Balloon Life,July 1999

12

The Boston-area based Aero Club of New
Englandistheoldestaeroclubinthe
United States, and the second oldest aero
clubinthe world.It predates the Wright
Brothers first airplane flight, having been
foundedbygasballoonistsin1902. The
GodfreyL. Cabot Award, namedfor the
founder of the Aero Club of New England
and first American president ofthe Fédéra-
tionAéron autiq ueInternation ale,is
awarded annually to individuals or teams
whohavemade unique, significant, and
unparalleledcontributionstofoster,en-
courage, and advance aviation and space-
flight. The honor roll of award recipients
isevenmoreexclusivethantheNAA
ElderStatesmanAward,withonlyone
personor teambeingnamedeachyear.
PreviousrecipientshaveincludedIgor
Sikorsky,GeneralCurtisLeMay,Dr.
Ch arlesStarkDraper,GeneralJames
Doolittle,theRutan /Yeag erVo yag er
team,jetengin einv ento rsSirFrank
Whittle and Hans Ohain, and Colonel Joe
W. Kittinger, Jr.
OnFriday, June11, 1999,Paul Ed-
ward“Ed”Yost,becameonlythe48th
person inthis distinguished line when he
receivedthe1999CabotAward.The
awardwaspresentedto Yostin recogni-
tion of his lifetime achievements and sig-
nificantandenduringcontributionsto
aviation as the inventor of the modern hot
air balloon, which opened up a new era in
sportaviationaroundtheworld,andfor
thedevelopmentofthefirstsuccessful
transatlanticgas balloons.The formal pre-
sentationoftheawardtookplaceata
luncheonindowntownBostoninthe el-
egant wood-panelled halls ofThe Harvard
Club.Over 200aviation enthusiastsand
dignitaries were in attendance for the pre-
sentation of the award.
Yost chose tosave his most interest-
ing stories for an informal get-together in
aroom at The Harvard Club following the
formal presentation of the Cabot Award.
Abouttwodozenaviationenthusiasts,
primarilyNewEnglandballoonists,got
tohearthefatherofhotairballooning
give his bluntly honest answers to a range

of questions. It was a rare look at the start
of hot air ballooning as we know it from
the manwholiterally started it all.
Yost saidthatthroughoutthe 1950s
he was involvedwithmilitaryandother
classifiedgovernmentprogramsusing
balloonstocarryleafletsandevenmen
across the Iron Curtain from three launch
sitesinWestGermany.Usingdifferent
sizedballoons,mostofEasternEurope
could becovered,carrying anywherefrom
4 poundsto over 750pounds of leaflets.
Yostsaidthattheleafletswereactually

small newspapers that wouldgive inhab-
itants of Communist dominated countries
newsoftheWesttheycouldn’tgetany
other way. He said “the thing worked too
damngoodandwegottheHungarian
Revolution. Eisenhower stopped the pro-
gram.Weshouldhavebeendropping
45s.”
ItisapparentthattheCommunist
bloc countries were in the habit of looking
for and shootingdownthe gasballoons.
Yostsaidthat“wewerelaunchingbig
balloons in the daytime. Some days there
would be a trail of balloons across the sky.
Fighter planes were blowingthem out of
thesky,so they changed tolaunching at
night.”
The modernhot air balloonevolved
from experiments in the mid-1950s which

