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24HourForums.com > Supported Forums > MrParanormal's Paranormal Phenomena > Did Pennington Build the 1897 U.S.A. Airship? |
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Taken from KeelyNet BBS (214) 324-3501 Sponsored by Vangard Sciences PO BOX 1031 Mesquite, TX 75150 There are ABSOLUTELY NO RESTRICTIONS on duplicating, publishing or distributing the files on KeelyNet except where noted! December 3, 1991 AERO5.ASC -------------------------------------------------------------------- This file typed in and shared with KeelyNet courtesy of Chuck Henderson - KeelyNet Co/Sysop -------------------------------------------------------------------- The source for this file is the June 1970 issue of Flying Saucers magazine, published and edited by Ray Palmer. Flying Saucers magazine is now out-of-print. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Flying Saucers magazine was, towards the end of the '70s, incorporated into Palmer Publication's SEARCH magazine. Then SEARCH magazine was sold to OWL Press. If you might be interested in subscribing to this interesting journal, their mailing address, etc....is: OWL Press PO Box 81 Rosholt, WI 54473 (715) 677-3420 -------------------------------------------------------------------- fromFlying Saucers, June 1970 Did Pennington Build the 1897 U.S.A. Airship? Reprinted from BUFORA Journal, British U.F.O. Resaerch Association 170 Faversham Road, Kennington, Ashford, Kent Speculation as to the origin of the'Airship' reported over the centralStates of the U.S.A. in 1897 has resulted in many theories and atleast one of these attributes the sightings to the activities of apeculiar antique U.F.O. I understand that the reason that the craftlooked very much like the current airship design already flying inEurope is that the U.F.O. denizens wished to present their ship tothe natives in a manner that would be acceptable and understandable. However the airship in question did not seem to be at allanxious to present itself, operating as it did almost exclusivlyby night and skulking during daylight hours in out of the way places. Beforeaccepting such 'way out' theories it would seem necessary to excludeany possibility of the machine being the production of some far-sighted inventor with the ability, wealth and resources to build and flysuch a machine and also keep the whole project secret. Page 1 Witnessesof the airship were often men of excellent reputation for veracityand often crowds of onlookers werte able to compare experiences. Thedescriptions tallied to a remarkable degree. It seems clear also that someof the sightings of night flying objects were ofquite a differentcatagory and to present day ufologists may be recognized as beingthe result of 'normal' U.F.O. activity. From thereports still in existence itis possible to build up a very goodidea of the type of dirigible involved and there is no doubt thatin many respects it is similar to airships already built and flyingin Europe particularly in France. In 1884 Renard and Krebsdevised and built an electrically propelled airship called 'La France'which made a circular flight of five miles at its first appearance. It wouldindeed have been strange if there hadbeen no parallel activitiesin the U.S.A. at that time.Resources of material and money werethere in abundance and amoung the fertile brains of a rapidlygrowing scientifically orientated community was there no person ofsufficient genius engineering ability and wealth totake up theaerial challenge? I believethere was and I believe that his name was Edward J. Pennington. Penningtonwas born in Franklin, Indiana in 1858 and as a boy showed remarkableengineering aptitude and as he developed into manhood he displayedremarkable initiative, charm and persuasiveness. With theseattributes it was not long before he was running his own factoryand at the age of twenty-three had patented a reciprocating head forplaning machines, the first of a continuous stream of patentswhich flowed from his active brain until his death in 1911. He wasruthless too and could exhibit considerable showmanship in order tofurther his own ideas. A characteristic of Pennington which in thiscontext is significant was the secrecy he achieved to protecthis projects and his habit of quietly dropping oneidea in favor ofanother with little regard to the financial outcome. By 1885Pennington had acquired sufficient capital to set up the StandardMachine Works in Defiance, Ohio and two years later he createdtwo further firms to make pulleys and wood-working machinery.A flood of Pennington patents wereregistered at this time