42 Balloons: New musical follows man who flew over LA in a garden chair - BBC News

Larry Walters' flight, using a garden chair and helium balloons, is celebrated in a stage musical.

12 hours agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, "Lawnchair" Larry Walters (left) with TV host Alan King on America's Funniest Foul-Ups in 1984By Ian YoungsEntertainment & arts reporterIn 1982, a truck driver made headlines when he tied 42 helium balloons to a garden chair and flew over part of Los Angeles. A new stage musical reclaims him as a hero, although questions remain over his story's tragic ending.

In the aftermath of his unconventional voyage, Larry Walters assured the American public he wasn't actually a crackpot who had risked life and limb with a hare-brained scheme that was dreamed up on a whim.

No - taking flight had been a lifelong ambition, he told interviewers afterwards.

But he had been rejected by the US Air Force because of bad eyesight, so carried out years of careful research to make his dream come true in his own peculiarly homespun way.

When he came back down to Earth - somehow unscathed after floating in the chair across the approach to LAX airport and landing in power lines - Walters' escapade caused a minor sensation.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-68811305

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