PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - The Home of Photos in Dunnunda! Mk I
View Single Post
Old 1st Mar 2010, 00:47
  #6574 (permalink)  
frigatebird
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: South Pacific
Posts: 862
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
A long post this one. For the new generation.. and the oldies..
Also note the Accurate and Descriptive Reporting of the era !!!
Thanks to Ted Wixted, former Aviation Historian - Queensland Museum, with whom I corresponded briefly 30 or so years ago, and who sold me the souvenir about early '90. Also credit to the Maryborough Chronicle for the description of the first 'Takeoff' and 'Landing' all those years ago..







THE TOUR OF QUEENSLAND BEGINS

Following the successful flight of 22 May 1890, which ended with a parachuting descent into the grounds of Brisbane Hospital, an attempt was made at a second flight in Brisbane, this time from Breakfast Creek Grounds on 26 May 1890. There were difficulties of crowd control during the dangerous procedure of inflating the balloon and an accident resulted when one of the supporting poles fell prematurely. The performance was cancelled. A few days later, on Saturday 31 May, Gladys Van Tassell took off from the same grounds. After a successful flight she descended in the nearby suburb of Albion.

Plans called for a tour of Queensland cities. At this time Queensland was well served by coastal shipping. At 4pm on Tuesday, 3 June, the Van Tassell team embarked at Brisbane on the “Derwent”. They arrived in Maryborough the following morning, with a display already scheduled for 6 June at the Show Grounds. Passsengers for Maryborough on that historic trip of the “Derwent” were listed as follows –

Mesdames Higgin, Walker and child, Thorne, Cornish and 2 children, Evans, Misses Bayford, Neil, S.R. Tandevin, Schwartzrock, Van Tassel (2), Ripley, Messrs Lilley, Kruger, Littkop…t, Q. Hill, Langley, R. Gardner, Bartholomew, Hedges, Chadwick, Whalley, Stanton, Leftwich, Thorne, Lawrence, Sock, Coulthurst, Green, Howard, Dodson, Hughes, Mullen, Fitzwilliam, Traighey, Van Tassell, and 45 in steerage.

The name recorded as “Lawrence” should almost certainly be “Lorentz” the person concerned being a member of the Van Tassell team.

The arrival of the balloonists/parachutists was noted in the Maryborough Chronicle on 5 June. “The celebrated aeronauts and gymnasts, the sisters Van Tassell, who have been giving sensational exhibitions of their athletic skill and nerve, down South arrived in Maryborough from Brisbane yesterday, and will give exhibitions in this town on Friday. The balloon ascent will be made from the Showgrounds tomorrow afternoon, when Miss Gladys Van Tassell will sail among the clouds, and then springing from the balloon, will descend into the Showgrounds again, suspended from a parachute… The whole exhibition is very novel, and as this is the first time that the opportunity of seeing a balloon ascent, or even a balloon, has occurred in Maryborough, it is likely to attract considerable public interest. In addition to this feat, the clever sisters will appear at the Albert Rink in the evening, and give their double trapeze performance, in which they had won a good name before they took to balloon ascents”.

In its issue of the following day, the Chronicle wrote again of “the novelty of the exhibition” and exhorted Maryborough citizens to give it “proper patronage” by passing through the gates. A large advertisement informed the populace that “Miss Gladys Van Tassell will make a grand balloon ascent and parachute jump, returning within the enclosure, with the aid of her new patent parachute”. The afternoon of 6 June was to prove a disappointment: a strong south-east wind was blowing and it was obviously too risky to make a balloon ascent under such unfavourable circumstances.
There was nothing to prevent the sisters from performing on the double trapeze at the Albert Rink that same evening, however, and the public occupied all available accommodation to watch, and applaud, Valerie and Gladys as they performed a number of graceful and difficult evolutions in the air.

The historic first flight in Maryborough took place during the late afternoon of Saturday, 7 June 1890. According to the “Chronicle” it was a brilliant success. There was something to criticize, however: “Buggies of the well-to-do were drawn up round the fence on the outside, and the occupants stood on the seats; the fences across the streets were packed with human beings, like crows on a rail. This great crowd had gathered together to see one of the finest and most daring feats ever seen in Maryborough – and to see it for nothing. Inside there was a smaller and less economical assemblage who apparently did not object to contribute a trifle to the people who earned their money by their performance”. It was a repeat of circumstances which attended all Van Tassell aerial performances in Australia, whether in Melbourne, Adelaide or Brisbane. Indeed, a hundred years later, the organizers of air shows might well be heard voicing similar concerns.

