The Real Aeronauts

The Women of the America’s Challenge, and Other Aeronautical High Adventures THE REAL AERONAUTS

BY KIM VESELY, FOR THE AIBF HERITAGE COMMITTEE

As the 2019 movie The Aeronauts tells it, in September of 1862, a pioneering British meteorologist, James Glaisher, and a comely and daring pilot, Amelia Wren, embarked on a stratospheric voyage of discovery. They ascended aboard Mammoth, a specially-built coal gas balloon loaded with scientifi c instruments to gather atmospheric data. In the course of the fl ight, they encountered storms, icing, and the effects of hypoxia (oxygen starvation) in reaching the then unheard-of altitude of 32,000 feet. (It might have been higher, but Glaiser passed out and was unable to read his instruments.) By any standard, it was an epic scientifi c and aeronautic achievement.

Except . . . that’s not quite how it happened. Glaiser’s observations and exploits actually spanned a number of ascensions aboard the Mammoth. His pilot was a renowned British balloonist, Henry Coxwell. Yup, a guy, not a gal.

The movie’s creators never claimed that the fi lm was historically accurate; rather, it was “inspired by true events.” Some critics felt it was rather audacious to turn Henry into Amelia and not give Coxwell his historical due. But the fi ctional Amelia’s story also was rooted in “true events.” The great female aeronauts of the 19th century were every bit as skilled and daring as their male counterparts and faced the same dangers and hazards. Today’s female aeronauts – the women of the Balloon Fiesta and the America’s Challenge – stand squarely on their shoulders.

The Pioneers

The fi rst manned hot air and gas balloon free fl ights took place within days of each other, in November of 1783. The pilots were men: JeanFrançois Pilâtre de Rozier and the Marquis François Laurent d’Arlandes fl ew the Montgolfi er brothers’ hot air craft, and physicist Jacques Charles and Nicolas-Louis Robert, two of the inventors of the hydrogen gas balloon, piloted the fi rst gas fl ight. But women were not far behind. Less than a year later, a 19-year-old Frenchwoman, Elisabeth Thible, became the fi rst woman to make a free balloon fl ight. The pilot, a painter and amateur balloonist named Fleurant, credited Mme. Thible with the fl ight’s success, recounting how bravely she had fed the fi rebox through the entire trip.

By the early 1800s, women aeronauts had become a sensation. Perhaps the two best-known were Jeanne-Genevieve Labrosse Garnerin, the fi rst woman to fl y solo, and Marie Madeleine-Sophie Armant, better known by her married name, Blanchard. Both women’s husbands were also balloonists; then as now ballooning couples were commonplace.

Although Labrosse enjoyed a lengthy career as a balloon soloist, Blanchard’s fl amboyant career soon eclipsed Labrosse’s. Sophie’s husband, Jean-Pierre Blanchard, died in 1808, having long since made history as the fi rst person to cross the English Channel by balloon and

This illustration from a French fashion magazine shows an 1802 ascension by Mme. Jeanne-Geneviève Garnerin, the fi rst woman to fl y without a male pilot. (Public domain)

Illustration of Mme. Sophie Blanchard in her silver gondola. This fl ight took place in Italy in 1811. (Public domain)

The fi rst tethered manned ascension in a hot air balloon invented by the Montgolfi er brothers, in Paris, October 1783. (Public domain)

the pilot of the fi rst balloon fl ight in America. After Jean-Pierre’s death, Sophie became arguably even more famous than he had been.

Like the fi ctional Amelia Wren, Sophie said she was “only comfortable in the air.” But not every fl ight was “comfortable” – Sophie survived storms, cold, and high altitudes, including a fl ight over the Alps. She fl ew a balloon with a small silver boat-like gondola with essentially no sides (she hung onto the rigging), and was famed for performing aerial pyrotechnic shows with sophisticated fi reworks rigs. It is perhaps not surprising that she perished when her balloon exploded during a fl ight in 1819.

