Settle Up

When Lieut.-Commander Thomas G. W. ("Tex") Settle's big stratosphere balloon was jockeyed out of its air dock at Akron one early morning last week only a few hundred persons had turned out to watch. On hand were no admirals, no major generals, no tycoons such as graced the seven-hour ceremonies preceding the Settle flight last August which was brought to a quick and ignominious finish in a Chicago railroad yard by a defective valve (TIME, Aug. 14). Since then Soviet stratospherists had made the chances of a new record harder by ascending to 11.8 mi. (TIME, Oct. 9).

As the balloon was released, Commander Settle sat confidently atop the gondola and threw off ballast. A 55 m.p.h. wind swept the bag southeast across Ohio toward Washington. Near East Liverpool (Ohio) they were up 12,500 ft.; near Pittsburgh, up 49,000. At last, they scratched over 58,000 ft., began to descend, and while an all-night search for them was begun by Navy planes and land parties, landed near Bridgeton, N. J. They had not broken the Russian record, but they had sent the first U. S. balloon into the stratosphere.

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