Ben Abruzzo

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Ben L. Abruzzo (born June 9, 1930 in Rockford , Illinois ; died February 11, 1985 in Albuquerque , New Mexico ) was an American balloonist . With other crew members jointly succeeded the first balloon flight across the Atlantic and soon over the Pacific Ocean and the longest non-stop balloon flight in the Double Eagle V .

Life

Abruzzo graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1952 and served two years in the US Air Force at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque (1952-54). He settled in town and became a real estate developer and eventually owner of two well-known ski resorts, one near Albuquerque and the other near Santa Fe . He, like his wife and children, played many active sports such as skiing , boating , sailing , tennis , flying, and ballooning .

Monument to the Double Eagle II in Presque Isle , Maine

In 1978 Abruzzo achieved the first transatlantic balloon crossing in the Double Eagle II with Maxie Anderson (1934-1983) and Larry Newman ( 1947-2010 ) . Started on August 17th in Preque Island / Maine, they reached northern France after 137 flight hours and 5781 kilometers and landed in Miserey. In 1979 Abruzzo and Anderson won the Gordon Bennett Race in the USA in the Double Eagle III .

On November 9, 1981, the transpacific flight started in Nagashima, Japan, with Abruzzo as captain and teammates Larry Newman and Ron Clark, both from Albuquerque, as well as Rocky Aoki , an American-Japanese restaurant owner from Miami , who co-financed the flight. The balloon landed in the Mendocino National Forest , California , on November 12, 84 hours and 31 minutes later . The balloon ride was the longest in history with a distance of 9244 kilometers.

Abruzzo held nine balloon world records, more than any other balloonist, when he and his wife, along with four companions, died in the crash of a small plane he was piloting. His children continued to run the family business, and his son Richard became a prominent balloonist. Richard Abruzzo and Carol Rymer Davis , a well-known radiologist from Denver , won the 2004 Gordon Bennett race but were both killed in the Bennett race in September 2010 when their balloon crashed into the Adriatic Sea .

Awards

Remarks

  1. ↑ a b c d Ben L. Abruzzo. In: Encyclopædia Britannica . Retrieved April 10, 2018 .
  2. ↑ An unofficial performance of the Gordon Bennett Cup .
personal data
SURNAME Abruzzo, Ben
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Abruzzo, Ben L.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American balloonist
DATE OF BIRTH June 9, 1930
PLACE OF BIRTH Rockford , Illinois
DATE OF DEATH February 11, 1985
Place of death Albuquerque , New Mexico