atFort Wayne. There arerumors of a company capitalized at one million dollars in Oswego,Kansas and another at Cincinnati with factories toproduce 'FreightElevators'. (Could this phrase possibly have been a euphemismfo load-carrying Airships?) After abrief appearance at Edinburg, Illinois, where hecollected some50,000 dollars from the inhabitants for yet another 'pulley works' hecame to rest at Mount Carmel, Illinois, in 1890. Now thingsbegin to develop...this new Company was actually afour cylinderradial engine..."for the propulsion of an aerial vessel". Page 2 He alsolet it be known, that he was "readying a vessel to fly from MountCarmel to New York". In 1891 heexhibited a captive airship some thirty feet long and six feet indiameter. It flew in a circle propelled by an airscrew turnedelectrically. The current was conveyed by wires in the tetheringcable. In 1893 heturned his attention to motor driven vehicles and again a spate ofpatents flooded from the Penningtonbrain. Soon he was makingmotor-cycles in Cleveland, Ohio and here he invented the firstballoon tyre. Such giddyprogress was bound to meet with reverses and due tohis dogmaticattitude and ruthless decisions he began to make enemies: yet hisuncanny instinct for avoiding trouble kept him from falling foul ofthe law. During1894 he joined Thomas Kane who made kerosene engines widely used indairies for milk seperation. This event is most important in thisthesis which will be evident later. Here, in Racine on the shores oflake Michigan they financed a really large concern for the development of petrol engines. Theypatented among other things an 'electric igniter' for petrol drivenengines which was really the first sparking plug, in 1895. In thisyear Pennington visited England and took some of his vehicleswith him. Exercisinghis well-known assurance and charm he persuaded Henry J. Lawson, asuccessful manufacturer of bicycles to purchase patents to the tuneof a half a million dollars. He was still here in 1896 and enteredthe Brighton Run. After an altercation with Mons. Leon Bollee hisclaim to have won the event was not disputed. After this heparticipated in the aerial demonstrations in the U.S.A. late in 1896 andduring 1897. InDecember 1895 he had deposed with the American Patents Office the design fora full sized Airship. Many of the features of this design are soclose to those described by witnesses of the aerial ship seen in 1896and 1897 that on this evidence alone one would suspect that Penningtoncould have been responsible. Basing thescale of the design on the size of thepassenger seats theoverall length of the ship would be about 140 ft. The keel beneathwhich provided accommodation for the crew and passengers, alsohoused large batteries and extended for70 ft. with an equal amount ofoverhang of the envelope at each end. At the front end of theenvelope a large airscrew about 50 ft. from tip to tipprovided traction.At the rear an ample rudder and a horizontal finallowed control ofdirection. At thesides two horizontally disposed propellers furnished lateral 'trimming'. Along the top of the ship a high dorsal fin would help to preventsideways drift and yawing at slow speeds.Altogether a veryimpressive aeronautical design for that period of time. It isprobable that the finished airship based on this plan would Page 3 deviate inminor details. Perhaps laterally placedairscrews were found togive a better lift and control if suitably shaped. Wings orlarge ailerons above the envelope would also help to providelift if suitably angled. In 1895 during his motorcycle phase Penningtonwas heard to remark: "Suppose Ihave a cycle, screw driven,making a mile a minute...just supposethat...then suppose that I putaeroplanes on that machine...and they are under good control,what then?" What thenindeed, the Wright Brothers would have been forstalled by severalyears. Thesighting of the Airship on the ground in 1897 by CaptainHooten at 6:00p.m. on about 20th April is usually regarded as a true account ofhis experience which he recounted in the Little Rock, Arkansas,Gazette. He was, he said, out hunting near Homan when he heard thesound of 'pumping' like the noise of a Westinghouse locomotivebrake. Going inthe direction of the sound he was amazed to behold "the famousairship" in an open space. A man wearingdark glasses was doingsomething at the rear of the ship. As he approached four other menappeared. During theensuing conversation there was no doubt in his mind that the crewwere American. When the ship was ready, three large 'wheels'started to rotate on either side of the airship and with a hissingsound she took off. The 'aeroplanes' on top