Abstract
IN NATURE of August 19, 1909, a note appeared stating that in an ascent from Turin the Italian balloon Albatross, manned by Lieut. Mina and Signor Piacenza, had reached a height of 38,715 ft., which is greater by about 3000 ft. than any authenticated record for a manned balloon ascent. A communication has recently been received from Prof. Palazzo, director of the Italian Meteorological Office, in which he states that the aëronauts Mina and Piacenza were not provided with the necessary instruments for measuring the height which they reached, and that M. Mina, in the Rivista Tecnica d'Aeronautica of 1910, modified his earlier estimate and sought to prove that the balloon had reached a height of 9240 m. (30,300 ft.). Owing to the absence of a proper record of pressure and temperature, however, even that value is uncertain.
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SHAW, W. The Ascent of the Italian Balloon “Albatross,” August 12, 1909. Nature 90, 673 (1913). https://doi.org/10.1038/090673b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/090673b0
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