allow it to fly using "gravity propulsion"—without the assistance of an engine—along the lines of Solomon Andrews's original Aereon but substituting helium heating for Andrews's dropping of ballast and helium cooling for his valving of hydrogen. However, Fitzpatrick is quoted elsewhere as "deplor[ing] such exaggerations." Specifications Destruction On April 15, 1966, the AEREON III was taxiing on a runway at Mercer County Airport in a crosswind when it failed to slow down, tried to turn at the end of the runway, and tilted over onto two wheels. One of the pilots jumped from the cockpit, and the airship then turned flat on its back. The second pilot then jumped straight down from the inverted cockpit, and the airship overturned a second time. According to John McPhee's book The Deltoid Pumpkin Seed, the remains of the AEREON III were "virtually bulldozed back into the hangar, arriving more or less in flakes." However, another source states that reconstruction into a new, larger AEREON IIIB was contemplated. This craft would have been long and in span, with a "metal-clad, partially delta" shape. According to this source, the damaged AEREON III was eventually broken up "sometime in 1967." The AEREON III was succeeded by the AEREON 26, which had an entirely different, deltoid shape. The new aircraft inherited its predecessor's McCulloch engine, along with aluminum tubing from the structure of AEREON III and several of its instruments. One of the nosecones from AEREON III is reportedly in the Lighter-than-Air Society's collection in Akron, Ohio. See alsoComparable aircraft:' AEREON 26 Notes References Airships of the United States 1960s United States experimental aircraft Single-engined pusher aircraft