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For the second time in America, for the second time
at the same place, but what a difference from the
race three years before! Dear reader, go back once
again and read, what Erbslöh stated about the
preparations then. Also a comparison of the
organization is recommended. When the pilots and
their material arrived at St.Louis in 1910, one had
really forgotten, that the race should take place
there. Nowhere could they obtain any information,
nobody could be found, who knew anything about the
race. It seemed as if they had gone to a wrong St.
Louis. Finally on Sunday, October 16th, the pilots
discovered a notice in the office of the
organisators, telling that on Monday morning, 4 a.m.
inflation should begin, launch was scheduled for the
afternoon, 4:30 p.m., also the order of the launch
and that every balloon will get seven negroes for
help.
The wind came from the south southwest, a huge
wide open space lay ahead of the balloons, but also
the Great lakes and the Canadian wilderness with
deserted areas and gigantic jungles. Seven of ten
balloons risked to jump across the Great Lakes and
flew to Canada. It needed a lot of energy and love
for competition to extend the flight up to these
inhospitably areas. The German balloon “HARBURG III”
(Lieutenant Vogt and W. F. Assmann) fell into Lake
Nipising, when the crew reached the shore by
swimming, where they were welcomed by Indians.
Messner and Givaudan landed their “AZUREA” in the
middle of the jungle and it took them three days to
find an inhabitant area. Hugo von Abercron and
August Blankertz were lost in the jungle for not
less than 10 days. They had to leave their balloon
back at the landing spot, were it was found three
month later by Inuits.
Still before the race, big hopes had been set in
America on Allan R. Hawley and Augustus Post. They
had a superior win in the preselection flight from
Indianapolis in September. Now exhaustion was even
bigger, when after a message, dropped 24 hours after
launch, no news came in the following days. The
American aero club as well as the local club of St.
Louis sent representatives to Ottawa and Toronto, to
organize saving expeditions from there. Finally,
after 10 days, a telegram came in. Sent from St.
Ambroise it contained the following message: "Landed
one week ago in the wilderness on the Peribonka
River 50 miles north of Chicoutimi. Are both well
and on the way back. Hawley and Post."
The landing-place was on a hillslope in 500m
altitude. Augustus Post had hunted moose in this
area some time before and so had a little knowledge
about the Canadian forests. Their four-days-walk to
the tent of a woodcutter was extremely arduous, for
they had to carry with them all their food and
blankets and Hawley suffered from a pulled tendon,
he got from a fall.
Both pilots already had been together in the
basket at the Gordon Bennett Race 1907. Augustus
Post also was the co-pilot at the race in Berlin,
who climbed through the skylight in Berlin-Friedenau
after the 5-minute flight. With the 1910 flight they
crowned their ballooning career and flew just for
fun from then on. Instead, we meet Harry E.
Honeywell from St.Louis for the first time this
year, who will take part in totally seven races
until 1924, but could never win.
Also other famous names can be discovered in the
competitors list for the first time. Hugo von
Abercron was present every year since the beginning.
Oberst Schaeck and now Hauptmann Messner, winner of
1908 tried once again to gain victory for
Switzerland in two balloons. Theodor Schaeck dies
soon later. For this race, he had selected a
co-pilot, who became one of the great Gordon Bennett
pilots some years later: Paul Armbruster. For the
first time Hans Gericke appears, he manages at once
to reach the second place. We will hear from him in
the following year.
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