TAOS, N.M., May 29, 2007 -- [From the Associated Press]
Hot air ballooning pioneer Paul "Ed" Yost has died at the age of 87.

Yost died Monday in his home in Taos, N.M.

No memorial service is planned.

According to the National Balloon Museum in Indianola, Iowa, Yost piloted the first flight of a balloon using a new envelope and propane burner system he developed, making a 25-minute, three-mile flight from Bruning, Neb., in October 1960. For the feat, he's known as the father of modern hot air ballooning.

His involvement in hot air balloons dated from years before, however. Yost, born in Bristow, Iowa, in 1919, joined the High Altitude Research Division of General Mills in Minneapolis, in 1949 and worked on many balloon projects.

He and three others from General Mills founded Raven Industries in 1956. The modern hot air balloon evolved from a contract Raven received from the Office of Naval Research to create a reusable craft that could carry one man and a load to 10,000 feet and have enough fuel to stay aloft for three hours, the Indianola museum said.

By the early 1960s, Raven Industries was making hot air balloons for sale to the public. By the mid-1960s, it was one of three selling hot air balloons, the museum said.

Yost held 21 patents on balloons and lighter-than-air mechanisms.

In April 1963, he and Don Piccard made the first hot air balloon flight across the English channel, flying from Rye in England to Gravelines Nord, France in three hours, 17 minutes.

In October 1976, Yost attempted to become the first solo balloon pilot to cross the Atlantic Ocean. He took off from Maine and stayed airborne for four days, but was forced down by constant circling wind 530 miles from Portugal because of constant circling wind.

The first successful balloon flight of the Atlantic came two years later, when three Albuquerque, N.M., men, Ben Abruzzo, Maxie Anderson and Larry Newman, landed in France after a flight of 137 hours in a gas balloon. Col. Joe Kittenger made the first successful solo crossing in 1983.

Yost helped found the Balloon Federation of America and helped organize the first U.S. National Ballooning Championship at Indianola.

He received numerous awards for his contributions to aviation, including the 1999 Godfrey L. Cabot Award the Aero Club of New England, which honors those who have made unique, significant and unparalleled contributions to advance aviation or space flight.

Yost was inducted into the U.S. Ballooning Hall of Fame in Indianola in 2004 and was awarded the Lipton Trophy by the British Balloon and Airship Club in 2006.

He is survived by two sons, Greg Yost of Houston, Texas, and Dale Yost of Singapore, and a granddaughter.

BRISTOW, Iowa, August 11, 2002 -- [From the Albuquerque Journal]
It's just after 5 a.m., and a caravan motors to the edge of town, then stops unexpectedly at the railroad tracks.

Moments later, a chuckling participant goes vehicle to vehicle, delivering a message: "Ed says to drive through town honking to wake everyone up, so we'll have an audience out there."

And they do: Up and down the narrow, well-kept streets of this tiny spot in northeastern Iowa, the horns blare, letting everyone know the father of hot-air balloons is in town and it's time to get out to the launch field and watch 'em fly.

It's with boyish glee that 83-year-old Ed Yost pulls such pranks. And why not? This is his town and his party.

Folks from all over the country, and a few from beyond, gathered in Bristow Aug. 2-4 to honor Yost, of Vadito, near Taos, and his longtime friend and fellow aviation pioneer, retired Air Force Col. Joe Kittinger Jr., who parachuted from a balloon at the edge of space to become the only person to break the sound barrier with his body.

It was three days of fellowship, laughter, endless stories of adventures past and - you better believe it - those yet to come.

On Friday, Yost and Kittinger, 73, dined family style in the community center. The balloon rally on a wet alfalfa field kicked off Saturday's activities. Beth and Bill Gibson, Yost's neighbors in Tres Ritos, took their first balloon ride with Albuquerque pilot Keith Reeves.

