The Internet still can’t believe that a Los Angeles man in 1982 tied a few balloons to a lawn chair and flew in the sky for 45 minutes. Larry Walters became a myth in this century, while his adventure remains a lore that’s quite unbeaten. Larry had dreamed of flying but could not become a pilot because of his poor eyesight. He served as a cook in the Vietnam War and then worked as a truck driver.
Flying high just on balloons
On July 2, 1982, Walters made a 45-minute flight in his lawn chair powered by 42 helium-filled weather balloons. His chair went as high as 16,000 feet and entered the controlled airspace near Long Beach Airport. He shot pellets to burst the balloons and landed unharmed but not without incident, and was immediately arrested. He was initially fined $4,000, which was later reduced to $1500.“It was something I had to do. I had this dream for twenty years, and if I hadn’t done it, I think I would have ended up in the funny farm. Since I was 13 years old, I’ve dreamed of going up into the clear blue sky in a weather balloon. By the grace of God, I fulfilled my dream. But I wouldn’t do this again for anything,” he said after descending as he became an international star after his feat.Walters did not intend to break the law and come to the notice of the regulators. He just wanted to float peacefully at around 30 feet for a few hours. Instead, when his tethers snapped early, the chair shot straight up to an altitude of roughly 16,000 feet. At freezing temperatures and low oxygen, he began shooting out balloons with his pellet gun to drop down. But after popping a few, he accidentally dropped the gun overboard. By that time, enough gas had leaked out to lower him, though he ended up tangled in high-voltage power lines in Long Beach, briefly causing a local blackout. He climbed down uninjured.Though he took his camera with him, the flight turned so chaotic and he was so overwhelmed by the view that he could not take any pictures. All photos of the incident either show him preparing for the takeoff or after he descended.The preparation was also massive. He and his girlfriend, Carol Van Deusen, purchased 45 eight-foot weather balloons from a military surplus store. The setup was at Carol’s mother’s house.The lawn chair became an enviable piece on its own, but Walters did not understand it initially and gave it to one Jerry Fleck, who admired it. He regreted later when the Smithsonian Institution wanted him to donate the chair to the museum. But years later, the chair did come to Smithsonia as Fleck donated it and now it is on display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington.
What happened to Walters?
Soon after his space flight on his lawn chair, he was in high demand. He became a motivational speaker, but later he ended his life when he was 44. On October 6, 1993, he hiked to a remote spot in Angeles National Forest and then shot himself to death. No motive was known to his family members.At that time, Walter used to do volunteer work for the US Forest Service. In an interview with The Times in 1988, he said he was loving the peace and quiet. He never married and was survived by his mother and two sisters. He had also broken up with his girlfriend of 15 years.
