 09 July, 1861
Lowe
demonstrated Enterprise to Lincoln and his Cabinet. He even
sent Lincoln a telegram from the air. Lincoln was impressed, his advisors less
so.
Politics
in Washington being what they were, not everyone was accepting of the idea of
aerial 'reconnoisance'. One wag suggested that Professor Lowe was bucking for
the title of 'General of the Skies'. And of course the controversy went
national.
Some wit
in Cincinnati was moved to poetry:
Professor Lower would fain get high
At Government expense;
With big balloon he'd scale the moon
To spy Virginia fence;
To spot the camps of rebel Scamps
With telegraph and glass -
You ask me, friend, how will this end?
And I reply - in gas!
–Cincinnati Commercial, 28 June, 1861
It would
take a test under fire to prove Enterprise's worth.
Don't Shoot! I'm on Your Side!
Lowe's
chance came in mid-July, during the Battle of Bull Run. Lowe sent valuable
information from his perch above the action. To get a better look, he
untethered the balloon. When he started to descend, the Union troops started
firing on the UFO. When they shouted, 'Show your colours!' Lowe realised he
wasn't carrying a flag.
Memo to
self: put some identifying marks on this thing. This
is no doubt why subsequent depictions show Lowe's balloon basket in a
red-white-and-blue flag motif. It's also why Lowe learned to line his basket
with metal. Between friendly fire and distinctly unfriendly fire, the Professor
soon became the most shot-at man in the Civil War.
|
In the
meantime, Lowe flew Enterprise higher to get away from the
troops. He finally came down two miles away – behind Confederate
lines. This was not good. The 31st New York Infantry caught up with him, but
unfortunately, he couldn't go with them. He'd sprained his ankle badly and
couldn't walk. Also, he didn't want to lose Enterprise to the
enemy. He'd have to wait for rescue.
Which
arrived in the form of his wife Leontine. Advised of her husband's location by
the 31st New York, she hitched up a buckboard and disguised herself as a farm
woman. Embellished versions of this tale have her smearing herself with cow
manure for greater verisimilitude. We won't swear to that. We have no
information as to whether Leontine was a method actress. We can report
that she brought the Professor and the Enterprise home safely.
The next
day, the Balloon Corps was a done deal. The National Air and Space Museum has
the document, a card hand-written by a president.
|
||||||
|
Will Lieut. Gen'l. Scott please see Professor
Lowe, over Mon about his balloon? |
A
further note: that card didn't work as well as Lowe had hoped. General Winfield
Scott kept him waiting most of the day, 'too busy' to see him. It was not until
Lowe returned with the president himself that Scott issued the necessary orders
to make Lowe 'Chief of the Corps of Aeronautics of the United States Army.'
Notes for the Future
Lowe
built more and bigger balloons. They were effective. The Confederates wanted
their own balloon, of course. They tried making it of cotton,
which they had plenty of due to the Union blockade. Cotton didn't work too
well, but silk was hard to obtain (see Union blockade). So they raided the
dress goods shops of the South for bolts of dress silk. The Confederacy's
balloon was very colourful, and probably would have won the war on aesthetics.
Lowe
often took officers up in his balloons as observers. This caused some military
men to discover for the first time that they had a fear of heights. One of
these was George
Armstrong Custer, who sort of cowered in the basket and had to be cajoled
into standing up.
In 1863,
Lowe quit, wearied by stress, health problems, underfunding, and bureaucratic
red tape. He moved to Philadelphia and invented an ice machine. The Balloon
Corps – and the Enterprise – had done yeoman's service.
Shortly
after the war, a German aristocrat and military man was on an expedition to
Minnesota. There he ran across a balloon demonstrator who used to fly for the
Balloon Corps. The German aristocrat took a ride. It changed his life, and the
world. It took a few years, but Graf von Zeppelin put
Professor Lowe's ideas to good use.
Lowe
never succeeded in crossing the Atlantic in his gas-filled balloon. The
challenge remained open for another century. Many unsuccessful attempts were
made. In fact, the johnny-come-lately heavier-than-air aeroplane crossed the
Atlantic in 1927, a year before the LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin made
its first (powered) transatlantic flight. Sport enthusiasts continued to pursue
the goal of making it across the Atlantic in a non-powered gas or hot-air
balloon. They finally made it, but it took a lot more money and more modern
materials than Thaddeus Lowe ever had.
In July,
1978, Sir Richard Branson and Per Lindstrand crossed the Atlantic in a hot-air
balloon. Starting in Maine, they briefly touched down in Ireland (long enough
to demolish a stone wall) before both pilots bailed out into the ocean.
In
August of the same year, Ben Abruzzo, Maxie Anderson and Larry Newman made the
trip aboard the Double Eagle II in a (helium) gas-filled
balloon. It took them 137 hours. They flew from Maine to Paris. Their gondola
was named The Spirit of Albuquerque.
1 Balloons
were popular subjects for 19th-century speculative fiction writers. Edgar Allan Poe based
his 1844 newspaper hoax (published in the New York Sun)
on a balloon flight. Jules Verne wrote two books featuring balloons: Five
Weeks in a Balloon (1863) and Mysterious Island (1875).
The plot of Mysterious Island takes advantage of the use of
hot-air balloons in the US Civil War.
2 We
don't know if this makes him the great-grandfather of the Space Force or not.
3 The
principle of the altimeter was first discovered by Scottish clergyman Alexander
Bryce in 1772.
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