Double Eagle II, Historical balloon launch site in Presque Isle, Maine, US.
Double Eagle II is the name of a gas balloon that launched from Presque Isle Airport in Maine, built to attempt the first transatlantic balloon crossing. The balloon had a large gas envelope and a wicker gondola that served as the living and working space for its three-person crew during the multi-day flight.
In August 1978, three pilots lifted off from Presque Isle with the goal of becoming the first people to cross the Atlantic by balloon, an attempt that had failed many times before. They landed in France after more than five days in the air, completing a challenge that the aviation world had been trying to meet for decades.
The launch site in Presque Isle draws visitors who want to stand where the journey began and get a sense of the scale of the undertaking. The crossing brought attention to Presque Isle, a small city in northern Maine that few people outside the region had heard of before.
The launch site is located at Presque Isle Airport in northern Maine, and a marker there indicates where the balloon lifted off. The original gondola is not on display at the site but can be seen at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC.
The crew chose Presque Isle specifically because weather patterns in that part of northern Maine offered the most favorable winds for a North Atlantic crossing. This made the airport, far from any major city, one of the most carefully considered starting points in the history of distance ballooning.
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