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Don Piccard
Summary
Donald Louis Piccard (January 13, 1926 – September 13, 2020) was a Swiss-born American balloon pioneer, promoter, innovator, designer, builder, and pilot.
Piccard was born in Lausanne, Switzerland to Jean Felix Piccard and Jeanette (Ridlon) Piccard. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1931. Don Piccard first flew in a balloon in 1933, when he was enlisted as "crew" by his mother. She was the first woman to fly to the edge of space and the first American woman to earn a balloon pilot's license. Don Piccard served as a balloon and airship rigger in the U. S. Navy during World War II and at Naval Air Station Lakehurst during the Korean War.
Despite not graduating, Piccard was one of the driving forces behind the ballooning revival after the war while a student at the University of Minnesota. He made the first post-war free flight on February 16, 1947 with a captured Japanese Fu-Go balloon, earning his balloon pilot certification from the CAA. In 1948, Piccard organized the first balloon club in the United States, the Balloon Club of America. This club, along with the Balloon Flyers of Akron, formed the U.S. national ballooning organization the Balloon Federation of America.
On August 17, 1959, Piccard flew a red, white and blue balloon basket at a centennial commemoration of John Wise's Jupiter balloon flight of US Mail. In the same basket he set a gas balloon world record altitude of 34,642 feet on July 19, 1961 from Faribault, Minnesota.
Piccard pioneered plastic and Mylar balloons for superpressure balloons. In 1962, he set a new altitude record for a second-class free flight balloon, climbing to 17,000 feet.
In 1962, he founded the nation's first hot-air balloon race at the St. Paul Winter Carnival. On 13 April 1963, Piccard and Ed Yost were the first people to cross the English Channel in a hot air balloon. Also in 1963 at Kalamazoo, Michigan; Piccard clerked the National Aeronautic Association recognized first National Hot Air Balloon Championship.
Piccard worked on thermal balloons at Raven Industries from 1962-1964.
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