Aeronautic Wireless Messages

This image was published in the Indianapolis Star on May 29, 1909. It is art depicting a comunication system devised by the organizers of the June 5, 1909 national balloon championship at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Speedway President Carl Fisher called for a system that utilized buns of bread with paper bags attached to them. The plan called for a telegraph script to be enclosed in the paper bag. The message on the bag urged anyone finding it to rush it to a local telegraph office and have the message sent to the Indianapolis Star. The messages served to updates the whereabouts of the balloonist that dropped it and thereby assisted the newspaper in covering the event.