Through the great age of ballooning barnstormers, women continued to play a role, performing feats of stratospheric skill well into the 20th century. One of them, Clara (Jenny) Van Tassel, was the second wife of Professor Park Van Tassel, who made the fi rst balloon fl ight in Albuquerque in 1883. The fi rst documented female aeronaut in America was a mysterious “Madame Johnson,” who made several fl ights in the 1820’s. Much later, Madame Carlotta Meyers (better known as Mary Meyers) was the fi rst American woman to solo in a balloon, established altitude records, and is estimated to have carried as many as 100,000 passengers aloft during her daring career.

In Search of Science, Exploration, and Adventure

As the airplane took hold, the age of balloon exhibitions came to an end, as did the use of balloons in warfare. A new era in ballooning dawned: an era when balloons, in the tradition of James Glaiser and other scientist-aeronauts, became tools of exploration and discovery.

Perhaps the most renowned of these scientist-aeronauts is Dr. Jeanette Ridlon Piccard, the wife of Jean Piccard and mother of Don Piccard, one of the 13 pilots who fl ew in the fi rst Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. Orville Wright, the co-inventor of the airplane, observed one of her early fl ights, and soon after she received the fi rst balloon pilot license awarded to a woman in the United States. Jeanette became the fi rst woman to reach the stratosphere on October 23, 1934, when she and Jean Piccard fl ew a hydrogen balloon to 57,579 feet (10.9 miles or 17.5 km). Her absolute women’s altitude record stood for nearly three decades, eclipsed only when Valentina Tereshkova became the fi rst woman in space. Later, Jeanette became the fi rst ordained woman Episcopal priest in the U.S.

Vera Winzen Simons – born Vera Habrecht – was a key developer of the polyethylene balloon envelope and in the use of balloons to create kinetic art. Her remarkable career included scientifi c balloon research at Holloman Air Force Base near Alamogordo and the DaVinci Transamerica transcontinental fl ight, a 2,003-mile (3,223 km) attempt to fl y non-stop across the United States during which she set a female distance record. Her fi nal ballooning and arts project, Project Aeolus, used three interlinked balloons lit from within and attached by strings of lights, forming a kinetic sculpture. This fl ight, in 1984, launched from the Expo New Mexico grounds in Albuquerque, with the balloons being fl own by three legendary pilots: Joe Kittinger, Ben Abruzzo (with Vera as co-pilot), and Larry Newman.

Other women focused on the sheer joy and exuberance of fl ight, while themselves setting records and fi nding adventure. Constance (Connie) Wolf was a co-founder of both the Airplane Owners and Pilots Association (APOA) and the Balloon Club of America (BCA); she set a female ballooning endurance record of more than 40 hours. Another co-founder of the BCA, Eleanor Vadala, was the third licensed female balloonist in the U.S.

With the development of the modern propane-fi red hot air balloon in the 1960s and the growing popularity of ballooning in the 1970s, a new generation of aeronauts took fl ight. These included women who realized that ballooning was a rare elite sport where they could participate on an equal footing with men. Flying a balloon does not require

Vera Simons, pilot-in-command, with an al-male fl ight crew from the DaVinci II. (NASA photo, Public domain)

Jeanette Piccard waves to the recovery crew after an ascent to 57,579 ft with her husband Dr. Jean Piccard. (Photo courtesy NASA and the Anderson Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum: S-66-18686, AAAIBM PB2021.002.496 Don Piccard Collection)

extraordinary physical strength, and the wind and weather don’t know or care about a pilot’s gender.

Soon, some of these female aeronauts were winning competitions and setting records. To list just a few: St. Louis’ Nikki Caplan began fl ying in 1971, participated and competed in national competitions and events (including the Balloon Fiesta), and was the fi rst person to legally fl y a balloon though St. Louis’ Gateway Arch. With co-pilot Jane Buckles, she led the fi rst all-female team to compete in the fabled Coupe Aéronautique Gordon Bennett, the world’s oldest balloon race. Susie Kittinger fl ew as husband Joe Kittinger’s co-pilot in several Friends of Gordon Bennett gas balloon races; they won two of them. Carol Rymer Davis, from Albuquerque and Denver, set distance, duration, and altitude hot air balloon records (197981) and in 2004 became the fi rst and still the only woman credited with a Coupe Aéronautique Gordon Bennett win by the International Aeronautical Federation (FAI). In the 1990s, Jetta Schantz, from Florida, broke Davis’ records. Continuing the tradition, a hard-charging young group of women hot air balloonists – Kim Magee, Meg Skelton, Miya Danley, Elisa Trillanes, and many others – are making their mark in national and international competition.