of the envelope sprangforward and the ship rapidly gained height and speed. ((For a more detailed account of this sighting please refer to the JULY / AUGUST 1966 issue of The Flying Saucer Review.)) The'pumping noise' is of great significance. This noise is noted in at leastthree of the sightings. Twice it was referred to asbeing similar tothat made by a milk separator. This is almost conclusive, it wasThomas Kane whom Pennington joined in1894, who made the motors forthese separators. Allwitnesses agree that there were lights aboard in abundance with one verybright searchlight which was seen to dim as the airship accelerated. Onewitness encountering the aeronaut grounded claims to have asked why heturned the light on and off so much. He replied, no doubt truthfullythat it consumed a great deal of motive power. We are led to theconclusion that Pennington's ship was propelled by a petro- electric,or diesel-electric system. A bank of large batteries would be chargedby a motor driven dynamo and would then operate electric motorsgeared to the airscrew(s). This systemwas widely used for thepropulsion of road vehicles in the early years of this century. After atrip of some miles it might be necessary to land to recharge batteries.Such a propulsion system would be well within Pennington's capabilities at this time. Page 4 The crewreferred to by some witnesses included a woman, and it was customaryfor Pennington to take his wife on most of his exploits. (Hemarried three times but I cannot find record of anychildren.) Also abearded man. I have aphotograph of Pennington with one of his vehicles and here he isaccompanied by a man with a beard. Pennington himself was tall and ofgood physique. He usually sported a rather long dark moustache. The nextevidence required toward proving that the ship was not only terrestrial but Pennington's, is to plot the courseof the airship fromrecorded sightings during the 'voyages' of 1897 and to show that itsspeed was within the capabilities of suchan early craft and thatit operated in the vicinity of Pennington workshops. Here Isuggest the reader obtain a good large scale map of the centralStates of America. Those included in the Encyclopedia Britannicaof 1911 are most useful being nearly contemporary. Two seriesof sightings occured in 1897. EXPEDITIONONE. Startingfrom Pennington's base at Oswego, Kansas,to Belleville, Kansas, toarrive March 25th, thence to Sioux Citysome 200 miles northwardtravelling at night. Making around 40 mph and in fair weatherthe six or so hours of darkness would make for an easy arrival by28th March. Here the ship landed and charged batteries? Turningsouthward an easy night run of 100 miles allowed late worshippers leaving church at Omaha, Nebraska to view the aerial visitor.Continuing via Lincoln and Beatrice onthe southerly run arrival atEverest, Kansas on April 1st., another 100 miles apart. In factKansas City was reached quite early at 8:15. Back tobase at Oswego without serious mishap on about the 3rd. April? After thisthere are three possibilities. a) Pennington flew to Racine on lakeMichigan by April 9th keeping to out-of-the-way landing sites. b) The ship was partly dismantled and carried by rail in Pennington's closed rail cars to Racine. c) That Thomas Kane had another similar airship at Racine. I wouldsuggest (b) as being the most probable in the circumstances. Penningtonhad the resources and the experience in moving large objects byrail from place to place, vide (asfor example), his captiveairship which was shown at exhibitions at Chicago and elsewhere. Page 5 EXPEDITIONTWO. TheAirship would have taken the air on the evening of April 9th 1897 andleaving Racine some 60 miles from Chicago was seen first north ofthe city and then to south-east at 9:30p.m. passing over the lake. Turningwestward the ship would have reached the vicinityof Eldon in Iowasome 200 miles after five hours at around forty mph. Spendingthe day of the 10th on the ground at some secluded spot the batterieswould again be charged and ready for the take-off on the evening ofApril 10th. Then passing over Eldon westward to Ottumwa (10 miles)at 7:25 and 7:40 p.m. respectively, the ship is seen near Albia 25miles further on at about 8:10 p.m. This chainof sightings allows some estimation of the airship's speed-35miles in 45 minutes which is better than 45 mph. Wind speed must betaken into account, but from the sighting reports the weatherduring this period seems to have been remarkably calm. Steeringnow toward the north-west apparently en route for Racine, the shipwould have passed near Mount Carroll but the date given for theairship over this city