Donald Louis Piccard (January 13, 1926 – September 13, 2020) was a Swiss-born American balloon pioneer, promoter, innovator, designer, builder, and pilot.
Piccard was born in Lausanne, Switzerland to Jean Felix Piccard and Jeanette (Ridlon) Piccard. He became a naturalized United States citizen in 1931.[1] Don Piccard first flew in a balloon in 1933, when he was enlisted as "crew" by his mother. She was the first woman to fly to the edge of space and the first American woman to earn a balloon pilot's license.[2] Don Piccard served as a balloon and airship rigger in the United States Navy during World War II and at Naval Air Station Lakehurst during the Korean War.[3]
1959 Balloon Gondola, Don Piccard
^National Balloon Museum
^Crouch, Tom. "Donald Louis Piccard – Pioneer of Hot Air Ballooning". airandspace.si.edu. Smithsonian. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
^Cite error: The named reference NYTimes13Oct2020 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
Switzerland to Jean Felix Piccard and Jeanette (Ridlon) Piccard. He became a naturalized United States citizen in 1931. DonPiccard first flew in a balloon...
Jean Felix Piccard (January 28, 1884 in Basel, Switzerland – January 28, 1963 in Minneapolis, Minnesota), also known as Jean Piccard, was a Swiss-born...
chemist, aeronaut, and balloonist) Jeannette Piccard (wife of Jean Felix) (aeronaut and balloonist) DonPiccard (balloonist) Jacques's father, who had already...
hydronaut Bertrand Piccard (born 1958), psychiatrist, balloonist, and solar plane pilot DonPiccard (1926–2020), balloonist Jacques Piccard (1922–2008), hydronaut...
balloonist Jeannette Piccard, wife of Jean Felix, an aeronaut and balloonist DonPiccard, a balloonist University of California, Berkeley et al. [and informal...
Jeannette Ridlon Piccard (/dʒəˈnɛt pɪˈkɑːr/ jə-NET pih-KAR; January 5, 1895 – May 17, 1981) was an American high-altitude balloonist, and in later life...
policy specialist. While aboard the bathyscaphe Trieste, he and Jacques Piccard made a record maximum descent in the Challenger Deep on January 23, 1960...
Flight. Arcadia. pp. 15–16. ISBN 978-0-7385-2522-8. Stekel, Peter. "DonPiccard 50 Years of Ballooning Memories" (PDF). www.FAI.org. FAI.org. Retrieved...
Mountain. On July 7, 1963, an underground altitude record was set by DonPiccard by flying a hot air balloon around the massive room. Later, in 1994 five...
comprised three 'pools' – Western, Central and Eastern. In 1960, Don Walsh and Jacques Piccard were the first two humans to reach Challenger Deep, completing...
modern hot air balloon across the English Channel with fellow balloonist DonPiccard in a balloon later named the “Channel Champ.” In 1976, Yost set 13 aviation...
Murtorff, Dr. Clayton Lay Thomas 2014: Nikki Caplan, Chauncey Dunn, DonPiccard 2015: Robert Dodds Meddock, Jr., Constance C. Wolf 2016: Troy Bradley...
Historical Center. n.d. Retrieved January 26, 2007. Stekel, Peter. "DonPiccard – 50 Years of Ballooning Memories". Balloon Life. Archived from the original...
helicopter escort in the form of United States Army UH-1B gunships. Americans DonPiccard and Ed Yost become the first people to cross the English Channel in a...
000 imp gal; 32,000 US gal) of gasoline. In 1960 Trieste, carrying Piccard's son Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh, reached the deepest known point on the Earth's surface...
Yemen Arab Republic, also known as North Yemen. August 24 – In Iowa, DonPiccard sets a world altitude record for second-class balloons of 17,000 feet...
flight in the Americas on January 9, 1793, by Jean-Pierre Blanchard. DonPiccard piloted the Balloon Club of America's N9071H, a former U.S. Army balloon...
businessman André Borschberg and Swiss psychiatrist and balloonist Bertrand Piccard, who co-piloted Breitling Orbiter 3, the first balloon to circle the world...
which reached the bottom at 1:06 pm on 23 January 1960, with Don Walsh and Jacques Piccard on board. Iron shot was used for ballast, with gasoline for...
the Mariana Trench), carrying Jacques Piccard (son of the boat's designer Auguste Piccard) and Lieutenant Don Walsh, USN. This was the first time a vessel...
First to the deepest point in the ocean (1960) – Don Walsh (honorary member 1997) & Jacques Piccard First to the surface of the Moon (1969) – Neil Armstrong...
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