“Now that they allow us to wear jeans at the office everyday, I am no longer a slacker.”
U.S. airship flightIn 1904, the first successful airship circuit flight in the U.S. was made by Capt. Thomas S. Baldwinat Oakland, California. His cigar-shaped, hydrogen-filled balloon, the California Arrow, was equipped with a motorcycle engine built by Glenn Curtiss, driving a propeller. Spherical balloons had long been making ascents, but were at the mercy of the prevailing winds. Baldwin's powered dirigible returned to its starting point. An earlier U.S. dirigble, the California Eagle, built by Dr. August Greth, flew on 18 Oct 1903 (two months before the Wright's historic flight). However, it neither completed a circuit, nor was totally successful, because after problems, it ditched in the San Francisco Bay. Baldwin's California Arrow was exhibited at the St. Louis World's Fair, flown on 31 Oct 1904 by Roy Knabenshue.« |
