Julian P. Thomas
Julian P. Thomas was an American balloonist and medical doctor in the early 20th century. As a balloonist, he participated in long-distance flights with his wife, his son, and fellow aviator Roy Knabenshue. As a doctor, he became involved in a number of questionable ventures involving fad diets which resulted in legal issues.
Personal life
Thomas's father, James Jefferson Thomas, was a cavalry officer in the Confederate army. His mother, Ella Gertrude Clanton Thomas is more well known, having kept a journal of her life experiences for 41 years. She considered herself a feminist and a suffragist. Julian spent the early part of his life in Georgia, near Augusta and Atlanta.Thomas studied at the Medical College of Georgia, earning his medical degree there. He had a son, Odin, born.
Thomas died on May 10, 1932, in Atlanta, Georgia.
Ballooning
As a young man, Thomas became interested in bronco riding, racing cars and aviation. He experimented with models of lighter-than-air balloons as well as aeroplanes. This led to his purchase of a full-sized balloon high with a diameter of, holding of gas. He used coal gas due to its decreased cost compared to hydrogen, even though it provided half the lifting power. A typical flight would carry two or three passengers plus of ballast in the form of sand bags.Around 1905, Thomas met aviator and aeronautical engineer Roy Knabenshue. Thomas and Knabenshue completed a balloon trip in 1906, traveling from New York to Massachusetts, with an overnight stop in Noank, Connecticut.
On April 11, 1906, Thomas, accompanied by his wife and French aeronaut Charles Levee, completed a record flight of in three hours, travelling from Pittsfield to Springfield, Massachusetts. Mrs. Thomas kept a diary during the trip and brought along a camera which they used to take photographs of rivers, lakes, clouds, and each other while in flight. She described the experience when they climbed into a cloud as being able to see "nothing but microscopic rain", with "no noise, no sensation, no object in sight" and noted that they ate lunch at an altitude of.
In June of that year, Thomas claimed to have broken the US records for both altitude and distance flown in a balloon by covering over between the Bronx and Otsego County, both in New York State, and reaching an altitude of. In December, he published an article in The World's Work describing his experiences in balloons.
In 1908, Thomas was severely injured in an accident while operating a "wind wagon" in preparation for an aviation exhibition at the Morris Park Aerodrome. He crashed when trying to avoid a motorcyclist who was also using the track to prepare for the exhibition to be held two days later.