Actress and scion of the prominent Brown family of Kentucky. She was the daughter of Kentucky congressman John Y. Brown Sr. and sister of Kentucky Fried Chicken CEO John Y. Brown, Jr.
Pam and two companions perished in September of 1970 while attempting to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a hot air and helium balloon. It would have been the first time a balloon had been flown across the Atlantic Ocean from west to east.
On Sunday, September 20th, 1970, Pamela and her husband, Rod Anderson, along with an English balloonist, Malcolm Brighton, set off from East Hampton, Long Island, aboard the balloon they called "The Free Life". Pamela was originally not supposed to be part of the crew. Her father, who had financed the venture, had forbidden it. But, wrote Dan Rattiner in an article for "This is the Hamptons" published July 14, 2014:
"It was a slow business inflating that balloon to its full 70-foot height. But after about half an hour, the crew announced that it was done. There was a light breeze up there jiggling it around, so now things had to get a move on. I and some others were asked to step back, and in stepped the pilot, Malcolm Brighton, and then Rod Anderson, who immediately started waving and now smiling to the crowd. He was going. It was going to happen. His dream was coming true. The crowd shouted and cheered, and, slowly at first, the gondola began to drag and then bounce a little bit on the grass and move to the north and the end of that field.
And at that moment, a shriek was heard from the crowd, and out from it, running at full speed, was Pamela Brown, heading for the gondola. Tears were streaming down her cheeks.
"I'm going, I'm going," she shouted. And as she shouted, her husband reached out for her and grabbed her by the arms and struggled her on board. As the gondola lifted off from the ground, there she was now, with her husband, the two of them, arms around each other, waving and smiling and getting smaller and smaller in the distance."
The following day, the trio encountered a cold front and a driving rainstorm, which forced their craft into the sea six hundred miles southeast of Newfoundland. They sent out a message that they were ditching and required search and rescue, then there was silence. No trace of the three aeronauts was ever found. Experts believe they were overwhelmed by 20 foot waves and then sunk by the balloon, which could not be removed from the gondola.
Television reporter Pamela Ashley Brown is Pamela's niece and was named for her.
Pam and two companions perished in September of 1970 while attempting to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a hot air and helium balloon. It would have been the first time a balloon had been flown across the Atlantic Ocean from west to east.
On Sunday, September 20th, 1970, Pamela and her husband, Rod Anderson, along with an English balloonist, Malcolm Brighton, set off from East Hampton, Long Island, aboard the balloon they called "The Free Life". Pamela was originally not supposed to be part of the crew. Her father, who had financed the venture, had forbidden it. But, wrote Dan Rattiner in an article for "This is the Hamptons" published July 14, 2014:
"It was a slow business inflating that balloon to its full 70-foot height. But after about half an hour, the crew announced that it was done. There was a light breeze up there jiggling it around, so now things had to get a move on. I and some others were asked to step back, and in stepped the pilot, Malcolm Brighton, and then Rod Anderson, who immediately started waving and now smiling to the crowd. He was going. It was going to happen. His dream was coming true. The crowd shouted and cheered, and, slowly at first, the gondola began to drag and then bounce a little bit on the grass and move to the north and the end of that field.
And at that moment, a shriek was heard from the crowd, and out from it, running at full speed, was Pamela Brown, heading for the gondola. Tears were streaming down her cheeks.
"I'm going, I'm going," she shouted. And as she shouted, her husband reached out for her and grabbed her by the arms and struggled her on board. As the gondola lifted off from the ground, there she was now, with her husband, the two of them, arms around each other, waving and smiling and getting smaller and smaller in the distance."
The following day, the trio encountered a cold front and a driving rainstorm, which forced their craft into the sea six hundred miles southeast of Newfoundland. They sent out a message that they were ditching and required search and rescue, then there was silence. No trace of the three aeronauts was ever found. Experts believe they were overwhelmed by 20 foot waves and then sunk by the balloon, which could not be removed from the gondola.
Television reporter Pamela Ashley Brown is Pamela's niece and was named for her.
