George Washington first envisioned
aerial transportation between Europe and North America when in 1784 he said,
"...our friends at Paris will come flying through the air instead of
ploughling the ocean."Double Eagle II
George Washington first envisioned
aerial transportation between Europe and North America when in 1784 he said,
"...our friends at Paris will come flying through the air instead of
ploughling the ocean."
For more than a century the Atlantic held a mystic over aeronauts, much like today's desire to circumnavigate the world by balloon. Not all Atlantic attempts were properly planned and ended in disaster.
On August 6, 1974 Robert Berger told reporters, "What got me into ballooning was the challenge and the glory and I felt there might be some fame and fortune in it for me. I'm not without fear. It's more of an anxiety. I've been given an opportunity to get off my duff and do something exciting."
The excitement lasted about 20 minutes. While attempting to fly his balloon, The Spirit of Man, across the Atlantic Ocean, 46-year old Robert Berger died when the helium filled balloon burst at 6,000 feet over Barnegat Bay off the coast of New Jersey. Authorities did not know that Berger had no previous ballooning experience until he was standing in his gondola ready to take-off from the Naval Air Station at Lakehurst.
Finally it looked like one would succeed. July 26, 1978 Zanussi, a hybrid helium/hot air balloon built and flown by Don Cameron, along with Major Christopher Davey, launched from St. John's, New Foundland. This was the fourteenth attempt to be the first across the Atlantic by balloon. Two days later meteorologist Bob Rice told Ben Abruzzo, Maxie Anderson, and Larry Newman, "I'm sorry for your sake but the Zanussi is home free as long as it maintains altitudes above 12,000 feet for the remainder of the flight."
The next day Zanussi developed a tear and set down in the Atlantic 110 miles short of the French coast. Ten days later the Albuquerque, New Mexico trio lifted off from Presque Isle, Maine. 137 hours and six minutes later Double Eagle II landed in a farmer's barley field near Miserey, France. The world was electrified. Back in the US the trans-Atlantic team of Joe Kittinger and Douglas Palermo, with another Yost built gas balloon, packed up and went home.
Since the mid-nineteenth century balloonists had been dreaming about flying across the Atlantic. History had been made. Like today's around-the-world contestants, Double Eagle I1 had to overcome equipment, logistic, and weather patterns that doomed the earlier attempts.
This month is the twentieth anniversary of Double Eagle I1's conquest. Contributing Editor, Peter Stekel, visited with Ed Yost, Larry Newman, Patty Anderson, and Richard Abruzzo and talked with them about their remembrances of Double Eagle II.
