Zodiac balloon accident

The Zodiac balloon accident was the crash of a French military balloon at Noisy-le-Grand, France, on 17 April 1913, which killed five.

Accident

The spherical French military balloon Zodiac, inflated with "ordinary gas", departed from the Aero club park at St. Cloud, on 17 April 1913, shortly before 2 p.m., with five aboard, including "military aeronauts" Capt. Clavenad, Capt. De Noue, Lt. de Vaissalot, and Artilleryman Rechy, and civilian pilot Aumont-Thiéville. The craft was carried over Paris by a strong westerly wind towards Fontenay-sous-Bois. "At 2.30 p.m. M. Luisgnann, proprietor of a cafe there, noticed the aeronauts throwing out ballast. The balloon appeared to be in distress and was flying very low. A moment later the car of the balloon collided with a chimney and was thrown violently on its side. The car then cleared the chimney and the balloon proceeded. The onlookers picked up an officer's cap, three woollen caps, and an anchor which had fallen from the air.

"The balloon now swayed from side to side, and the occupants could be seen making signals of distress. Some of them had evidently been hurt. The wind changed, and the balloon was blown against the side of a house. Rebounding, it crashed into some telegraph wires, got clear again, and was blown away towards Villiers-sur-Marne. A few minutes later a formidible [sic] explosion was heard, a luminous cloud shot upwards, and the car hurtled to the ground."[1][2] It was passing over Noisy-le-Grand at a height of about 650 feet "when laborers working in a field below saw the balloon shrivel up and fall. Three of the aeronauts were killed outright, one died on the way to a hospital and the other died after reaching there. The collapse of the balloon was due to a tear in the cover, supposed to have been made intentionally when something went wrong with the valve."[3][4]

"Peasants in the neighborhood rushed to the spot and found the five men bleeding amid the wreckage. Two officers - Lieutenant de None and Lieutenant Vassalot de Regne - and Sergeant Richy [note variation in spellings from another account] were lifeless. A civilian named Aumont Thieville died in a few minutes." The fifth victim, Captain Clavenad, expired at 9 p.m. on 17 April.[1][2]

A wire service report gave the accident location as over Villiers-sur-Marne.[5][6]

Hilaire de Vasselot de Régné was one of the victims.[7] The civilian was Jacques Aumont-Thiéville.[8]

References

  1. 1 2 Wire report, "Explosion of Balloon: Five French Army Pilots Killed", Poverty Bay Herald, Gisborne, New Zealand, 29 May 1913, Volume XXXX, Number 13087.
  2. 1 2 Zealand, National Library of New. "Papers Past - EXPLOSION OF BALLOON. (Poverty Bay Herald, 1913-05-29)". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. Retrieved 12 July 2017.
  3. ↑ Langland, James, M. A., compiler, "Almanac and Year-Book for 1914", The Chicago Daily News Company, Chicago, Illinois, 1913, page 396. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  4. ↑ Plumbe, George Edward; Langland, James; Pike, Claude Othello (12 July 2017). "Chicago Daily News Almanac and Year Book". Chicago Daily News, Incorporated. Retrieved 12 July 2017 – via Google Books.
  5. ↑ Wire service, "Army Balloon Explodes; 3 Die", The Seattle Star, Seattle, Washington, Thursday 17 April 1913, Volume 15, Number 42, page 7.
  6. ↑ "The Seattle star. (Seattle, Wash.) 1899-1947, April 17, 1913, Image 7". 17 April 1913. p. 7. Retrieved 12 July 2017 – via chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
  7. ↑ BROCARD, Laurent. "Past to Present: Hilaire de Vasselot de Régné". www.past-to-present.com. Retrieved 12 July 2017.
  8. ↑ http://data.bnf.fr/16933183/jacques_aumont-thieville/

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