Albert Leo Stevens
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Albert Leo Stevens (March 9, 1877 – May 8, 1944) was an American pioneering balloonist.
- Julia
- Laura
Albert Leo Stevens | |
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Stevens ascent from Wanamaker's in Manhattan on July 8, 1911 | |
| Born | March 9, 1877 Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. |
| Died | May 8, 1944 (aged 67) Bardonia, New York, U.S. |
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| Relatives | Frank Stevens (?-1958), brother |
Biography
He was born on March 9, in 1873 or 1877, in Cleveland, Ohio, of Czech parentage.[1][2][3] He had brother Frank Stevens (1875–1958).[4][5]
He started making balloon ascents 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, Quebec, Canada.[2] Stevens also played a key role in the development of safety features for parachutes.[1]
He participated in the Gordon Bennett Cup balloon races, and flew one of the first dirigibles in the United States in 1906.[1] He opened the first private airfield in the nation in 1909.
On July 8, 1911, he ascended in a balloon from the Wanamaker's store in New York City, heading toward Philadelphia, but got lost in some fog and landed in West Nyack, New York.[6]
During World War I he was a US Army instructor.[7]
Legacy
The A. Leo Stevens Parachute Medal was awarded from 1948 to 1959. The National Air and Space Museum houses the Leo Stevens Glass Plate Photography Collection, 1900-1915.[1]
