The Ill-Fated "Boomerang"

 

Hi Guys!

 

It's Andrew the Bee, with a tale of triumph and tragedy from the early days of aviation!  I'm talkin' about Charles Oliver Jones, the pioneer aeronaut!  Jones, better known as C. O. Jones, or "Cojones" to you and me, was one of the first guys to exploit the commercial possibilities of airship travel! 

Back in the early 1900s, it wasn't super clear if airplanes or lighter-than-air craft would rule the skies.  So Jones messed around with both.  For a time, he seems to have been working with Alexander Graham Bell and Glenn H. Curtiss on the experimental "June Bug," a weird-looking airplane that won the Scientific American Cup, the nation's first award for for aviation!  He was also tinkering with blimps, in particular the airships designed by Charles J. Strobel.   

 

 

Glenn Curtiss seemed to be getting all of the attention for his airplanes, so Jones focused more on the airships.  He had big plans, which he advertised in these fanciful post cards!  Just like Curtiss did with the Wright Brothers' basic idea, Jones modified and improved on Strobel's design.

Some of Jones's notions seem to be a little far-fetched, though!  I mean, how is that "airship passenger train" not going to get blown all over the place?  And let's be honest, no American airship of the early 1900s was that large!

You know something's a little off when the "passenger section" of the aircraft is basically a wooden plank next to the pilot!  But I give Jones credit for coming clean here.  You see, the Boomerang was no larger than any other Strobel airship and despite the improvements that Jones made, it was really good for nothing except exhibition flights at the county fair.  No shame in that, though -- These early airships and their brave pilots introduced tens of thousands of Americans to the dream of flight!  

By 1908, however, the reality of the Boomerang was that it was old and worn.  It had developed a leak problem and was starting to look a little worse for wear!  That didn't stop Jones, though.  In early September of that year, he and his airship showed up at the Central Maine Fair at Waterville, Maine.  This image, taken by an obscure photographer named Voltz, shows the Boomerang just before it was to make one of its regular flights over the fairgrounds.  It was a bit windy that day and Jones should have thought twice before taking that old blimp up.  But he knew that the show must go on and so he went anyway!  

The trip over the fair went fine, but as Jones was heading out over an open field, the gas bag caught fire, probably from a spark that flew from the engine.  The wind was pulling at that old blimp and there must have been a lot of escaping gas for that spark to ignite!  By the time Jones, knew what was happening, it was too late!  He tried to descend, but then the rest of the gas went up in a ball of fire  and the Boomerang plunged to the earth!  Jones hit the ground and hung on for about an hour and a half before he died of his injuries.  His wife and kid were the first to reach him as he lie tangled in the wreckage of his airship.  Man, that's tough!  

The accident made national news and then Jones was immediately forgotten.  Those early airships faded away not long after and it wouldn't be until the Graf Zeppelin came to the U.S. in 1929 that anybody started to show a real interest in lighter-than-air again.  But that episode would be short-lived, too.  

 

Hindenburg Disaster, May 6, 1937

 

 God speed, Mr. Jones!  See you on the other side!

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