Ben L. AbruzzoBorn 9 Jun 1930; died 11 Feb 1985 at age 54.American balloonist who, with three crew mates, made the first transpacific balloon flight that was also the longest nonstop balloon flight, in the Double Eagle V. Thirteen-stories high, helium filled Double Eagle V, piloted by Ben Abruzzo, Larry Newman, Ron Clark and Rocky Aoki of Japan, launched from Nagashimi, Japan on 10 Nov 1981. When it landed 84 hours, 31 minutes later in Mendocino National Forest, Cal., the new distance record was set at 5,768 miles. He also accompanied Maxie Anderson and Larry Newman on the first tranatlantic balloon flight in the Double Eagle II (11-17 Aug 1978). Abruzzo died when his twin-engine airplane crashed in Albuquerque.See National Geographic, 4/82, First Across the Pacific: Flight of Double Eagle V, pp. 513-521. |
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