DIRIGIBLE BALLOONS OFF IN RACE TO ALBANY
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 Striving to win a prize of $10,000 and the honor of sailing in the air from New

 York to Albany above the same water course on which Robert Fulton sent the first

 steamboat one hundred years ago, the dirigible balloons of Thomas S. Baldwin and

 George L. Tomlinson started in a race from Fulton Flight Square, 119th street and

 Riverside Drive, shortly before noon today.


 The airship carrying Tomlinson got off first, making the start at 11:35. Capt.

 Baldwin was in the air at 11:50 and in hot pursuit.


 The starts were made without any mishaps and thousands of persons who had been

 waiting for hours burst into prolonged cheers as the balloons soared in the air

 and headed up the Hudson.


 All the grand stands in the vicinity were black with people and the windows and

 roofs of the many apartment houses in that part of the city were filled almost to

 overflowing. Before reaching the river both airships were forced to go over some

 of the housetops, which gave the spectators on the roofs a close view of the two

 sailors.


 Capt. Baldwin really started both of the big balloons, and he was the builder of

 both of them. Tomlinson's ship was the first to be brought out of its big tent

 and carried to the centre of the enclosure. It was a great cigar-shaped bag

 painted a bright yellow with the framework for the driver and machinery

 underneath. Tomlinson was lifted onto his seat and preparations quickly made to

 send the airship on its way. Capt. Baldwin stood nearby and directed every move.



 Tomlinson, who is a young man, and who was driving the ship for the first time

 appeared nervous and asked Baldwin many questions about different parts of the

 machinery. He also wanted to know if the current in the river was very swift.



 Capt. Baldwin did his best to give the [answers, and] told the hundred men who

 were holding the car to the ground to let go. The ship rose instantly, and as it

 did so Baldwin shouted to Tomlinson:

 "You've got a great balance George, but raise your planes a little."

 Tomlinson was still nervous, and instead of raising the planes lowered them, but

 saw his mistake in an instant and set them right. With the movement of the planes,

 the Tomlinson ship cleared the high board fence just in time and then rose rapidly.

 A huge derrick on the spire of a church nearby threatened to wreck the balloon,

 but before it reached it Tomlinson seemed to have found himself again and steered

 the big aircraft out of danger.



 He did not turn at once for the river, but made his way to the Hudson in a long

 curve. This took him over the tops of many of the apartment houses, to the great

 delight of the people on the roofs, but in a short time he got over the Hudson and

 then started to follow the river. At that time the ship was about 500 feet in the

 air.


 The Baldwin craft was housed in the tent marked "Airship Garage No. 3". It is

 technically known as a dirigible balloon. The gas bag is 96 feet long, with a

 diameter tapering from 15 to 17 feet. It holds 20,000 cubic feet of hydrogen gas

 capable of lifting 1,300 pounds. The car or frame underneath is built of bamboo,

 Oregon spruce, and metal, 60 feet long. She has horizontal planes in front like

 [an aeroplane].



 The Globe and Commercial Advertiser, 29 Sep 1909

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 While the aeroplanes were sailing successfully off the south end of Manhatten

 Island, in the upper part of the city two huge balloons, entered in a race that was

 to have extended from New York to Albany, came to grief. Starting from 119th street

 and Riverside drive at 11:36 am, George L. Tomlinson came to earth in less than two

 hours on the country estate of Howard Willetts, near White Plains, after covering

 about twenty-two miles. The leaking of his gasoline and oil pipes made the danger

 of an explosion so great that he decided to abandon his ambitious attempt to reach

 Albany.


 Baldwin's flight was still shorter and more disasterous. Less than an hour from the

 time he left the starting point at 119th street his balloon dropped into the Hudson

 opposite 190th street. The vibration caused by the engine and the stiff puffs of

 wind combined to weaken the framework of his dirigible until the sky pilot realized

 he no longer could contol it properly. He had to shut off his motor and drop to the

 surface of the river, where two launches from the United States battleship Nebraska,

 from which his dangerous predicament had been noticed, took him onboard and brought

 his gasbag ashore.


 Exerpt from AEROPLANES FLY, DIRIGIBLES FAIL, IN CITY'S CELEBRATION
 The New York Press, 30 Sep 1909

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