Seventeen year old John Piccard, eldest son of Dr. Jean Piccard, is fastening toggles to the loading ring of his fathers gondola, Pleiades, prior to Dr. Jean Piccard's historic flight. Dr. Jean Piccard was a University of Minnesota physicist and aeronautical engineer who believed it was possible to ascend into the stratosphere using many small cluster balloons rather than one large balloon. The experimental flight was sponsored by the Rochester Kiwanis Club and supported by local residents and students.
Cluster balloons have been inflated and are attached to the gondola, the Pleiades, just prior to take off from Soldier's Field in Rochester, MN. Dr. Jean Piccard was a University of Minnesota physicist and aeronautical engineer who believed it was possible to ascend into the stratosphere using many small cluster balloons rather than one large balloon. The experimental flight was sponsored by the Rochester Kiwanis Club and supported by local residents and students.
Assistants are inflating individual balloons with hydrogen at Soldier's Field in Rochester, MN prior to Dr. Jean's Piccard's experimental balloon ascension. Dr. Jean Piccard was a University of Minnesota physicist and aeronautical engineer who believed it was possible to ascend into the stratosphere using many small cluster balloons rather than one large balloon. The experimental flight was sponsored by the Rochester Kiwanis Club and supported by local residents and students.
Ticket number 1008 admitted one person to Soldiers Field in Rochester, Minnesota to view the preparations and balloon flight of Dr. Jean Piccard. Originally scheduled for sometime in June, the flight was delayed until July 17 - 18, 1937 when optimum weather conditions permitted a safe flight. Dr. Jean Piccard was a University of Minnesota physicist and aeronautical engineer who believed it was possible to ascend into the stratosphere using many small cluster balloons rather than one large balloon. The experimental flight was sponsored by the Rochester Kiwanis Club and supported by local residents and students.
Assistants are holding individual inflated balloons at Soldiers Field while waiting for the signal to move towards the center and join the balloons into clusters for Dr. Jean Piccard's balloon ascension in the early hours of July 18, 1937.
Inflated balloons are being walked in from the edges of the field toward the gondola to be joined into clusters just prior to Dr. Piccard's take off. Dr. Jean Piccard was a University of Minnesota physicist and aeronautical engineer who believed it was possible to ascend into the stratosphere using many small cluster balloons rather than one large balloon. The experimental flight was sponsored by the Rochester Kiwanis Club and supported by local residents and students.
Professor Jean Piccard is posed by the gondola or basket he would ride in during his historic balloon ascension on July 18, 1935. In the background of this photo taken in Soldiers Field is the Rochester Dairy. Dr. Jean Piccard was a University of Minnesota physicist and aeronautical engineer who believed it was possible to ascend into the stratosphere using many small cluster balloons rather than one large balloon. The experimental flight was sponsored by the Rochester Kiwanis Club and supported by local residents and students.
The layout of pre-flight operations includes the field plan with field house, fence and track shown. Details include load ring, position of men, hydrogen cylinders, TNT caps, poles, balloons and gondola. The plan was drawn by Paul Campbell.
Dr. Jean Piccard is posed by a Lincoln-Zephyr automobile. This photo was later used in an advertisement for Motor Sales & Service Company that appeared in the Rochester Post-Bulletin newspaper on July 19, 1937. Dr. Jean Piccard was a University of Minnesota physicist and aeronautical engineer who believed it was possible to ascend into the stratosphere using many small cluster balloons rather than one large balloon. The experimental flight from Soldiers Field in Rochester, Minnesota was sponsored by the Rochester Kiwanis Club and supported by local residents and students.
Dr. Jean Piccard is inflating one of the 80 balloons which he planned to use in his ascent. He is assisted by Elden Olson, University of Minnesota aeronautical student. Hundreds of spectators gathered to watch this rehearsal of the ground crew on July 7, 1935 at Soldiers Field, Rochester, Minnesota. Dr. Jean Piccard was a University of Minnesota physicist and aeronautical engineer who believed it was possible to ascend into the stratosphere using many small cluster balloons rather than one large balloon. The experimental flight was sponsored by the Rochester Kiwanis Club and supported by local residents and students.
Dr. Jean Piccard is installing a radio in the Pleiades prior to his historic balloon flight. Dr. Jean Piccard was a University of Minnesota physicist and aeronautical engineer who believed it was possible to ascend into the stratosphere using many small cluster balloons rather than one large balloon. The experimental flight was sponsored by the Rochester Kiwanis Club and supported by local residents and students.
Dr. Jean Piccard's family is working on the gondola, Pleiades, before his balloon flight from Rochester, Minnesota. Left to right, Professor Jean Piccard, thirteen year old Paul, Dr. Jeannette Picard (his wife), seventeen year old John and eleven year old Donald. Dr. Jean Piccard was a University of Minnesota physicist and aeronautical engineer who believed it was possible to ascend into the stratosphere using many small cluster balloons rather than one large balloon. The experimental flight was sponsored by the Rochester Kiwanis Club and supported by local residents and students.
Instructions for groups and individuals assisting with ground crew and balloon inflation for the Dr. Jean Piccard balloon ascension in 1937 are described I this four page document. Details of balloon construction and inflation procedures are given in addition to the order of operations and signals. Dr. Jean Piccard was a University of Minnesota physicist and aeronautical engineer who believed it was possible to ascend into the stratosphere using many small cluster balloons rather than one large balloon. The experimental flight was sponsored by the Rochester Kiwanis Club and supported by local residents and students.
Mr. and Mrs. Mort Madden are posed in front of their farm house where they hosted Dr. Jean Piccard after his flight ended on July 18, 1935. Dr. Piccard landed in a tree near the river bluff on their property and walked to their house. Mrs. Madden cooked breakfast for Dr. Piccard before he was driven into Lasing, Iowa by Mr. Madden's brother-in-law, Joe Manton. Dr. Jean Piccard was a University of Minnesota physicist and aeronautical engineer who believed it was possible to ascend into the stratosphere using many small cluster balloons rather than one large balloon. The experimental flight was sponsored by the Rochester Kiwanis Club and supported by local residents and students.
A group of local sight seers and souvenir hunters are gathered around the wreckage of the Pleiades, the gondola used by Dr. Jean Piccard during his flight. The gondola quickly burned after a fire was caused by burning excelsior ignited by the TNT used to blast away his upper cluster of balloons. The flight ended when Dr. Piccard landed near the Mississippi River bluff near Lansing, Iowa on July 18, 1935 approximately seventy-five miles from Rochester. Dr. Jean Piccard was a University of Minnesota physicist and aeronautical engineer who believed it was possible to ascend into the stratosphere using many small cluster balloons rather than one large balloon. The experimental flight was sponsored by the Rochester Kiwanis Club and supported by local residents and students.