CARIBOU, Maine — Highly-decorated retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Joseph Kittinger made history 30 years ago when he became the first person to fly a gas balloon, alone, across the Atlantic Ocean.
A record-setting 3,535 miles and 86 hours after launching from a Caribou field, Kittinger set the helium balloon down in a little Italian town called Cairo Montenotte.
“The 14th of September is a significant milestone in my life because the dream of flying the Atlantic solo in a gas balloon started in a dark dungeon in the POW facility in Hanoi, Vietnam 12 years earlier,” Kittinger said on Monday. He planned the entire flight as a POW and finally realized his dream on Sept. 14, 1984, when his gas galloon departed from the small field in Caribou.
The entire voyage is still vivid in his memory, from takeoff to landing, and he spoke of the voyage to local Rotarians during a celebratory luncheon in 2009 for the 25th anniversary. If a solo gas-balloon expedition across the Atlantic wasn’t adventurous enough, Kittinger described how he encountered -20 degree temperatures at 22,000 feet, the massive failure of his navigational equipment and having the back half of his gondola engulfed in flames when the small burner used for food preparation exploded.
He also had a little bit of extra luck on his voyage, despite the cold and flames; the second morning of the flight, when he was a bit tired and a little bored, he reached out with his radio in hopes of communicating with passing planes. The only plane he was able to reach the entire voyage happened to be transporting Kittinger’s chase team and his wife, Sherry.
“That was really an exciting thing, for me to talk with Sherry and my crew halfway across the ocean,” he recalled while speaking at the 2009 luncheon.
A detailed account of his Atlantic flight out of Caribou, his record-breaking parachute jump from 102,800 feet on Aug. 16 of 1960 and other amazing contributions to aviation and the space program can be found in his book, “Come Up and Get Me,” which is available through Amazon.com. Famed astronaut Neil Armstrong wrote the foreword for Kittinger’s autobiography.
While Kittinger has seen the world in ways that few will experience, he still has a significant place in his heart and mind for the most northeastern city in the nation. When cluster balloonist Jonathan Trappe was looking to make his own record-breaking adventure across the Atlantic, Kittinger recommended that he launch from Caribou. Trappe launched out of Caribou on Sept. 12 of 2013, with Kittinger on the ground advising the flight.
To the greater Caribou community, the decorated colonel wished to share his thanks for all the support the city gave his historic flight in the Rosie O’Grady and Jonathan Trappe’s adventure as well.
“Thanks again to all of the residents in Caribou and to the City of Caribou for your support,” Kittinger said on Monday. “I am also very proud of the park that is in Caribou honoring my gas balloon flight.”
Kittinger maintains that Caribou was the ideal launch location.
“It was far enough away from the ocean that if a problem was identified soon after takeoff, I could still land on (solid ground) prior to reaching the ocean. Having a weather station at the local airport was another benefit, as I could go there several times a day and check the weather,” Kittinger recalled. “Jerry Drake (local pilot) provided invaluable assistance to the project and provided us with a hangar to assemble all of the equipment associated with the flight,” he added, describing how the friendly people of Caribou came out to help with the inflation of the Rosie O’Grady Balloon of Peace.
Over the years, Kittinger has kept close friendships with some in the area, including his fellow Rotarians, along with Jerry Drake, Betty Drake and Brenda Ketch, former community editor of the Aroostook Republican.
Thirty years ago, Ketch and her fellow reporter were tasked with covering Kittinger’s historic flight.
