Part Two - PaintballX3 Magazine, January 2015
65
1994, Air America
Nitrogen Systems
Although Team Nitro played the Music City Open using prototype nitrogen
systems almost three years earlier, it
was Air America that debuted the first
high pressure air systems for sale to
the public at the 1993 International
Masters tournament. By mid 1994 Air
America 3000 PSI systems were available for purchase and were beginning
to show up at paintball fields around
the U.S., despite the fear people had of
switching to the new power source. The
fear? Looking back it was unwarranted but many thought “high pressure”
would be more dangerous than C02
simply because more pressure sounded
more dangerous.
Dan’s company did work for Lockheed Martin and their work on the
SpaceShipOne project got them into
the Smithsonian Institute.
Air America was an interesting story
in that owner Dan Colby was a long
time Chicagolands paintball field owner and player, but he was much more
than that. Dan’s company did work for
Lockheed Martin and their work on the
SpaceShipOne project got them into
the Smithsonian Institute. Air America
had also worked with NASA, Livermore
National Laboratories and AG Labs.
Later they did some work that was
used for special effects for Harry Potter, 13 Day and other films and Broadway plays. So creating dozens of new
products (check valves, regulators, fill
stations) including their high pressure
air systems should not have surprised
anyone that knew their background.
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