Pioneer of Modern Hot-Air Ballooning Dies

The inventor of the modern hot-air balloon, Paul "Ed" Yost, has died at the age of 87.

Yost, a balloon- and parachute-design pioneer whose most famous innovation fostered the sport of hot-air ballooning, died yesterday at his home in Taos, N.M. from natural causes.

The idea of using a fire to heat the air inside a balloon sufficiently for manned flight originally was conceived by the Montgolfier brothers in France in the late 1700s. But it wasn't till Yost invented the onboard propane-burner system in 1960 that longer-duration balloon flights became possible. Yost's invention turned hot-air balloons into maneuverable aircraft.

Yost further refined the modern-day balloon with other features that he patented, including non-porous synthetic fabrics, maneuvering vents and deflation systems for landing. He also designed the distinctive "teardrop" shape of the hot air balloon envelope itself, which can be seen on the license plates of all New Mexico vehicles. Yost held 21 patents on balloons and lighter-than-air aviation mechanisms.

On October 18, 1955 Yost developed and flew the first prototype of the modern hot-air balloon in a tethered flight. The 30,000-cubic-foot envelope of the balloon was made from plastic film and Yost burned kerosene to fill it with hot air.

This flight won Yost's new company Raven Industries a $47,000 contract from the U.S. Navy's Office of Naval Research to create a reusable balloon that could carry one man and enough fuel for a flight of three hours and to 10,000 feet.

This contract helped Yost make the first-ever free flight in a modern hot-air balloon on October 22, 1960, at Bruning, Neb. He used an envelope made of a newly developed heat-resistant fabric and heated the air inside the envelope used a propane burner.

After refining and improving his original designs and materials, Yost piloted the first modern hot-air balloon across the English Channel in 1963--178 years after Frenchman Jean-Pierre Blanchard and American John Jeffries first crossed the channel in a hot-air balloon, in 1785.

Yost flew with crew member Don Piccard in a 56,000 cubic-foot Raven balloon named the "Channel Champ" from Rye on England's southeast coast to Gravelines Nord in France. The flight lasted 3 hours 17 minutes.

Although he reportedly had not previously ascended to altitudes higher than 3,000 feet in the balloon, during the cross-channel flight Yost piloted it to an altitude of 13,500 feet to find winds blowing in the required direction.

In October 1976, Yost set 13 aviation world records for distance traveled and amount of time aloft in an attempt to cross the Atlantic Ocean solo by balloon. For the attempt he designed and built a helium-filled balloon, the "Silver Fox," in his home garage.

His balloon featured a boat-shaped gondola in case Yost was forced down at sea--which he was. Although Yost's flight covered more distance than the mileage to Europe from his launch point at Milbridge, Maine, his 2,740-mile flight path took him more south than east and Yost touched down in the Atlantic 200 miles east of the Azores.

The first crossing of the Atlantic by a hot-air balloon was achieved two years later by Ben Abruzzo, Maxie Anderson and Larry Newman. They flew in a balloon designed, built and launched by Yost.

Yost also helped to found the Balloon Federation of America (BFA) and helped organize the first US National Ballooning Championship at Indianola, Iowa.

He received awards for his contributions to aviation from The Federation Aeronautique Internationale, the Wingfoot Lighter-Than-Air Society, the National Aeronautic Association, the Balloon Federation of America and the Aero Club of New England. Yost was also the first person inducted into the U.S. Ballooning Hall of Fame. He was awarded the prestigious Lipton Trophy by the British Balloon and Airship Club in 2006.

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