Flight 52: Released from Alamogordo, New Mexico, 0958 MST, April 23, 1948 Recovered at Galseburg, Kansas
On this flight a .001" polyethylene balloon carried the first model of the Lange Barograph and an improved Olland-cycle pressure modulator to give improved radiosonde pressure data. The signal from the radiosonde was lost soon after the release, but the barograph was recovered and the altitude record is shown in Figure 17. It will be seen that the balloon rose to a
Figure 17
pressure such that the barograph pen passed off the chart, and several hours of flight were not recorded. The slowly rising ceiling seen here was the first long-period confirmation of the expected behavior of a balloon controlled by a constant ballast loss. The flow in this case was set for about 250 grams per hour, and the altitude change was about 400 feet per hour. This rise of "ceiling" is somewhat larger than predicted and heightened the interest in obtaining temperature measurements so that the buoyancy behavior could be more exactly determined.