Brian Jones (aeronaut)
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Brian George Jones Template:Postnominals (born 27 March 1947) is an English balloonist.
Brian Jones, along with Bertrand Piccard, co-piloted the first successful uninterrupted circumnavigation of the world on board a balloon, the Breitling Orbiter 3. They set off on 1 March 1999 from Château d'Oex in Switzerland and landed in Egypt after a Template:Convert flight lasting 19 days, 21 hours and 47 minutes.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> For this achievement, he received awards including the Harmon Trophy, the Hubbard Medal, the FAI Gold Air Medal, the Charles Green Salver, the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1999 Birthday Honours for services to ballooning.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>
Still active in ballooning records, In November 2010 Jones piloted the Esprit Breitling Orbiter as a launch platform for Yves Rossy. Rossy made the first successful attempt to perform loops using a jet-powered flying-wing backpack.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Jones was born in Bristol, England, and grew up in Knowle, Bristol.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He served for 13 years in the Royal Air Force.<ref name=NYT>Template:Cite web</ref> He is married to Joanna, a balloonist, and has two children.<ref name=NYT/>
Notable work
He co-authored the book The Greatest Adventure Template:ISBN with Bertrand Piccard.
References
External links
- Milestones of Flight: Breitling Orbiter 3 Balloon Gondola Template:Webarchive Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Retrieved 29 May 2010
- Pages with broken file links
- 1947 births
- Living people
- People from Bristol
- British balloonists
- Harmon Trophy winners
- History of ballooning
- Britannia Trophy winners
- Officers of the Order of the British Empire
- Recipients of the Olympic Order
- Aerobatic record holders
- Balloon flight record holders
- British aviation record holders