Albert Leo Stevens (March 9, 1877 – May 8, 1944) was an American pioneering balloonist.
Biography He was born on March 9, in 1873 or 1877, in Cleveland, Ohio, of Czech parentage.His birth year has been listed from 1873 through 1877 in various sources (but all are wrong - he was born in September 1871 under a different name). The New York Times used the final age of 71, which gives 1873 as his birth year. The National Air and Space Museum also uses 1873. 1877 is the year on his tombstone and matches the age given by the Associated Press in their obituary. He had brother Frank Stevens (1875–1958).
He started making balloon ascents in 1889 at age 12, and began manufacturing balloons and dirigibles at the age of 20 in 1893. In 1895, he made his first parachute jump from a church spire in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Stevens also played a key role in the development of safety features for parachutes.
He participated in the Gordon Bennett Cup balloon races, and flew one of the first dirigibles in the United States in 1906. He opened the first private airfield in the nation in 1909.
On July 8, 1911, he ascended in a balloon from the Wanamaker's store in New York City, heading toward Philadelphia, but got lost in some fog and landed in West Nyack, New York.
During World War I he was a US Army instructor.
Stevens died on May 8, 1944, at age 67.
Legacy The A. Leo Stevens Parachute Medal was awarded from 1948 to 1959. The National Air and Space Museum houses the Leo Stevens Glass Plate Photography Collection, 1900-1915.
References
External links
The Otsego Farmer "Tributes Paid to A. Leo Stevens by Aerialist" May 12, 1944