Albuquerque gas-balloon pilot. Double Eagle II. He helped prove this desert could launch a crossing.
Maxie Anderson helped show that ballooning out of Albuquerque was a craft, not a hobby. In 1978, with Ben Abruzzo and Larry Newman, he completed the first transatlantic balloon crossing. They left from Maine and landed in France.
He died in a balloon accident in 1983. We name that once. The work we honor is the crossing, and the nerve it took to try it from a high-desert town.
The museum that carries his name is its own institution. We are not it. This page is a tribute.
Independent tribute to an Albuquerque hero. Not affiliated with the person, the family, or any team or foundation that carries the name. We don’t use their photograph. See a mistake? Write dukecitylegends@gmail.com.