Swiss Balloon Appears Contest Winner
PALM SPRINGS — A Swiss pilot landed his helium-filled balloon Monday outside a small town in Montana to become the apparent winner of the Gordon Bennett distance race.
Karl Spenger of Switzerland and his son-in-law and co-pilot, Ronald Schuler, safely touched down in their balloon, Jura, at 1:45 p.m., a mile west of Ashland in southeastern Montana, about 40 miles north of the Wyoming state line.
Townspeople welcomed the crew, which had to attend to their balloon themselves because they brought no support crew with them.
Race officials were calculating how far the Jura traveled from Palm Springs before declaring Spenger the winner. The landing site was about 800 miles northeast of Palm Springs.
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