Nashua, N.H. – July 12, 1909

Nashua, New Hampshire – July 12, 1909

 

    balloon On July 12, 1909, a man identified as Albert Patenaud of Haverhill, Massachusetts, made a balloon ascension at Nashua with the intent of jumping from the balloon using a parachute.  After the balloon rose several hundred feet it suddenly began to drop.  As it was coming down,  Patnaud jumped, but his chute didn’t open in time to safely slow his rate of fall and he made a hard landing on the roof of a house seriously injuring his leg.  The balloon, meanwhile, came down on the roof of a barn on Beckley Street. 

     Patenaud was taken to a hospital where doctors set and put a cast on the leg.  Undaunted by his scrape with death, Patenaud announced he would try again the following day.  

     Professor Patenaud made another ascension over Nashua on the evening of July 14th, again with the intention of using a parachute.  The balloon rose to an altitude of 3,000 feet, but Patenaud was unable to cut the parachute loose.  After a few minutes the balloon began to drop and the aeronaut was forced to descend with it.  The envelope was torn open when the balloon hit the sharp edge of a roof of a home on Vine Street.  Patenaud was unhurt in this instance.    

     Source:

     The Barre Daily Times, (Vermont), “Aeronaut Dropped Two Hundred feet”, July 13, 1909 

     Nashua Telegraph, (N.H.) “Big Crowd Attends Carnival Features”, July 15, 1909

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