Paul E. (Ed) Yost
Father of the Modern Hot-Air Balloon
A Few Highlights of His Life
Prepared by Christine Kalakuka and Brent Stockwell
for a Balloon Safety Seminar
©1999
Balloon Publishing Company
In 1935, Ed Yost watched Captains Albert Stevens and Orvil Anderson depart from the Stratobowl in South Dakota, on their way to set an altitude record of 72,395 feet. Sixteen-year-old Yost had been interested in aeronautics and aviation for years.
Yost, born in Bristow, Iowa in 1919, was graduated from the Boeing School of Aeronautics here in Oakland, California, in 1940. While at Boeing he lived in Tracy and flew from the Tracy Airport, becoming one of United Airlines' "Tracy Aces". Yost was employed by the U.S. Army Air Force from 1943 to 1945, and learned meteorology at the University of Minnesota in 1950.
Yost spent a lot of time in Alaska in the forties, first working for Ferguson Airways, based in Kotzebue, a port on the Arctic Ocean within the Arctic Circle. From 1946 to 1948, he worked for Alaska Airlines, based in Anchorage.
In 1949 Yost was Senior Engineer and Tracking Pilot at the High Altitude Research Division of General Mills in Minneapolis. In '52 they sent a 3.2 million cubic foot balloon, carrying U.S. Navy instruments into the stratosphere to study cosmic Rays, as part of a scientific project that spanned many years.
INVENTING THE MODERN BALLOONLeaving General Mills, Yost and 3 others moved to Sioux Falls, South Dakota and formed Raven Industries. One of Raven's first projects was a commission from the U.S. Navy's Office of Naval Research (ONR) to create an aircraft that would carry one man and enough fuel to fly for three hours, carry a load to 10,000 feet, and be reusable. Additionally, the system was required to be of small size and weight and have a fast inflation and launching system that required a minimum of personnel.
In October 1955 Yost made the first moored flight of a modern hot-air balloon. The envelope was plastic film, and heat was provided by plumbers pots burning kerosene.
First Hot-Air Balloon Flight in the ONR project, October 1955
On October 22, 1960, Yost made the first free flight of a modern hot-air balloon from Bruning, Nebraska. By then Yost had switched to nylon for the envelope, and had created a propane heater. The gross weight of the balloon, including Yost and fuel, was 404 pounds. He was in the air 25 minutes and landed 3 miles from his takeoff point.
The next flight was made November 12, 1960 from the Stratobowl, situated at 4500' MSL. Yost had increased the burner power, reinforced the envelope at the equator to add handling lines, and increased the opening at the top from 9 to 13 feet, doubling the deflation port size. The inflation took 6 minutes and he lifted off at 8:40 a.m. with a gross weight of 465 pounds. At 9:12 a.m. he made an ascent at 300 feet per minute to 9000', then made a 600 feet per minute descent which he successfully halted with the new burner. He landed at 10:30 after a flight of 1 hour and 50 minutes covering 39 miles.
In October 1961 Yost concluded his report to the ONR as follows:
"At the completion of this program in October 1961, all of the basic requirements had been met. A low-weight, manned flight system capable of safely carrying one man for three hours, at altitudes of up to 10,000 feet had been repeatedly flown.
"Inflations and launchings in winds of more than 10 mph and temperatures as low as +5°F had been successfully accomplished. Operations at altitudes of 4,500 feet MSL (above mean sea level) had been demonstrated. Ground support equipment had been developed so that inflation, under light wind conditions, could be carried out in less than ten minutes. Controls, burners and instrumentation adequate to operate the system had been developed.
"As a result of the work done under this contract, the feasibility of using hot air balloons for sustained flight was demonstrated. By the application of modern materials, design techniques and instrumentation, an aerostat which had been known for more than 175 years was resurrected and shown to have substantial value in modern research and operations. The limits of duration and lifting capacity appear to far exceed that developed under this contract; the low cost, simplicity of operation, and logistic advantage which hot air balloons provide, when compared with light-gas balloons, are most impressive. Within the altitude limits where hot air balloons may be used, these modern Montgolfier systems may become an important tool for atmospheric and low-level lifting and transport tasks."
Raven Industries sold their first sport balloon in November 1961 and the new sport of hot-air ballooning was born.
