Ben Abruzzo
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Ben Abruzzo
Benjamin L. "Ben" Abruzzo (June 9, 1930 – February 11, 1985) 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. Life Abruzzo was born in Rockford, Illinois. He graduated from the University of Illinois with a BS in business administration in 1952 and commissioned as a lieutenant in the United States Air Force. Abruzzo was stationed at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico; adopting New Mexico as his home state after leaving military service in 1954. After working at Sandia Corporation, he became chairman and president of Alvarado Realty Company and started working with the local ski resort. Abruzzo became chairman and president of Sandia Peak Ski Company, Sandia Peak Tram Company, and Sandia Peak Utility Company. H ...
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Rockford, Illinois
Rockford is a city in Winnebago County, Illinois, located in the far northern part of the state. Situated on the banks of the Rock River, Rockford is the county seat of Winnebago County (a small portion of the city is located in Ogle County). The largest city in Illinois outside of the Chicago metropolitan area, Rockford is the fifth-largest city in the state and the 171st most populous in the United States. According to 2020 U.S. Census data, the City of Rockford had a population of 148,655 with an outlying metropolitan area population of 348,360. Settled in the mid-1830s, the position of the city on the Rock River made its location strategic for industrial development. In the second half of the 19th century, Rockford was notable for its output of heavy machinery, hardware and tools; by the twentieth century, it was the second leading center of furniture manufacturing in the nation, and 94th largest city. During the second half of the 20th century, Rockford struggled alongs ...
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Maxie Anderson
Maxie Anderson (September 10, 1934 – June 27, 1983) was an American hot air balloonist and Congressional Gold Medal recipient 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. Early life and education Born Max Leroy Anderson in Sayre, Oklahoma, to rancher and mining industry executive Carl Anderson. He entered the Missouri Military Academy at Mexico, Missouri, at the age of eight, and throughout his high school years assisted his father in building pipelines. He engaged in prospecting in the Arctic Circle before completing his degree in industrial engineering at the University of North Dakota in 1956. He developed an early interest in flight, obtaining a license at the age of fifteen (having misrepresented his age). This allowed him to fly a plane to the academy at age 15, while cars were banned except for those aged 18. In Albuquerque, N ...
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William Nordhaus
William Dawbney Nordhaus (born May 31, 1941) is an American economist, a Sterling Professor of Economics at Yale University, best known for his work in economic modeling and climate change, and one of the 2 recipients of the 2018 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. Nordhaus received the prize "for integrating climate change into long-run macroeconomic analysis". Education and career Nordhaus was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the son of Virginia (Riggs) and Robert J. Nordhaus, who co-founded the Sandia Peak Tramway. Robert J. Nordhaus was from a German Jewish family – his father Max Nordhaus (1865–1936) had immigrated from Paderborn in 1883, and became a manager of The Charles Ilfeld Company branch in Albuquerque. Nordhaus graduated from Phillips Academy in Andover and subsequently received his BA and MA from Yale in 1963 and 1973, respectively, where he was a member of Skull and Bones. He also holds a Certificate from the Institut d'Etudes Politiques (1962) an ...
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Anderson-Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum
The Anderson-Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum is a museum dedicated to the worldwide history, science, and art of all types of ballooning and lighter-than-air flight. It is located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, and is situated just outside the grounds used for the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, the world's largest yearly balloon fiesta, and is named for Ben Abruzzo and Maxie Anderson, two Albuquerque natives who established several ballooning firsts, such as crossing the Atlantic Ocean and continents. Ben Abruzzo and Maxie Anderson most notably crewed the Double Eagle II balloon in 1978, the first gas balloon to complete a transatlantic flight. Abruzzo and Anderson stretched the limits of ballooning and air travel until their untimely passings in 1983, and are honored for their excellence and history with ballooning here in Albuquerque. Opened on October 1, 2005, it is owned by the city of Albuquerque and is a collaborative project of the Anderson ...
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Richard Abruzzo
Richard Abruzzo (May 19, 1963 – c. September 29, 2010) was a champion American balloonist who with Carol Rymer Davis won the 2003 America's Challenge Gas Balloon Race and the 2004 Gordon Bennett Cup. Background Abruzzo was born on May 19, 1963, to Ben Abruzzo and Patricia Ann "Pat" Steen Abruzzo.  In his home town of Albuquerque, New Mexico, his business enterprises included real estate and ski lifts. The ballooning accomplishments of his father Ben, who was part of the balloon crews to first cross the Atlantic ocean in the Double Eagle II and the Pacific ocean in the Double Eagle V, encouraged Richard's lifetime of balloon accomplishments. In 1992 Richard flew the first gas balloon from North America to Africa breaking the distance record previously held by his father. He was a five time champion in the America's Challenge Gas Balloon Race winning in 1995, 1997, 2002, 2003, and 2004.   The National Aeronautic Association awarded Richard Abruzzo the Harmon Trophy ...