They had followed Yost and his springer spaniel, Shadow, across the country simply because they'd become friends with him and his wife, Susie, before she died of cancer last year. "We became good friends before we knew of all the ballooning," Beth explained. "The other is just part of the fun." "The other" includes the facts that Yost:

• Made the first free-flight of a hot-air balloon in 1960. The flight lasted only 25 minutes and was part of a series of experiments to fulfill a military contract, but in that instant, Yost transformed ballooning from an elite activity to a sport open to the masses.
• With a partner, made the first successful hot-air balloon crossing of the English Channel.
• Designed, built and piloted a helium balloon across the Atlantic Ocean, making the longest solo flight in such a craft, setting records that still stand. Wrote cover story about the adventure for National Geographic.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., July 28, 2002 -- [From the Albuquerque Journal]
Somewhere between New Mexico and Iowa, 83-year-old Ed Yost is driving down the highway with his springer spaniel, Shadow, on another adventure in a life that has already been jampacked with them.

When he reaches his destination, a tiny near-ghost town in the middle of Iowa, the father of the modern hot-air balloon will meet up with an old friend, the only person to break the sound barrier with his body.

The skies once belonged to Paul "Ed" Yost of Vadito, located south of Taos, and retired Air Force Col. Joe Kittinger Jr., daredevils who risked their lives several times over for science.

Next weekend, Yost's hometown of Bristow, Iowa, will belong to these aviation pioneers and to at least 1,000 of their friends, family members, fellow aviators and admirers from around the world.

"There's going to be a crowd," Bristow Mayor Karen Cornwell says matter of factly.

In true small-town style, the Bristow Military Veterans and Hot Air Balloon Weekend on Aug. 2-4 will include a street dance, carnival, beer garden, tractor pull, donkey baseball game, balloon rally and more. To wrap up the weekend, a historical monument to Yost will be dedicated.

Year in the making
The idea for the event was hatched a little more than a year ago, when some of the same folks gathered in Bruning, Neb., to dedicate a granite marker in Yost's honor, describing how he had made history there with a 25-minute balloon flight.

On Oct. 22, 1960, Yost inflated a nylon balloon envelope with a propane heater and flew three miles from Bruning Army Air Field - the first free flight of a modern hot-air balloon. For Yost, it was simply another in a series of experiments by the company he co-owned with three others, Raven Industries, to fulfill its contract with the Office of Naval Research, which sought an inexpensive, one-man balloon for military use.

But in that instant, he transformed ballooning "from an elite activity to a sport open to thousands of balloonists worldwide," according to the Bruning monument.

During the Nebraska get-together, Kittinger took Cornwell for a balloon ride and said, "Your town's gotta do something for Ed Yost and I'm not going to land the balloon until you do."

Cornwell agreed. When her feet touched ground, she mentioned the idea to Yost, who told her, "That's OK, but you're gonna honor Joe, too," she says.

The idea gained momentum after Yost's wife, Susie, died of cancer a few months later, Cornwell says.

Celebrity status
So, after a year of planning, Yost left Vadito on Saturday, leading a caravan of cars on the 1,200-mile journey. His entourage will take over a motel in Waverly, 25 miles outside of Bristow, a once-bustling railroad town whose population has shrunk to about 200.

For such a small town, Yost and Kittinger are big celebrities, at least in the world of aviation.

After landing in the history books with his Bruning flight in 1960, Yost spent 18 months perfecting various fabrics, burners, coils, maneuvering and deflation vents - all the major characteristics of today's hot-air balloons.

Raven Industries sold its first sport balloon in 1961, and hot-air ballooning took off.

In 1963, Yost and crew member Don Piccard made the first successful hot-air balloon crossing of the English Channel.

Then, in 1976, Yost risked a feat that had cost five people their lives in a dozen previous attempts: flying a helium balloon across the Atlantic Ocean in the Silver Fox, a craft he designed, built and piloted himself. His flight operations director was Kittinger.

Although the attempt fell short, Yost set distance and duration records that still stand for the size of balloon he used.

The attempt inspired Albuquerque balloonist Maxie Anderson to give it a go, so Yost designed, built and launched Double Eagle II for him and fellow pilots Ben Abruzzo and Larry Newman. The Albuquerque trio's venture became the first successful gas balloon flight across the Atlantic.

Yost and his wife bought land in Vadito in 1978 and built their home on it in 1983.

