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Show Montana Meteor Sails Jpiigli Air Inventor Makes Successful Ascension Ascen-sion With. His Balloon at St. Louis. ST. LOUIS, Nov. 22. After remaining remain-ing In tho air for forty-five minutes, only for a brief period of which it was propelled hy its own power, the Montana Mon-tana Meteor, tho airship designed and constructed by Thomas Benbow of Columbus, MonL, was brought safely to to the ground in an open field three miles southeast of tho World's fair aerodrome. Navigated by Inventor. The airship was navigated by the Inventor, In-ventor, who stated after tho flight that he considered it very successful In the light of the accident that happened to his machinery. A leak ln the gasoline tank allowed all the fluid to escape and rendered his motor useless shortly after he had started the flight. Benbow was also handicapped by having too much gas in his balloon, and It was necessary neces-sary for him to allow some of the hydrogen to escape during the flight. For that reason he did not start the motor until he had drifted with the wind for nearly a mile. Headway Against Wind. During the brief time that the motor was working the airship made headway against the wind and answered Its rudder perfectly. Shortly after Benbow started his motor he found that the gasoline had become exhausted, and allowed the Meteor to drift with the wind until he found a landing place. According to Benbow he will make another an-other flight tomorrow, as the damage In the gasoline tank can he repaired in a few minutes. |