August 17, 1978 –
Three Americans from New Mexico, Ben Abruzzo, Maxie Anderson and Larry Newman, completed the first transatlantic balloon flight, landing in a barley field 60 miles from Paris, 138 hours and six minutes after lifting off from Presque Isle, Maine. The helium-filled Double Eagle II covered 3,233 miles in its six-day journey.
The flight, the fourteenth known attempt, was the culmination of more than a century of previous attempts to cross the Atlantic Ocean by balloon.
The Haus of Dcaligari 