To new heights
Kittinger's connections to New Mexico go back to 1953, when he was assigned to Holloman Air Force Base's Fighter Test Section. In 1958, he directed Project Excelsior, a study to determine whether pilots could eject from disabled aircraft at extreme altitudes and survive. Three times, he piloted open gondolas, which one historian has described as "glorified tin cans," to the edge of space and jumped out.

For his third jump, on Aug. 16, 1960, Kittinger flew to an altitude of 102,800 feet, stepped out of the balloon and fell for four minutes and 36 seconds, speeding toward the ground at 614 mph before opening his parachute and gliding to the desert floor near Holloman.

Kittinger became the only person to break the sound barrier with his body and his is still the highest parachute jump on record.

Kittinger went on to fly three combat tours in Southeast Asia. After 438 combat missions, he was shot down near Hanoi and spent 11 months as a prisoner of war.

In 1984, Kittinger became the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean - in a helium balloon designed by Yost. Kittinger also won the Gordon Bennett balloon race four times in a traditional netted gas balloon made of modern materials by Yost.

For nearly 20 years, Kittinger has operated Rosie O'Grady's Flying Circus in Orlando, Fla., offering hot-air balloon rides and fixed-wing banner towing.

In Bristow, Yost and Kittinger are to sign pieces of a limited edition balloon mail, the proceeds of which will be used to fund the monument.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., October 5, 2001 -- [From the Albuquerque Journal]
Along a lonely highway in central Nebraska, close to 100 people from 16 states gathered last spring to dedicate a granite marker to Paul E. "Ed" Yost, who had made history there.

With a 25-minute flight in 1960, he had transformed ballooning "from an elite activity to a sport open to thousands of balloonists worldwide," according to that stone.

Yost, a sharp-witted 82-year-old, was moved to remark, "Usually a person has to die before they get this recognition.

"So how is it that, smack-dab in the world's capital of hot-air ballooning, most of us have never heard of Ed Yost?

"Because Yost is a four-letter word," the inventor says in his characteristic gruff way, so that you aren't sure just how serious he is.

The truth is, Yost keeps a low profile. You won't see him at this year's Kodak Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, even though he helped organize one of the first fiestas 28 years ago.

It was called the World Hot Air Balloon Championship, and it was held Feb. 11-17, 1973, in Albuquerque. Yost wrote the rules for the championship and served as clerk of the course, now called a balloonmeister.

During this year's event, Yost will stay home in Vadito, in northern New Mexico, where unusual souvenirs crowd the walls of his log cabin workshop: World records he has broken. A congratulatory telegram from the president. A National Geographic Society flag.

This gentleman — universally acknowledged as the father of modern hot-air ballooning — has quite a résumé:

• In 1960, he made the first unmoored flight of a modern hot-air balloon.
• With a partner in 1963, he made the first successful hot-air balloon crossing of the English Channel.
• In 1976, he designed, built and piloted the Silver Fox helium balloon across the Atlantic Ocean, making the longest solo flight in such a craft.
• In 1978, Yost designed, built and launched the Double Eagle II, the first successful gas balloon flight across the Atlantic by Albuquerque trio Ben Abruzzo, Maxie Anderson and Larry Newman.

"He is the grand old man of both gas and hot-air ballooning," says Jim Mitchell of Albuquerque, organizer of the ballooning museum set to break ground here later this year or early next.

Mitchell says Yost has donated several items for the balloon museum, including the canopy for the balloon that crossed the English Channel and the gondola of the Silver Fox.

Early flights
As a teen-ager growing up in Iowa, Yost was fascinated with airplanes and those risky smoke balloons — simple muslin or canvas crafts inflated by holding the envelope over a fire on the ground.

It is only natural, then, that he is a graduate of the Boeing School of Aeronautics in Oakland, Calif., and spent the 1940s working as a bush pilot in Alaska and training cadet pilots for the Air Force.

In 1955, working for the Office of Naval Research, Yost made the first moored flight of a modern hot-air balloon. It was powered by kerosene. Then, in 1956, Yost and three others formed Raven Industries in Sioux Falls, S.D., to develop an inexpensive balloon for military use.