Yost wasconductingaimedat usinghot
air as a lifting gas. Yost was well aware of
earlysmokeballoonflights,andbegan
experiments toquantifythe liftingprop-
ertiesof hotair comparedtohelium and
hydrogen. Beginning with plumbers pots
fueledbywhitegasusedtoheatairin
plasticballoonsindoors,hedetermined
that64cubicfeetofhotairwouldbe
required to lift one pound compared to 16
cubicfeetofhelium.Possiblythrowing
out a challenge to today’s balloon experi-
menters(BrianBolandwasamongthe
balloonists in the room), Yost pointed out
thatsteamwouldrequireonly32cubic
feet to lift one pound. One of the balloons
wasphotographedholdingamanona
harnessunderthetetheredballoon,and
Yost used the photo to negotiatea $47,000
contractfromtheOfficeofNavalRe-
search.
Yost saidthat thefirstman-capable
hot air balloon flight on October 22, 1960
usedpropanevaporratherthanliquid
propane.Hehadtoshakethepropane
tanks on the cold October day to get some
of the liquidpropanetovaporize onthe
sides ofthetanks. After a slow climbto
around 500 to 600 feet, Yost succeeded in
staying aloft for 35 minutes. The deflation
openingwasonly 7feetacross, with the
fabric heldtogether bya line whichwas
cut by an explosive squib fired by a flash-
lightswitch.Thesmallholeopenedup
when the squib was fired. But with such a
smallopening, the balloondeflatedvery
slowly and Yost said “theballoon dragged
me all over the country.”
One of the first modifications was to
developaliquidpropane-firedburner.
Oneof thefirstflightsofaburnerwith
preheattubesalmostendeddisastrously
whentheburnerblewup.Yostsaidhe
“turned everythingoffandlandedlike a
tonofbricks.” After thefirstflight, this
one, and various other escapades, his doc-
tor told him that “he had already worn out
three bodies.”
By the time he and his team hadmet
allofthe Navyrequirementsforaone-
man balloon and the final report was writ-

GodfreyL.CabotAward

Ed Yost honored by the Aero Club of New England

byJim Ellis

Ed Yost receives Cabot Award from Cabot
great-grandson, Dr. “Kit” Sluder.

BalloonLife,July1999

14

ten, Yosthad developedandflownhot air
balloons incorporating all ofthe major
characteristics of today’s modern hot air
balloonsincludingnonporouscoatedsyn-
theticfabrics, liquidpropane fueled burn-
ers with preheater tubes and fast acting
valves,andmaneuvering and deflation
vents forcontrol ofthe aircraft during
flight and landing.
Perhaps themost fascinating story
Yost toldwasofhis flight across the
English Channel. He said that the flight
was not a sport balloon flight but rather
the idea of his government sponsor, who
wanted to demonstrate the range and en-
durance capabilitiesof the balloon. When
told by European air traffic control offi-
cials thatthere was toomuch traffic atthe
shortestpointnear Calais,he said thatwas
no problem because he had 12 hours of
fuel on board and wanted to go where the
Channelwaswider. Theballoonwasflown
toEngland onan Air Force KC-97 tanker/
cargo aircraftwhich left from Minnesota.
Yost wasnot particularly compli-
mentary towardDonPiccard, whoshared
the flight andwho Yost refers to as a
“passenger,” nota copilot. “I don’tknow
why we took Piccard,”Yost related. “He
didn’t know how to fly the damn thing. I
told him ‘keep your damn hands off and
take pictures.’“ They took offin April
1963 despite unfavorable winds because
the KC-97 was scheduledto pick them up
inFrance onthe 14th. Initiallythe balloon
headedinland towardLondon, untilYost,
in an incredible display offaith in the
equipment he had designed, took the bal-
loonto13,500feet where he finallyfound
winds heading toward France. It was in-
credible because he had never before had
the balloon above 3,000 feet!
When he reached the French coast,
YostsaidhelookedstraightdownatCalais
and could see smoke from a powerplant
stack blowing straight out to sea. He de-
cided to fly five or six miles inland and
then dive for the ground. When he was
ready to descend, he “turned off every-
thing and screamed out of the sky.” He
periodically slowed the descent with the
single burnercan,finally turning it on
wide open at 1,500 feet to round out the
descent.
Ahead were plowed fields, but also
powerlines.Hepulled upovertwo of
three sets of powerlines, and fortunately
saw that the final set of poles was new

