Ballooning history is full of colorful charactors, interesting adventures, and wonderful stories. In this section of the website we want to share some of these stories with all of you.
Read about Notable Balloonists as identified by the BFA Hall of Fame Committee. Click the following link to access the biographies and other information on US Hall of Fame Award recipients and other Notable Balloonists.
Most years as an officer at each postions
President: [4] J. Michael Wallace (1992, 93, 95, 96), [3] Don Kersten (1970, 75, 76), [3] Peter Pellegrino (1967, 68 [ ... ]
After Raven developed the first modern hot air balloon in 1960 – 1961, there was no pilots license requirements by the FAA.
Early in 1969, one of my first contracts was with CVS stores, owned by Melville Shoe Corporation. I would fly from the local CVS store and would throw out ping pong balls numbered with discounts as I [ ... ]
We were flying S-40's (very small balloons)back in the late 60's. The tops were shrinking and we couldn't understand why. The solution was,
4 squeaky clean pilots went up in the same basket. Two men, and two women. Nobody here was married, but they were all pilots. Each offered advice on the "best" way to fly today.
A Letter to the BFA From Ed Yost
Those who flew, pass it on to you!
The Balloon Club of America represented by Pete Pelegreno, Don Kersten, a lawyer from Iowa and neophyte balloonist plus Ed Yos [ ... ]
