Gary B. Fogel - Sky Rider: Park Van Tassel and the Rise of Ballooning in the West

SKY RIDER

GARY B. FOGEL FOREWORD BY DICK BROWN

2021 by Gary B. Fogel
All rights reserved. Published 2021
Printed in the United States of America

ISBN 978-0-8263-6282-7 (paper)
ISBN 978-0-8263-6283-4 (electronic)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file with the Library of Congress.

Founded in 1889, the University of New Mexico sits on the traditional homelands of the Pueblo
of Sandia. The original peoples of New MexicoPueblo, Navajo, and Apachesince time
immemorial have deep connections to the land and have made significant contributions to the
broader community statewide. We honor the land itself and those who remain stewards of this
land throughout the generations and also acknowledge our committed relationship to Indigenous
peoples. We gratefully recognize our history.

Cover illustrations: top photograph courtesy of Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
(NASM 89920); bottom illustration courtesy of Vecteezy.com
Frontispiece: A portrait of Park Albert Van Tassel taken on July 4, 1883.
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (NASM 89920).
Designed by Felicia Cedillos

TO THE MEMORY OF PARK VAN TASSEL,
AND IN HONOR OF THE ALBUQUERQUE INTERNATIONAL BALLOON
FIESTA, ITS ORGANIZERS, AND THE AERONAUTS WHO CONTINUE TO
KEEP HIS DREAM ALOFT IN THE LAND OF ENCHANTMENT.

CONTENTS

Foreword
DICK BROWN

ILLUSTRATIONS

FOREWORD

Sky Rider: Park Van Tassel and the Rise of Ballooning in the West is the first attempt to piece together the life and times of a long-forgotten aviation pioneer, a man who introduced ballooning to Albuquerque at a time when new inventions, mail-order catalogs, and transcontinental railroads were changing the face of the nation, and death-defying aerial exhibitions were just coming of age. That intrepid aeronaut was Park Van Tassel.

When his gas-filled balloon lifted off from a vacant lot in downtown Albuquerque on July 4, 1882, few had ever witnessed human flight. No one in the cheering crowd that day could have realized the importance of Van Tassels balloon flighta first for himself, a first for Albuquerque, a first for New Mexico, and a prelude to establishing aviation firsts in the skies above many foreign countries. Without this book, no one today would appreciate the impact of Van Tassels many aeronautical contributions.

Author and aviation historian Dr. Gary Fogel traces Van Tassels life journey and shows us how this charismatic barnstormer and his high-flying acrobatic troupe performed throughout the American West and beyond, added parachuting to his ballooning exploits, and, in a most spectacular way, introduced women to aviation.

The traveling showman had a stressful lifestyle, with constant money woes, pesky equipment failures, and relentless pressure to perform on schedule and to outdo burgeoning competition. Some daredevils who indulged in this risky business paid dearly, with their lives. But Van Tassel was a survivor, and after staging perilous yet successful exhibitions in the West, he ventured overseasAustralia, Southeast Asia, Indiawhere the art and science of ballooning and parachuting were virtually unknown. In a real sense, he took ballooning from Albuquerque to the rest of the world. Ironically, now the rest of the world travels to Albuquerque for its annual Balloon Fiesta. The late Sid Cutter, founder of the Balloon Fiesta, had a dreamto create a world-class venue that celebrates the diversity and history of ballooning. Park Van Tassel also had a dream, a boyhood dream to float through the air in a balloon. His dream, like Sids, also came true.

Sky Rider reminds us of Albuquerques special place in sport ballooning history. The upcoming fiftieth anniversary of the Balloon Fiesta not only celebrates the citys long association with ballooning, but it salutes Van Tassel and the launching of his City of Albuquerque, landing the city on the world stage. It is no wonder Albuquerque is known as the Balloon Capital of the World.

Park Van Tassel has never been celebrated as a great American balloonist. He died in obscurity nearly ninety years ago, his life unheralded, his accomplishments unappreciated. Of the hundreds of thousands of fans who converge on Balloon Fiesta Park each year, only a few are remotely familiar with Albuquerques first aeronaut. Fogel has launched Sky Rider to set the record straight and to serve as a tribute to a man with great courage, pioneering spirit, amazing foresight, and an uncanny ability to survive. It is his hope that future researchers will continue the task of unraveling the mysteries surrounding Park Van Tassel and his dubious associates.

As the 1979 winner of the Fdration Aronautique Internationales Diplome Montgolfier, the worlds highest ballooning honor, for my literary contributions to sport ballooning, I can relate to the work Fogel has put forth in following Van Tassels twisting, convoluted trails across the globe. And as one who has been involved in the Balloon Fiesta since its start in 1972, and as a member of its Hall of Fame, I believe Van Tassels legacy will live on in this authoritative biography. In Sky Rider, Park Van Tassel finally takes his rightful place alongside other world-famous aviation pioneers.

DICK BROWN
Heritage Committee,
Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta
October 2019

PREFACE

I first became interested in ballooning as a teenager. My father had the good fortune to attend a Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque in the 1980s and returned to our home in San Diego with many photographs of what seemed like an endless sky filled with balloons of all shapes, sizes, and colors. Dad and I enjoyed flying radio-controlled model gliders together for many years. While gliders and balloons share a common theme of silent flight, there is something unique and inherently beautiful about balloons. Each flight is a new adventure, requiring smart pilots to think carefully about making use of the atmosphere and the energy it provides. I was naturally drawn to this way of thinking, as smart, continuous decision making is required to extend flight without motors.

At roughly the same time, a high school friend asked if I might be available to help as ground crew for a local ballooning company in San Diego, as it was short staffed at the time. I readily agreed, although I knew almost nothing about balloons and ballooning other than what my dad had shared with me about his experience at the fiesta in Albuquerque. Soon enough, I found myself in a field, helping inflate a very large balloon owned by the Skysurfer Balloon Company. The inflation was louder and hotter than I expected, and there was much to do. Soon we had the balloon and basket in their proper orientation, with paying passengers and pilot on board ready for their flight. Before I could really understand everything that was happening, the craft was off, rising rapidly like a toy balloon that had just escaped a childs grasp of the string.

My friend and I cleaned up the launch site, hopped in a van, and started the chase. We were in radio communication with the pilot and discussed likely landing zones on the way. Once a landing location was chosen, our task was to get there in advance of the balloon and then help with landing. I wasnt yet sure what that entailed. But chasing the balloon on the back roads of San Diego was its own new type of fun. With the sun just setting on this twilight balloon ride, we arrived at the landing zone, an empty field of bushes and grass. As the balloon came closer, our first job was to jump on the outside of the basket to serve as added ballast to keep the balloon on the ground. With a slight breeze, this wasnt going to be easy. We timed our jump on either side of the basket, held on for the landing, and scraped along the ground just a bit before coming to rest, with the passengers cheering a successful conclusion to their flight. Champagne followed, along with our packing away the balloon at dusk. Afterward, the company hired me to help with balloon chasing two or three times a week that summer. I was impressed by the skill of the pilots, their amazing ability to understand wind currents at different altitudes, and steer their way to the select landing zones available. On one landing approach, I hopped on as ballast, but the pilot realized the approach was going to go long and put us directly into a large patch of prickly pear cactus. He told me to hang on as he fired the burner just enough for us to glide over the cactus to a landing on the other side. I was even more relieved than the pilot.