Mon, May 23, 2011
We're still enjoying the aftermath of an amazing week that the
ANN and Aero-TV crews spent, last fall, enjoying the grandeur and
precision of a sport that much of aviation knows so little about.
And... as amazing as we found the sport of hot-air and gas
ballooning to be, we became even more impressed with the folks that
populate this truly lofty activity.
One of those amazing folks is Jacques Soukup, whose passion for
recovering and recording the wondrous history of the sport knows
few limits. According to Balloon Life, Jacques started ballooning
in hot air balloons in 1979 and received his gas balloon rating in
1983. He has extensive international ballooning experience with
thousands of hours in hot air, gas and Roziere balloons. Along with
his partner, Kirk S. Thomas, Jacques was a pioneer in the
development and popularization of special shaped balloons, such as
the heads of Uncle Sam and Carmen Miranda.
Jacques has served as the President of the Balloon Federation of
America, and the President of the Ballooning Commission of the
Fédération Aéronautique Internationale. In
1985, Jacques and co-pilot Don Cameron established eight world
records in Roziere balloons, and followed that, in 1987, by adding
eight additional altitude records in that balloon, raising his
world records to a total of 16. Soukup and Thomas founded the
Soukup & Thomas International Balloon & Airship Museum.
That collection is the source for many of the wonders seen at
the Anderson-Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum. The
Soukup & Thomas Collection, donated to the museum by the City
of Mitchell, South Dakota, adds incredible depth to an already
impressive collection.
The museum's archival holdings contain historic documents,
first-hand accounts of the intrepid voyages of balloonists of the
past, rare books and other rich artifacts. Join Aero-TV for an
illuminating chat with one of the ballooning world's foremost
patrons...
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