Actress and scion of the prominent Brown family of Kentucky. She was the daughter of Kentucky congressman John Y. Brown Sr. and sister of Kentucky Fried Chicken CEO John Y. Brown, Jr.
Pam and two companions perished in September of 1970 while attempting to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a hot air and helium balloon. It would have been the first time a balloon had been flown across the Atlantic Ocean from west to east.
On Sunday, September 20th, 1970, Pamela and her husband, Rod Anderson, along with an English balloonist, Malcolm Brighton, set off from East Hampton, Long Island, aboard the balloon they called "The Free Life". Pamela was originally not supposed to be part of the crew. Her father, who had financed the venture, had forbidden it. But, wrote Dan Rattiner in an article for "This is the Hamptons" published July 14, 2014:
"It was a slow business inflating that balloon to its full 70-foot height. But after about half an hour, the crew announced that it was done. There was a light breeze up there jiggling it around, so now things had to get a move on. I and some others were asked to step back, and in stepped the pilot, Malcolm Brighton, and then Rod Anderson, who immediately started waving and now smiling to the crowd. He was going. It was going to happen. His dream was coming true. The crowd shouted and cheered, and, slowly at first, the gondola began to drag and then bounce a little bit on the grass and move to the north and the end of that field.
And at that moment, a shriek was heard from the crowd, and out from it, running at full speed, was Pamela Brown, heading for the gondola. Tears were streaming down her cheeks.
"I'm going, I'm going," she shouted. And as she shouted, her husband reached out for her and grabbed her by the arms and struggled her on board. As the gondola lifted off from the ground, there she was now, with her husband, the two of them, arms around each other, waving and smiling and getting smaller and smaller in the distance."
The following day, the trio encountered a cold front and a driving rainstorm, which forced their craft into the sea six hundred miles southeast of Newfoundland. They sent out a message that they were ditching and required search and rescue, then there was silence. No trace of the three aeronauts was ever found. Experts believe they were overwhelmed by 20 foot waves and then sunk by the balloon, which could not be removed from the gondola.
Television reporter Pamela Ashley Brown is Pamela's niece and was named for her.
Pam and two companions perished in September of 1970 while attempting to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a hot air and helium balloon. It would have been the first time a balloon had been flown across the Atlantic Ocean from west to east.
On Sunday, September 20th, 1970, Pamela and her husband, Rod Anderson, along with an English balloonist, Malcolm Brighton, set off from East Hampton, Long Island, aboard the balloon they called "The Free Life". Pamela was originally not supposed to be part of the crew. Her father, who had financed the venture, had forbidden it. But, wrote Dan Rattiner in an article for "This is the Hamptons" published July 14, 2014:
"It was a slow business inflating that balloon to its full 70-foot height. But after about half an hour, the crew announced that it was done. There was a light breeze up there jiggling it around, so now things had to get a move on. I and some others were asked to step back, and in stepped the pilot, Malcolm Brighton, and then Rod Anderson, who immediately started waving and now smiling to the crowd. He was going. It was going to happen. His dream was coming true. The crowd shouted and cheered, and, slowly at first, the gondola began to drag and then bounce a little bit on the grass and move to the north and the end of that field.
And at that moment, a shriek was heard from the crowd, and out from it, running at full speed, was Pamela Brown, heading for the gondola. Tears were streaming down her cheeks.
"I'm going, I'm going," she shouted. And as she shouted, her husband reached out for her and grabbed her by the arms and struggled her on board. As the gondola lifted off from the ground, there she was now, with her husband, the two of them, arms around each other, waving and smiling and getting smaller and smaller in the distance."
The following day, the trio encountered a cold front and a driving rainstorm, which forced their craft into the sea six hundred miles southeast of Newfoundland. They sent out a message that they were ditching and required search and rescue, then there was silence. No trace of the three aeronauts was ever found. Experts believe they were overwhelmed by 20 foot waves and then sunk by the balloon, which could not be removed from the gondola.
Television reporter Pamela Ashley Brown is Pamela's niece and was named for her.
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