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Cessna 421
The Cessna 421 Golden Eagle is an American six or seven seat twin-engined light transport aircraft, developed in the 1960s by Cessna as a pressurized version of the earlier Cessna 411. Development The Cessna 421 was first produced in May 1967, the 1968 model year. It had "Stabila-Tip" fuel tanks on the wingtips (like the Cessna 310). Its electro-mechanical landing gear are similar to that of the 310. It was an immediate hit, selling 200 planes in its first year. The very next year, 1969, the design was refined, with a three-inch stretch of the fuselage, five more gallons of fuel capacity, and a 40-pound increase in gross weight. The plane was redesignated the Cessna 421A. In 1971, the design was again improved. Both empty and gross weight increased, the wingspan was increased by two feet, raising the service ceiling by 5,000 feet. The nose was stretched two feet to accommodate a larger nose baggage section. This new plane is designated the Cessna 421B. In 1975, the ...
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Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continents of Asia and Oceania in the west and the Americas in the east. At in area (as defined with a southern Antarctic border), this largest division of the World Ocean—and, in turn, the hydrosphere—covers about 46% of Earth's water surface and about 32% of its total surface area, larger than Earth's entire land area combined .Pacific Ocean
. '' Britannica Concise.'' 2008: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
The centers of both the

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Gordon Bennett Cup (ballooning)
The Gordon Bennett Cup (or ) is the world's oldest gas balloon race, and is "regarded as the premier event of world balloon racing" according to the ''Los Angeles Times''. Referred to as the "Blue Ribbon" of aeronautics, the first race started from Paris, France, on September 30, 1906. The event was sponsored by James Gordon Bennett Jr., the millionaire sportsman and owner of the ''New York Herald'' newspaper. According to the organizers, the aim of the contest "is simple: to fly the furthest distance from the launch site." The contest ran from 1906 to 1938, interrupted by World War I and in 1931, but was suspended in 1939 when the hosts, Poland, were invaded at the start of World War II. The event was not resurrected until 1979, when American Tom Heinsheimer, an atmospheric physicist, gained permission from the holders to host the trophy. The competition was not officially reinstated by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) until 1983. The record time for the wi ...
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WWII
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis powers. World War II was a total war that directly involved more than 100 million personnel from more than 30 countries. The major participants in the war threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. Aircraft played a major role in the conflict, enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and deploying the only two nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II was by far the deadliest conflict in human history; it resulted in 70 to 85 million fatalities, mostly among civilians. Tens of millions died due to genocides (including the Holocaust), starvation, mass ...
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Miserey
Miserey () is a commune in the Eure department in the Normandy region in Northern France. In 2017, it had a population of 629. History On 23 August 1944, the first Recon Platoon of the 823rd Tank Destroyer Bn., 30th Infantry Division was ordered to recon the village of Miserey, 8 km (5 mi) east of Évreux. Proceeding, the platoon found the town occupied by the German Army. A small-scale battle ensued, ending with 20 enemy KIA and 40 POWs. The Battalion Command Post (CP) was established in a small château there at 3:30 p.m.Raney, TL handwritten notes pertaining to personal experience in WWII as platoon leader of 1st Recon Platoon, 823rd TDbn. The first Recon Platoon claims credit for the liberation of Miserey. The village has a monument to Ben Abruzzo, Maxie Anderson and Larry Newman, the pioneering balloonists who flew the ''Double Eagle II'' across the Atlantic Ocean from Presque Isle, Maine Presque Isle is the commercial center and largest city in Aroost ...
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Presque Isle, Maine
Presque Isle is the commercial center and largest city in Aroostook County, Maine, United States. The population was 8,797 at the 2020 Census. The city is home to the University of Maine at Presque Isle, Northern Maine Community College, Husson University Presque Isle, Northern Maine Fairgrounds, The Aroostook Centre Mall, and the Presque Isle International Airport. Presque Isle is the headquarters of the Aroostook Band of Micmac, a federally recognized tribe. History The first European settlers were British Loyalists who reached the area in 1819 hoping to obtain land for lumber. Border disputes between the United States and the United Kingdom over the area, however, made it impossible for pioneers to gain title to the land. In response, the government of the neighboring British colony of New Brunswick (now a Canadian province) gave out patents for pioneers to live on the land but not claim ownership or sell it. By 1825, surveyors traveling along the Aroostook River noted tha ...
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Larry Newman (aviator)
Larry Newman (September 28, 1947 – December 20, 2010) was an American pilot, business man, and balloonist. 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. Double Eagle II Newman won the Congressional Gold Medal awarded by the United States Congress for his flight in the Double Eagle II. The Double Eagle II, piloted by Ben Abruzzo, Maxie Anderson, and Larry Newman, became the first balloon to cross the Atlantic Ocean when it landed 17 August 1978 in Miserey near Paris, 137 hours 6 minutes after leaving Presque Isle, Maine. The flight was the first manned balloon crossing of the Atlantic non-stop. Double Eagle V In November 1981, Newman flew the '' Double Eagle V'' in the first successful manned balloon crossing of the Pacific with Ben Abruzzo, Ron Clark and Rocky Aoki. They launched from Nagashima, Japan on November 10, 1981, and land ...
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