ACROSS THE CHANNEL In 1963, Ed Yost made the first hot-air balloon crossing of the English Channel. With crew member Don Piccard, he made the flight from Rye, Sussex, England to Gravelines Nord, France, in 3 hours and 17 minutes in a 56,000 cubic foot Raven balloon named "Channel Champ". CROSSING THE ATLANTIC BY BALLOON In October 6, 1976 with no fanfare and little media attendance, Ed Yost departed Milbridge, Maine to attempt a crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in a helium balloon named Silver Fox that he designed and built. On October 10, after a flight of 107 hours, 37 minutes, covering a distance of 2,740 miles, the balloon touched down in the Atlantic 200 miles east of the Azores and only 700 miles from the coast of Portugal. In that flight Yost set distance and duration records that still stand. In 1978 Ben Abruzzo, Maxie Anderson, and Larry Newman flew from Presque Isle, Maine across the Atlantic to Miserey, France, in a balloon built, designed, and launched by Ed Yost. REBIRTH OF THE GORDON BENNETT BALLOON RACE In 1979, Dr. Thomas Heinsheimer almost single-handedly revived the first and greatest of balloon races, the Gordon Bennett Balloon Race.When the first postwar contest was held in Long Beach, California on May 26, 1979, three of the 18 gas balloons were designed by Ed Yost and built by his company Skypower. By 1985 Skypower had built and sold 16 balloons, in the American-driven re-birth of gas balloon competition. Yost supervised launch and recovery for many participants flying Skypower balloons, and was Competition Director for the 1985 event.
PATENTS HELD BY ED YOST
2,871,597 Dropping Mechanism
2,924,408 Mechanical Balloon Load Releasing Device
2,937,825 Balloon and Load Bearing Attachment
2,932,469 Balloon System
2,950,882 Balloon Gondola
2,990,147 Balloon Load Attachment Fitting
3,006,584 Balloon Load Lowering Mechanism
3,096,048 Heated Gas Generator for Balloons
3,109,612 Taped Plastic Balloon with J.A. Winker
3,109,611 Balloon Seam Structure and Method of Sealing Balloon Material
3,116,037 Balloon Body Structure for Towed Balloon
3,128,969 Cartridge Inflated Balloon
3,131,889 Balloon Structure with Release Mechanism
3,112,900 Towed Balloon Lift Control
3,170,658 Rapid Controlled Balloon Inflation Mechanism
3,168,266 Method and Apparatus for Supporting Air-borne Loads
3,229,932 Maneuvering Valve for Hot Air Balloon
3,312,427 Balloon Structure with Launching Cells
3,642,400 Illumination Flare/Balloon "Briteye"
3,670,440 Inflatable Display
4,432,513 Improved Gas-Proof Fastening System for a Non-Rigid Airship
SOME HONORS AND AWARDS
• Wingfoot Lighter-than-Air Society Achievement Award, 1963, for the first successful crossing of the English Channel by balloon.
• Balloon Federation of America Award of Appreciation, 1970, for serving as Clerk of the Course, first United States National Hot Air Balloon Championship, Indianola, Iowa.
• Balloon Federation of America Shields-Trauger Award, 1973, for advancing the science of aerostation and ballooning safety.
• Balloon Federation of America Award of Appreciation, 1973, for serving as Clerk of the Course of the First World Hot Air Balloon Championship, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
• Diplôme Paul Tissandier, 1975, (France), for pioneering work in hot air balloon development and for the English Channel crossing by hot air balloon.
• Montgolfier Diplôme, 1976, Fédération Aéronautique International, (France) for the Silver Fox flight from Milbridge, Maine, to San Miguel Island, Azores.
• Coupe Château de Balleroy, 1977, (France), for contribution to the sport of Ballooning, particularly the flight of Silver Fox.
• Wingfoot Lighter-Than-Air Society Achievement Award, 1977, for pioneering work in designing, building, and flying lighter-than-air aircraft, and for the flight of Silver Fox helium balloon, October 5 through 10, 1976.
• National Aeronautic Association Certificate of Honor, 1993, for lifetime contributions to aviation worldwide.
• National Aeronautic Association Elder Statesman Award, 1994, one of its highest honors.
• First living inductee, Fédération Aéronautique International Hall of Fame, 1995.
• In June 1999, Yost will receive the prestigious Aero Club of New England's Godfrey L. Cabot Award for unique, significant, and unparalleled contributions to advance and foster aviation and spaceflight.