In 1990 it is a simple matter to inflate a hot air balloon. The balloon cloth is laid out to its full extremity, the mouth is opened, and a stream of cold air is blown through the mouth by a powerful fan. Soon the balloon fills out with air. A burner which replaces the fan heats the air inside the balloon and the balloon rises above the basket. The procedure takes no more than a few minutes. The method used in 1890 was quite laborious: it is depicted on page 3.

The Maryborough ascent was described at length by the Chronicle on Monday, 9 June 1890: “Shortly after 5 o’clock on Saturday all was ready; the northernmost pole was brought down, and the ropes taken away so as to give the balloon a clear escape, a number of assistants holding the balloon down by the ring around the aperture. The parachute and the trapeze were then attached to a bar across the hoop, and all the fittings were closely examined and secured by Mr. Van Tassell. Miss Gladys Van Tassell, wrapped in an ulster, and accompanied by her sister Miss Valerie Van Tassell, then appeared on the scene and received a hearty round of applause. The parachute and trapeze were stretched out on the ground in an opposite direction from the balloon to that which the balloon would take when liberated. Miss Gladys picked up the trapeze and caught hold of the ropes, her sister standing by her with her arm around her waist. The moment had come and excitement was high, but suppressed. The sister drew off her sister’s ulster, and she stood revealed in her charming athletic costume. Then Mr. Van Tassel in a loud voice sang out“Let go the balloon”. Amid a chorus of “Oh’s” and “Ah’s” and feminine shrieks the great globe rose with a quick but steady motion. Miss Gladys springing from her sister’s arms gave three or four strides over the ground and was then whisked into the air and in a moment, amidst a cry almost of horror, was hanging from the bar by her toes over the heads of the startled spectators. She performed a number of graceful feats until she had reached a great height and became quite dimunitive and her features indistinct.
As the balloon rose it took a northerly course, and many outside set out in that direction, but the great majority with their necks craned were rooted to the spot and gazed upwards in wonderment. Presently, when Miss Gladys had become reduced to a spec, the dark object above her was seen to fade away, and the cry was raised, “The balloon is going through the cloud!” This was the case, and presently it had completely vanished. Some 20 or 30 seconds of suspense followed, then “There she is” was cried and all eyes were turned to the same cloud, through which the intrepid young lady sitting on the bar of the trapeze with the expanded parachute above her, was gently and gracefully descending. The parachute seemed remarkably small compared with the balloon that had taken her up. It was seen that she would land somewhere near the hospital, and there was a great rush of horsemen and vehicles in that direction. Nearer and nearer came the parachute to earth and Miss Van Tassell could be seen oscillating it in a certain direction, and presently it disappeared amongst the trees and was lost from view. At this moment a very heavy shower of rain fell which lasted about 7 minutes and obscured everything. As it cleared away the balloon in a collapsed state was seen coming to earth still further to the north. Miss Van Tassell who had gone in that direction in a cab, returned in about a quarter of an hour to the grounds with her sister safe and sound, and they were escorted by about 20 horsemen. Miss Gladys was greeted with great cheering and taken into the Exhibition hall a large crowd following, and there she received an enthusiastic ovation…”

The parachutist landed on the left hand side of Walker Street, near the Hospital. In a later interview, she said she had descended from 7,500 feet, then described the sensations experienced as the parachute left the balloon. Closer to the ground she saw she was “over by your Hospital. I could have oscillated down there, but I don’t like coming down near buildings, and besides they had told me they had a bed ready for me there. Then I saw someone on horseback waving a handkerchief to me near an open spot. I steered for that, and as I came down I caught on top of a tree, breaking off two branches and alighting in a swamp, splashing myself with mud. The man who had waved to me was Constable Amies…”

The Van Tassell team left Maryborough for Rockhampton on 8 June.
frigatebird is offline