Ed Yost

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Not to be confused with 1940s/50s baseball player Eddie Yost.

Ed Yost (born Paul Edward Yost in Bristow, Iowa, 1919) is the American inventor of the modern hot air balloon and is sometimes referred to as the "Father of the Modern Day Hot-Air Balloon."

He first became involved in ballooning when he leased his single-engine plane to General Mills to track their gas balloons. He was a senior engineer in the development of high-altitude research balloons.

He is often credited with making the first free flight of a "modern" hot-air balloon -- with a plastic envelope and kerosene fuel -- in Bruning, Nebraska on 22 October 1960. Under contract to the US government, Yost revised his design to produce an aircraft that used a propane burner to heat the lifting gas and lightweight, but tough, nylon envelope.

In 1963, he and Don Piccard made the first flight across the English Channel in a hot-air balloon. In 1976, he unsuccessfully attempted a balloon crossing of the Atlantic Ocean, starting from Milbridge, Maine and ending over 2700 miles and 107 hours later, in the sea 700 miles west of Portugal. Despite the failure, Yost's trip set new records for distance and flight time. When the feat was finally achieved two years later, it was using one of Yost's designs.

In addition to his groundbreaking designs, Ed Yost started the Balloon Federation of America (BFA), and helped organise the first US national ballooning championship at Indianola, Iowa. He was the first person inducted into the U.S. Ballooning Hall of Fame.