Don Piccard, Date of Birth, Place of Birth

    

Don Piccard

American aviation pioneer

Date of Birth: 13-Jan-1926

Place of Birth: Lausanne, canton of Bern, Switzerland

Profession: engineer, balloonist

Nationality: United States

Zodiac Sign: Capricorn


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About Don Piccard

  • Donald Louis Piccard (born January 13, 1926) is a Swiss-born American balloonist. Piccard was born in Lausanne, Switzerland, to Jean Felix Piccard and Jeannette Piccard.
  • He became a naturalized U.S.
  • citizen in 1931.
  • He first flew in a balloon in 1933, when he was enlisted as "crew" by his mother, the first woman to fly to the edge of space.
  • He served as a balloon and airship rigger in the U.
  • S.
  • Navy during World War II. He was one of the driving forces behind the hot-air ballooning revival after the war while a student at the University of Minnesota.
  • He made the first post-war free flight in 1947 with a captured Japanese balloon.
  • In 1948, he 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 Balloon Federation of America, today the national organization for ballooning. He pioneered plastic and Mylar balloons.
  • In 1962, he set a new altitude record for a second-class free flight balloon, climbing to 17,000 feet.
  • On 13 April 1963, he and Ed Yost were the first people to cross the English Channel in a hot air balloon.
  • He also promoted ballooning as a sport and designed balloons to that end, through his company Piccard Balloons. He appeared as a "Mr.
  • X" guest on What's My Line on September 1, 1963.

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