Navy balloon A-5598

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][2]

Return of naval aviators[3]

History

The balloon departed Rockaway Naval Air Station (Queens, New York) on December 13, 1920, and went missing the following day. It crash landed 20 miles (32 km) north of Moose Factory, Ontario (Canada).[4]

The balloon was manned by three aeronauts, U.S. Navy Lieutenants Louis A. Kloor, Jr. (mission commander); Stephen A. Farrell (pilot);[5][6][7] and Walter Hinton (ground observer).[8]

After a flight of over 25 hours the group,[9] 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.[10]

The trio recovered at Moose Factory, and later were brought to the nearest town on a railway line, Mattice (Ontario) on January 11.[11] They returned to a heroes' welcome in New York City on January 14, 1921.[12]

An inquiry by the Navy[13] found that the flight was legitimate and there was no misconduct by the airmen.[5] 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.[14]

See also

References
  1. Steele, Brogan, ed. (2010), From the Jaws of Death: Extreme True Adventures of Man vs. Nature, St. Martin's Publishing Group, ISBN 9781429950114
  2. The American Review of Reviews Volume 63 (February, 1921) pp135-139
  3. "Library of Congress". catalog.loc.gov.
  4. "Christmas Bies, Ernie, Miracle at Moose Factory October 28, 2014" (PDF).
  5. "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.
  6. "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 – via NYTimes.com.
  7. "United States Congressional Serial Set". U.S. Government Printing Office. January 16, 1925 – via Google Books.
  8. "Sacramento Daily Union 17 January 1921 — California Digital Newspaper Collection". cdnc.ucr.edu.
  9. History of the Rockaway Naval Air Station
  10. "Fright of Indian Nearly Cost Lives of Balloonists", The New York Times, January 6, 1921, p1
  11. "Lost "Balloon Safe Near Hudson Bay; All the Men Alive", The New York Times, January 3, 1921, p1". The New York Times.
  12. "Returning Airmen Cheered by 10,000", The New York Times, January 15, 1921, p7
  13. "Naval court begins report on balloon" (PDF). The New York Times. January 22, 1921. Retrieved January 16, 2021.
  14. "Airman's letters may cause Navy to censor officer's writings". Editor & Publisher: 11. 15 January 1921.
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