44 years ago today was the takeoff of the first non-stop transcontinental balloon flight, a low-emission form of air travel.
On 12th May in 1980. Maxie Anderson and his son Kristian, made the first non-stop trans-North American balloon flight. The flight departed Fort Baker in California near The Golden Gate Bridge on May 8th, and landed in Quebec on 12th May. The balloon landed in a meadow in a pine forest in the picturesque region of Canada. The flight was 2,800 miles, and the pilots took along a range of foods, including jelly sandwiches, potatoes and soup! The helium balloon was 75 feet tall, and even had a camping stove.
Anderson was also part of the balloon crews who made the first crossings of both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Unfortunately his hobby also killed him.
Anderson was killed on June 27, 1983, near Bad Kissingen, West Germany. He was in the air with co-pilot Don Ida. Having no wish to stray across the border into East Germany or Czechoslovakia, he attempted to release the gondola from the envelope at touchdown. The bolts failed to fire, and a gust re-lofted the vehicle, whereupon the explosive bolts deployed, and both Anderson and Ida were killed in the fall.[9][10] The locale of the accident is also given as "near the village of Schönderling in the county of Bad Kissingen"[11] in a history of the Gordon Bennett Cup balloon race, in which they were participating as non-competitors at the time.
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