In 1960, with a nylon balloon envelope and propane heater, Yost made a 3-mile, 25-minute flight from Bruning Army Air Field in Nebraska. It was the first free flight of a modern hot-air balloon.

And it was enough to land him in the history books.

But he was just beginning. For 18 more months after that flight, he tinkered with various fabrics, burners, coils, maneuvering and deflation vents — all the major characteristics of today's hot-air balloons.

When Raven Industries sold its first sport balloon in 1961, hot-air ballooning for fun and competition was born.

Grand adventures
Yost kept busy over the years with military contracts, and with grand adventures building and flying balloons.

"He was responsible for sending spy balloons over the Soviet Union before the U-2 spy plane," says Brent Stockwell, a balloonist and friend in Oakland, Calif., who, with his wife, Christine Kalakuka, is working on a biography of Yost.

In 1973, Yost designed and built a hot-air balloon for magazine mogul Malcolm S. Forbes, which Forbes flew across the continental United States, with Yost in charge of ground and flight operations.

And in 1976, with no fanfare and little media attention, Yost departed Milbridge, Maine, on a solo attempt to ride the winds across the Atlantic Ocean in a helium balloon named Silver Fox that he — of course — designed and built himself. He built the open gondola in the shape of a catamaran in case he had to land at sea.

Nearly a dozen attempts to conquer the Atlantic by balloon had failed in the 20 years before this, and five people had died. Yost had studied those efforts, convinced that "success lies in a combination of experience, proper balloon design, advance weather forecasting and that element familiar to all free balloonists — a measure of luck," he wrote in the February 1977 National Geographic.

After more than 107 hours and nearly 2,500 miles, Yost touched down 700 miles short of success, which would have been the coast of Portugal.

Sports Illustrated magazine called Yost's attempt a "most successful failure."

The flight set distance and duration records that still stand today for the size of balloon Yost used.

Double Eagle II
Jim Mitchell was working for Albuquerque balloonist and mining executive Maxie Anderson in 1977 when Anderson saw the National Geographic story.

"He held up the magazine and said, 'You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to fly the Atlantic in a balloon.' He was directly inspired by Ed Yost's flight," Mitchell says. "Yost touched off what some of us call the golden age of long-distance ballooning."

Yost says Anderson called him and wanted to know if he was interested in building a balloon and teaching his partners and him how to fly it.

Anderson and Abruzzo's first attempt in September 1977 failed. But in 1978, Double Eagle II — with Anderson, Abruzzo and Newman aboard — made well publicized history. And it was Yost who had designed, built and launched their balloon.

In 1978, Ben Abruzzo showed Ed and Suzie Yost a piece of property next to the Sipapu ski area northeast of Santa Fe, which they bought because it had "everything we wanted — mountains, trees, water," Yost says. He designed and built a home of lodgepole pines, and they moved in about 13 years ago.

Suzie Yost died of cancer Sept. 2 of this year.

Yost met his match with Suzie, a "tall, beautiful and brilliant woman who drove sports cars" and passed the bar exam without ever attending law school and who later became a part-time judge in California, says Stockwell.

"She crewed for him and worked with him on all his projects. She made the nets for all the racing balloons he built, she tied all those thousands of knots."

Yost no longer flies, because he's on insulin for diabetes. "That's show biz, I guess," he says. "When I grow up, I want to be a streetcar operator. I'm only 82."

Years in the making
The idea of honoring Yost's historical Nebraska flight took shape about a year ago. A member of the Outhaus Balloon Club in outstate Nebraska spotted an article in a ballooning book about Yost's first free flight. Member Peggy Hart spearheaded fund-raising for the historical marker by putting out a call for donations over the Internet.

"I looked at the date and said, 'You know, that's been 40 years ago this year,' '' Hart says.

Hart and her balloon club will be in Albuquerque for the fiesta flying dawn patrol. They are looking into erecting a small replica of the monument in New Mexico with leftover donation money, which came from balloonists from around the United States and England.

"Balloonists said they thought it was about time there was something done for this," Hart said.