ballooning

For the Atlantic flight it was Maxie Anderson, Larry Newman and Ben Abruzzi.

Oct 18, 1913 article in NYT [ query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9907EFDC133FE633A... ] is about a horrible balloon accident and there had apparently been another balloon accident on September 9. Perhaps that accounts for Bain having such a photo.

Looks like it may be a baloon reconnaissance unit. There were quite a few of them in that era. See www.falmanac.com/2008/02/my-dutiful-balloon-precarious-fo... for a short history.

The John Wanamaker store in Philadelphia (now Macy's). Photo appears to have been taken looking Northeast towards the Delaware River.

Clearly not a hot-air balloon - hydrogen perhaps?

Looks like Wanamaker liked "firsts" www.wanamakerorgan.com/facts.html so one wonders what sort of "first" this might have been.

Wanamaker is properly spelled with only one "n." This is the roof of the Wanamaker store in New York City, where the balloon was tethered for several days while it was filled with hydrogen gas made on the spot by pouring sulphuric acid over iron filings. It was planned that the balloon would be launched and steered toward Philadelphia, but the pilot got lost in fog and landed in West Nyack instead. Here's the story from the New York Times, July 9, 1911: query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9506E0D71431E233A... Another Bain/LOC photo of the Wanamaker balloon: And another: Balloonist Leo Stevens in the basket of the Wanamaker balloon:

Wystan: Thanks for the additional information here. We'll correct the typo and add the location and date to the description next time we update the record.