Parker (Park) Albert Van Tassel | |
---|---|
Born | Cass County, Indiana | 25 July 1853
Died | 24 October 1930 77) Oakland, California | (aged
Nationality | American |
Occupation(s) | Aerial exhibitionist with balloons and parachutes |
Known for | Pioneer aviator |
Spouses | Elizabeth Spencer (1872-1876?), Ella Block (1879-1885), Clara A. Coykendall (1885-1890), Edith Ann Nowlan (1892-1894?), A. F. Barr (1912-?) |
Children | two sons |
Park Albert Van Tassel (b.1853-d.1930) was a pioneering aerial exhibitionist in the United States. Van Tassel made the first balloon flights in New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado [1] [2] [3] [4] and helped invent and introduce methods of parachute jumping from balloons. [5] His efforts helped introduce ballooning and parachuting internationally and also helped introduce women to these sports. [6]
In May, 1882 Van Tassel expressed interest in making a balloon ascension at Albuquerque, New Mexico. [7] After a full day of inflation with coal gas from the Albuquerque Gas Works, Van Tassel made the first human flight in New Mexico at 6:15pm on July 4, 1882. He launched from an area near Second Street between Railroad (Central) and Gold Avenues. Van Tassel rose slowly in his City of Albuquerque balloon to an apex of 11,000 feet despite it being only 2/3 full of lifting gas. His safe landing near the fairgrounds near Central Avenue and Rio Grande Blvd. was hailed as a complete success. [8] [9] Today, Albuquerque is home to the annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, the largest gathering of hot air and gas balloons in the world.
Van Tassel toured the American west, providing balloon ascensions at locations in Utah, [10] the northwest, [11] New Orleans, [12] California, Colorado, Kansas City, Missouri, Oregon, Washington and other locations in the west. [13] In Scientific American he suggested the possibility of a transcontinental balloon voyage across North America in 1886, something unheard of at the time. [14] Together with Thomas Scott Baldwin, Van Tassel co-invented a parachute, used by Baldwin to make the first parachute jump in the western United States on January 30, 1887 at San Francisco. [15] In competition with other daredevils such as Baldwin, Percival G. Spencer, James Price, and others, he later toured the world with his Van Tassel Troupe, associated with balloon ascensions and parachute jumps. His troupe is credited with the first successful parachute jump in Hawaii, [16] [17] first balloon flights and parachute jumps by women in Australia, [18] early balloon flights in India, [19] the first flight in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and other locations in southeast Asia. Many of these events also helped to pioneer women's efforts in early aviation as a part of the Troupe. [20] [21] [22]
Van Tassel returned to the United States, living in the San Francisco Bay area and continuing his ballooning in Oakland. He briefly assisted in high-altitude glider flights arranged by John J. Montgomery near Santa Clara and helped establish balloon clubs such as the Pacific Aero Club and the Oakland Aero Club, making several recreational flights in his large City of Oakland balloon. [23] He also patented a mechanical toy parachute in the 1921. [24]
Van Tassel married Elizabeth Spencer in 1872 at Indiana, divorced and married Ella Block in San Joaquin, California in 1879. In 1885 he divorced Block and married Clara A. Coykendall at San Jose, California. In 1888, Clara became the first woman to make a parachute jump in the western United States. Clara filed for divorce in 1890, and Van Tassel married Edith Ann Nowlan in 1892 in India. After returning to California in 1900 without Nowlan, Van Tassel married again in 1912 to A. F. Barr at Oakland. He passed away October 24, 1930 at Oakland following a heart attack. [25]
Several individuals were associated with Van Tassel's aerial exhibitions including:
Clara Van Tassel (wife)
Joe Lawrence as "Joseph Van Tassell"
James Price as "James Van Tassell"
Valerie Frietas as "Valerie Van Tassell"
Gladys Frietas as "Gladys Van Tassell"
Jennette Rummary as "Jennette Van Tassell"
Thomas Scott Baldwin
William Ivy as "Ivy Baldwin"
John Joseph Montgomery
A new exhibit featuring Park Van Tassel and the history of ballooning in New Mexico was launched at the Albuquerque International Sunport in September, 2021. [26]
A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag or, in a ram-air parachute, aerodynamic lift. A major application is to support people, for recreation or as a safety device for aviators, who can exit from an aircraft at height and descend safely to earth.
Albuquerque, also known as ABQ, Burque, and the Duke City, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Founded in 1706 as La Villa de Alburquerque by Santa Fe de Nuevo México governor Francisco Cuervo y Valdés, and named in honor of Francisco Fernández de la Cueva, 10th Duke of Alburquerque and Viceroy of New Spain, it served as an outpost on El Camino Real linking Mexico City to the northernmost territories of New Spain.
