Albert Leo Stevens
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| Albert Leo Stevens | |
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Stevens ascent from Wanamaker's in Manhattan on July 8, 1911
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| Born | March 9, 1877 Cleveland, Ohio |
| Died | Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist. Bardonia, New York |
| Spouse(s) | Julia Laura |
| Relatives | Frank Stevens[disambiguation needed] (?-1958), brother |
Albert Leo Stevens (March 9, 1877 – May 8, 1944) was a pioneering balloonist.
Contents
Biography
He was born on March 9, 1873 or 1877 in Cleveland, Ohio of Czech parentage.[1][2][3] He had brother Frank Stevens (1875–1958).[4][5]
He began making balloon ascensions in 1889 at age 12, and began manufacturing balloons and dirigibles at the age of 20 in 1893.[1] In 1895 he made his first parachute jump from a church spire in Montreal, Canada.[2]
He participated in the Gordon Bennett Balloon Races. He flew one of the very first dirigibles in the United States in 1906.[1]
He opened the first private airfield in the nation in 1909. Stevens also played a key role in the development of safety features for parachutes.[1]
On July 8, 1911 he ascended in a balloon from the Wanamaker's store in New York City heading toward Philadelphia, but he landed in West Nyack, New York.[6]
During World War I he was a US Army instructor.[7]
He died on May 8, 1944 at age 67.[7][8]
Legacy
There is the Leo Stevens Award. The National Air and Space Museum houses the Leo Stevens Glass Plate Photography Collection, 1900-1915.[1]
References
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- ↑ His birth year has been listed from 1873 through 1877 in various sources. The New York Times used the final age of 71, which gives 1873 as his birth year. The National Air and Space Museum also uses 1873. 1877 is the year on his tombstone and matches the age given by the Associated Press in their obituary.
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External links
- Albert Leo Stevens from the Library of Congress at Flickr Commons
- The Otsego Farmer "Tributes Paid to A. Leo Stevens by Aerialist" May 12, 1944
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Albert Leo Stevens. |
