A Stratospheric Photo

American Albert W. Stevens, born in 1886, was not only a pioneer of aviation and high-altitude ballooning, but also an accomplished aerial photographer.

Albert William Stevens (Belfast Historical Society and Museum). I colorized the image, of course 😉.

Stevens graduated from the University of Maine in 1907 with a degree in electrical engineering, and soon after enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Service. The year was 1918, the end of World War I. It was then that he began to apply his passion for photography to aerial photography. After the war, Stevens continued his aviation career and was promoted to captain in 1919. So far, so unremarkable, but in the 1930s he embarked on several amazing adventures.

Captains Albert Wiliam Stevens (left) and St. Clair Streett, with the Engineering Division’s XCO-5 aircraft, Stevens’ camera, and two pressurized oxygen tanks. 1928 (U.S. National Air and Space Museum / This Day in Aviation).

A shot consecutive to the previous one, using the same sources, in which the two captains can be seen dressed for high-altitude flight.

Earlier in the decade, he convinced the U.S. Army Air Force to use hot air balloons for high-altitude flights. With funding from the National Geographic Society, he flew the historic Explorer I and Explorer II balloons.

National Geographic Society-Army Air Corps balloon that set a manned world altitude record on November 11, 1935 (National Archives and Records Administration Collection, United States). I colorized the image.