is April 9th. One mustconclude that if this dateis correct that the craft passed over this city on the westwardleg of its journey before turning south-east toward Eldon. This isperfectly possible on the time schedule estimated. However,and here one must speculate on Pennington's movements, it is notcertain how the airship arrived at itsnext point at Yates Center,Kansas on April 19th. It could well have travelled at night over thenext week or so southward which would be well within its 40 mphcapabilities. Or it may have been once more despatched by rail. At YatesCenter there was the unfortunate incident of a young heifer becomingentangled in the mooring rope on takeoff. Then southeast and afairly long haul- 400 miles - to near Texarkana, but at 40 mph only tenhours of darkness were necessary. Here the ship was obliged to land onApril 21st. to recharge batteries. In the evening when all wasready for take-off the airship was spotted by one Captain J. Hootenwhose detailed report is well known. Airborneagain and travelling in a leisurely manner Hot Springs, Arkansaswas reached on May 6th. Once more the ship landedand was encountered by the Law Officers, Constable Sumpter and Deputy SheriffMcLemore. Both these gentlemen have sworn affidavits to theirevidence in which they tell of a bearded mechanic and a young woman. There wasalso a young man who was engaged in filling a waterbag. They wereinformed that the ship was en route for Nashville, Tennessee.This may well have been so, but I feelthat it was not longbefore it was once again safely in Oswego, Kansas with Penningtonhighly satisfied with his aerial exploits. There is littleevidence of its re-appearance. From theforegoing evidence it must be conceded that the itinerary Page 6 followedby the 1897 airship was not particularly miraculous even for acraft of that period, only it took place in America where hithertono such aerial exploits had been seen. No wonder then, that theonlookers became scared and confused, suspecting the work of the Devil. Theonly Devil responsible was in my opinion oneeccentric, brilliantinventor named Edward Joel Pennington. Of coursethere are so many questions left unanswered. For instance why didPennington decide to drop the whole project justwhen fame andfortune might seem to have been within his grasp? I would suggestthat he was clever enough torealize that his airship, though avery remarkable invention, had very severe limitations whichcould not readily be overcome. Therewould be little prospect of increasing the battery capacity withoutmaking the ship larger and unwieldy. It was obviously very much afine weather craft and he had been extraordinarilylucky to have hadsuch a long spell of fine, calm weather for his trials. Also, hewould have realized that until the internal combustion enginecould be improved considerably in size and reliability the wholeairship had better be shelved. The newand more financially rewardingfield of the motor car must have seemed toPennington to offer muchbetter prospects of immediate financial rewards. He must also haveknown that there were aeronautical designers in Europe who had forgedahead in the airship field with whom he could hardly compete. In theMotor Museum in Beaulieu, Hampshire there is a very rare vehicle.It is an 1896 Pennington motor-tricycle. It is worth looking atclosely. The twin-cylinder, water cooled engine functions by fuelinjection and the ignition system is remarkably ingenious, operatingan early form of spark plug on each cylinder. The wheelshave wire spokes and furnished with wide tires of modern crosssection. It is a really remarkable piece of advanced engineering for its time and marks its designer, Pennington, as a brilliantengineer of foresight and genius. -------------------------------------------------------------------- If you have comments or other information relating to suchtopics as this paper covers, please upload to KeelyNet or send to the Vangard Sciences address as listed on the first page. Thank you for your consideration, interest and support. Jerry W. Decker.........Ron Barker...........Chuck Henderson Vangard Sciences/KeelyNet -------------------------------------------------------------------- If we can be of service, you may contact Jerry at (214) 324-8741 or Ron at (214) 242-9346 --------------------------------------------------------------------
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24HourForums.com > Supported Forums > MrParanormal's Paranormal Phenomena > Did Pennington Build the 1897 U.S.A. Airship? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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