Going the Distance in the America’s Challenge

If there is one ballooning event in the world where female aeronauts have enjoyed both consistent success and high visibility, it is the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta’s America’s Challenge. This event is one of the two great gas balloon distance races in the world, the other being the Coupe Gordon Bennett. Mark Sullivan (see page 97) spearheaded the founding of the America’s Challenge to provide an American showcase for gas ballooning and a high-caliber international competition on American soil. It also turned out to be a huge showcase for female aeronautical talent, both in the air and behind the scenes.

Women fi rst made their mark in the America’s Challenge in the very fi rst race, in 1995. The all-female team of Lesley Pritchard-Davies and Carol Rymer Davis fl ew from Albuquerque to Ohio. While they didn’t place fi rst, they set a world duration record. Just three years later, Tami StevensonBradley – fl ying with her husband, Troy Bradley -- became the fi rst female co-pilot on a winning America’s Challenge team. Dr. Janet Folkes of Great Britain – another multiple worldrecord holder-- in 2005 became the fi rst woman listed as primary pilot on an America’s Challenge team to win the race.

In a major milestone for women in aerostation, in 2010 women captured the top three positions in the America’s Challenge. The victors – Albuquerque’s Barbara Fricke, Canada’s Danielle Francoeur (whose teammate was an American woman, Linda Ellis), and Texas’ Cheri White – made sure the male members of

Carol Rymer Davis, who set multiple world records and won both the Gordon Bennett and America’s Challenge gas balloon distance races, prepares for a 2007 America’s Challenge fl ight. (Author’s photo)

their teams wore pink scarves as they collected their trophies. This may be the only time women have swept the podium in any international ballooning competition open to pilots of all genders.

Another major barrier was broken in 2005, when the Coupe Gordon Bennett and the America’s Challenge launced simultaneously from Albuquerque during the Balloon Fiesta. The Event Director for both races, Pat Brake, was the fi rst woman in history to serve as Event Director for the Gordon Bennett. Another prominent woman aeronaut – America’s Challenge veteran Ruth Lind – heads the race’s Command Center, which coordinates aeronautical, tracking, air traffi c, logistics, and -- when necessary -- search and rescue support to the America’s Challenge teams.

Two women have won the America’s Challenge more than once. Cheri White, with fl ying partner Mark Sullivan, has two wins to her credit (2008 and 2012). Barbara Fricke, with fl ying partner Peter Cuneo, has scored an astonishing four wins. Both Fricke and White have also placed in the top three in the Gordon Bennett.

Why do they do it? It sure doesn’t make for a relaxing trip – cooped up in a space smaller than a closet for two to three days with one other person (who you’d better like), searingly hot during the day, freezing cold at night, sparse meals, a bucket for a bathroom, no stops at the 7-11, and no escape (it’s a long way down). It’s certainly not for fi nancial gain: gas ballooning is an expensive sport and the America’s Challenge winners don’t receive prize money – just trophies and atta-girls.

But then there are the rewards – breathtaking views, high adventure, and the satisfaction of being among the best in the world at what they do. And there is something even more intangible. As Barbara Fricke puts it, in the tradition of Sophie Blanchard, “I love being up in the sky.” The race It is always diffi cult and can even be dangerous. But the rewards – priceless.

Female America’s Challenge Competitors:

Brenda Cowlishaw Linda Ellis Dr. Janet Folkes Danielle Francoeur Barbara Fricke Astrid Gerhardt Anja Kümmerlein Marsha Lambertson Neal Dr. Marion Lausch Ruth Ludwig Lind Wendy Monteith Martin Lesley Pritchard Davies Dr. Carol Rymer Davis Tami Stevenson Bradley Silvia Wagner Cheri White

Dr. Janet Folkes

Danielle Francoeur Pat Brake

Brenda Cowlishaw Cheri White

Tami Stevenson-Bradley Barbara Fricke

Dr. Marion Lausch