with no lines.The balloon finally flew
over a canal and landed in a muddy field
less than half a mile from the ocean. He
said that his landing was complicated by
his passenger bailing out when he fired
thesquibtoopenthe topfor deflation.The
balloontook off again and dragged a long
way through the mud. Yost said when he
finally caught up with Piccard again he
told him “If you ever ride with me again
I’m going to tie your legs in the basket.”
They were initially taken to a police
station, where “every piece of paper in
their pockets was inspected,” and then
released. Maybe the police were giving
the town officials time to arrange for the
impromptucelebration tofollow.Yost
and Piccard were next taken to CityHall
where the Burgomeister, a former World
War I balloonist, met them wearing tails.
Theywere treatedto champagneandpast-
ries. Lessthantwo hoursafter they landed
they were taken to a restaurant for a ban-
quet.Yostsaidthathalfthebusinesspeople
in town showed up.
One hilariousepisodeoccurred atthe
banquet. Charles Dollfus, the elderly and
eccentricFrenchballoonist, tookYost
aside and ushered him into the coed toi-
lets. “Now is the time,” Dollfus toldhim.
“The timeforwhat?” Yost responded.
“The time to see the tattoos!”exclaimed
Dollfus, bending over and dropping his
pants. The world ballooning community,
including Yost,hadheardstories that
Dollfus had a Charliere balloon tattooed
on one cheek and a Montgolfiere on the
other. Yost said “I did get a good look at
the things. The Montgolfiere was on the
right. Hewas about 90 so they looked
semi-deflated, and faded too!”
Yostclaimstohave hadnothingto do
with the development of sport balloons.
Even his first-ever hot air balloon flight
across the English Channel was made at
the request ofhis government sponsor
who was looking for to demonstrate the
range andother capabilitiesofthe new hot
air balloon. Despitehisclaims notto have
had anything to do withsportballooning,
he flew inthe first ever rallyatthe St.Paul
Winter Carnival in 1962 as well as early
rallies in Montana and California; made
money flying a small one man balloon at
storeopeningsandotherpromotional
events; and builtand flew early flights in
thehotairballoonwhich Malcolm Forbes
used to establish arecord crossing the

United States in several hops in 1973.
Yost has had a difficult past when it
comestotheBalloonFederationof
America, which he co-founded withDon
Kersten andPetrerPellegrino.He said
that the three of them even put in $100
each of their own money to bankroll the
neworganization’streasury. Itwasn’tlong
before those who ran the BFA were mak-
ingrules for their own reasons and possi-
bly theirown benefit,andYost found
himself thrown out of his own organiza-
tionfor flyinginan unsanctionedevent in
Canada.
Yost said that he enrolled his dog in
the BFA, claiming that the elusive mem-
ber was “the guard in a balloon factory.”
In the dog’s name, Yost would send in
letters critical of the way the BFA was
being run atthe time. Yost said the editor
of BFA magazine at the time was on to
him but ran his letters anyway. At one
point, says Yost, his dog ran for the BFA
board andgot more votes that some of the
other candidates but didn’t win.
Convinced during a BFA member-
ship drive to rejoin, Yost stopped by a
BFArecruitmenttrailerinIndianola.Nikki
Caplan opened the door and said “I don’t
feel good, come back later.”
“Therewentanotherfiveyears,”com-
mented Ed. Eventually Don Kersten saw
to it that Yost was sent a plaque saying
that Yost was aLifeMember.Yost’s
name, address, and phone number isnow
listed in the BFA Membership Roster.
But he is stillcritical of the BFA in gen-
eral. When asked aboutwhere he thought
sport ballooning wasgoing, hereplied
“Our political organization is worse than
the government. Everybody has the an-
swer but they don’t know what the prob-
lem is.” Yost was also critical of compe-
titionandcommercialrideballoonopera-
tors, sayingthatgreed and excessivecom-
petitivenesshaveputanastyedgeon
relations between some balloonists, par-
ticularly in the western U.S.
The Godfrey L. Cabot Award caps a
magnificent career by the father of mod-
ern hot air ballooning, who has also re-
ceivedotherhonorsincludingbeingnamed
asanNAAElderStatesmanin1994;
being named the first living inductee of
the FédérationAéronautiqueInternation-
ale Hallof Fame in 1995; recipient of the
French“DiplomePaulTissandier”in1975
and the “Montgolfier Diplome” in 1976.