Albuquerque International Sunport, locally known as the Sunport, is the primary international airport serving the U.S. state of New Mexico, particularly the Albuquerque metropolitan area and the larger Albuquerque–Santa Fe–Los Alamos combined statistical area. It handles around 5.4 million passengers annually and over 400 flights daily. ABQ is located in Bernalillo County, between the Rio Grande and the Sandia Mountains, east of Old Town and Barelas, 3 miles (5 km) southeast of downtown, south of the University of New Mexico and directly to the west of Sandia National Laboratories and Kirtland Air Force Base.
The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is a yearly hot air balloon festival that takes place in Albuquerque, New Mexico, during early October. The Balloon Fiesta is a nine-day event occurring in the first full week of October, and has over 500 hot air balloons each year, far from its beginnings of merely 13 balloons in 1972. The event is the largest balloon festival in the world, followed by the Grand Est Mondial Air in France, and the León International Balloon Festival in Mexico.
This is a list of aviation-related events during the 19th century :
Benjamin L. "Ben" Abruzzo was an American balloonist and businessman who helped make Albuquerque, New Mexico, into an international ballooning center. He was part of the balloon crews that made the first Atlantic Ocean crossing by balloon in the Double Eagle II and the first Pacific Ocean crossing by balloon in the Double Eagle V.
A gas balloon is a balloon that rises and floats in the air because it is filled with a gas lighter than air. When not in flight, it is tethered to prevent it from flying away and is sealed at the bottom to prevent the escape of gas. A gas balloon may also be called a Charlière for its inventor, the Frenchman Jacques Charles. Today, familiar gas balloons include large blimps and small latex party balloons. For nearly 200 years, well into the 20th century, manned balloon flight utilized gas balloons before hot-air balloons became dominant. Without power, heat or fuel, untethered flights of gas balloons depended on the skill of the pilot. Gas balloons have greater lift for a given volume, so they do not need to be so large, and they can stay up for much longer than hot air balloons.
Double Eagle II Airport is a public airport located seven miles (11 km) northwest of the central business district of Albuquerque, a city in Bernalillo County, New Mexico, United States. It is owned by the City of Albuquerque.
André-Jacques Garnerin was a French balloonist and the inventor of the frameless parachute. He was appointed Official Aeronaut of France.
Thomas Scott Baldwin was a pioneer balloonist and U.S. Army major during World War I. He was the first American to descend from a balloon by parachute.
John Wise was a pioneer in the field of ballooning. He made over 400 flights during his lifetime and was responsible for several innovations in balloon design. His balloon, The Jupiter carried 123 letters to make the first official airmail delivery run for the US Post Office in 1859.
Carol Ann Rymer Davis was an American balloonist, and radiologist. In 2004, she was the first woman to win the Gordon Bennet Cup for ballooning with fellow crewman Richard Abruzzo. For this historic win, they were awarded the 2005 Harmon Trophy. She was lost at sea on September 29, 2010, over the Adriatic Sea. Her body, along with that of Abruzzo, was found off the coast of Italy in the Adriatic Sea on December 6, 2010.
The Dhaka Christian Cemetery is a graveyard situated in Wari, a district of the old town in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It was established by Portuguese traders in the 17th century and is still in use by members of the Dhaka Christian community. It contains two designated archaeological sites, the Columbo Sahib mausoleum and the tomb of Reverend Joseph Paget. Many of the oldest graves and mausoleums are in a state of disrepair and are being overtaken by unchecked vegetation growth and lack of maintenance, while other parts of the cemetery still see new burials taking place at regular intervals. It is open daily to visitors.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Dhaka, Bangladesh.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico, US.
Daniel John Maloney was an American pioneering aviator and test pilot who made the first high-altitude flights by man using a Montgomery glider in 1905.
The 811th Cadet Squadron was one of the few remaining School Enrichment Program (SEP) Cadet Squadrons in Civil Air Patrol. It acted as a regular squadron, yet had a partnership with an in school elective class that was offered to students at the middle school, who do not need to be members to participate. This was before the squadron was retired, in 2023, due to lack of participating members, and loss of reliable location. The squadron members were re-distributed into the 855th Albuquerque Aviation Academy Cadet Squadron, which started later that year.
Madame Zeno was an early Aeronaut, an actor, and an entertainer famous at the turn of the 20th century for her performance of suspending from a trapeze below a parachute attached to Hot Air Balloon and cutting loose from a balloon floating back to earth while hanging from the trapeze beneath the parachute.
Professor Zeno was an early Aeronaut at the turn of the 20th century known for his performance of suspending from a trapeze below a parachute attached to a Hot Air Balloon, which he would then and cut loose from to float back to Earth while hanging from the trapeze beneath the parachute. He also performed the balloon cannon act in which he, again equipped with a parachute, was shot from a cannon suspended from a hot air balloon only to float safely back to Earth.
David N. Levin was an American balloonist. He is the only balloonist to have completed the "triple crown" by winning the World Gas Balloon Championship, the World Hot Air Ballooning Championships and the Gordon Bennett Cup. In 1992, Levin also became the first balloonist to win ballooning's four major events, having won the U.S. National Hot Air Balloon Championship along with the "triple crown".