Free Life (balloon)
| Free Life | |
|---|---|
| Type | Roziere type hot-air / helium balloon |
| Manufacturer | Mark Semich |
| Manufactured | 1970 |
| Registration | N2079 |
| Owners and operators | Rodney Anderson |
| Last flight | 20 September 1970 |
| Flights | 1 |
| Total hours | 30 |
| Total distance | ca 500 mi (800 km) |
| Fate | Crashed / force-landed in the Atlantic, killing all aboard and leaving little identifiable wreckage behind. |
Free Life was the name of the Rozière balloon (registration N2079) that made the fourth attempt at crossing the Atlantic Ocean. The balloon was launched from East Hampton, New York on 20 September 1970, piloted by Malcolm Brighton, with Rodney Anderson and Pamela Brown on board.
The adventure was thought up by Rodney Anderson and his wife, Pamela Brown. Pamela Brown was the actress daughter of Kentucky politician and attorney John Y. Brown, Sr. and the sister of Kentucky Fried Chicken entrepreneur and future Kentucky Governor John Y. Brown Jr. At age 28, she and her 32-year-old husband, commodities broker Rod Anderson, hoped to break records with the first manned balloon flight across the Atlantic. The couple planned to recoup the cost of the venture by writing a book about their experience. When the pilot whom they had been counting on for the flight withdrew late in the game, the Andersons hired Englishman Malcolm Brighton, 32, whose ascent in the Free Life was to be his 100th - and his last. Malcolm Brighton had built several balloons and became the main builder for the Bristol Belle, the name given to the first modern hot air balloon in Europe.
The Free Life attempt was the first use of a Roziere style balloon for an Atlantic attempt, built by Mark Semich, using a combination of helium and hot air. Below the spherical helium gas cell is a conical sleeve where air can be heated by burners in the same way as a normal hot air balloon. By varying the hot air temperature, altitude can be maintained without having to release helium or to drop ballast. The burners are principally used to compensate for the lack of solar heating at night.
After four years of planning and postponements, Brighton still had reservations about the balloon and in an interview, in which Brighton was asked what he thought of Free Life, he said
"I think I could have done better."
Even experienced balloonists, to whom Brighton had confided his plans to pilot Free Life, advised against it.
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Wikipedia