Category Archives: Photos

Historical gas balloon flights

Olympic Games held In Paris, France in 1900. The two French balloonist Henry de la Vaulx and Georges Castillon de Saint-Victor set world records for distance 1925 km from Paris to Kiev and duration nearly 36 hours.

The Gordon Bennett Balloon Cup held in Geneva in 1922. Old video from the start.

World Meteorological Day 23th March

World Meteorological Day was established in 1951 to commemorate the World Meteorological Organization creation on 23th March 1950. This organization announces a slogan for World Meteorological Day every year, and this day is celebrated in all member countries.

U.S. Weather Bureau officially began their free-rising balloon program in 1906.
Weather balloon ca. between 1909 and 1920

The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), an organization of the United Nations, was created on 23th March 1950 to replace the International Meteorological Organization. It began operations in 1951 to coordinate member nation in the fields of meteorology, operational hydrology, and Earth sciences for the security of their population. The first World Meteorological Day was held on 23th March 1961.

Winners of Europeans 2019

2nd Laurynas Komža LTU, 1st Stefan Zeberli SUI, 3rd Nicolas Schwartz FRA

21st European Hot Air Balloon Championship in Mallorca ended after 5 flights and 16 tasks.

Congratulations to all the pilots and teams, europeans and worlds are dope thanks to you all. Thanks to the whole national team for the help and healthy rivalry. It makes us stronger and more focused.

Thanks to David Bareford and his team for a challenging and interesting championship. It wasn’t an easy job to do with such a weather forecast on an mediterranean island, but we had it all: slow winds, fast take off, fog, clouds, missed targets, mud, all sorts of flags and great effort from all the pilots.

Thanks to Ricardo Aracil and his fantastic team for this event that we won’t forget. And we definitely won’t forget the award ceremonies, both of MBT and Europeans.

The 22nd European Hot Air Balloon Championship will be in  Szeged, Hungary. See you there!

Photo and text credit Balloon Club Lituanica

First “real” hot air balloon

At 22nd of October 1960, the first “real” hot air balloon was tested in the USA🇺🇸 by Ed Yost! With support of the U.S. Navy this project led to what we are doing today… ballooning! 

First real hot air balloon by Ed Yost

Because of these guys we are able today to explore, live our dream of flying and share our passion with thousands of passengers every day around the world.

🎉Thank you and happy birthday! 🎉

David Levin (June 10, 1948 – May 13, 2017)

David Levin (1948 - 2017)David is the only balloon pilot to have won both the Hot Air and Gas Balloon World Championships and he completed the “triple crown” of ballooning by winning the prestigious Coupe Aeronautique Gordon Bennett in 1992. He has also won the U.S. National Championships in both Gas and Hot Air. Other wins include the 1988 Trans-Australia Balloon Challenge, 1990 Canadian Open National Championship, 1994 Alpine Balloon Trophy in Austria and the 1996 America’s Challenge Gas Balloon Race in Albuquerque. His last win was the 2000 America’s Challenge with a flight of 1,998 miles, flying from Albuquerque to Gorham, Maine in 66 hours. David retired from balloon competition after the World Air Games in Seville, Spain in 2001.

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First human in the Space on 12 April 1961

On 12 April 1961, the Vostok 3KA-3 (Vostok 1) spacecraft with Gagarin aboard was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome. Gagarin thus became both the first human to travel into space, and the first to orbit the Earth. His call sign was Kedr (Russian: Кедр, Siberian pine or Cedar).

Yuri Gagarin

Picture: Time Covers – The 60S, Boris Chaliapin, from the Life.com collection

The radio communication between the launch control room and Gagarin included the following dialogue at the moment of rocket launch: Continue reading

Largest Montgolfier hot-air balloon ever made, Le Flesselle in 1784

Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier with Joseph Montgolfier, he was one of six passengers on a second flight on 19 January 1784, with a huge Montgolfier balloon Le Flesselles launched from Lyon. Four French nobles paid for the trip, including a prince.

largest Montgolfier hot-air balloon ever made - Le Flesselle

On January 19, 1784, the largest Montgolfier hot-air balloon ever made, “Le Flesselle,” made an ascent at Lyons, France. This engraving depicts two scenes from the event.

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The Virgin Pacific Flyer started in 1991 to the Pacific Crossing

Per Lindstrand and Richard Branson, began their Pacific crossing by hot air balloon on 15th January. Two days later they landed in Yellowknife, Canada on 17th January 1991. They had achieved the first Pacific crossing by hot air balloon.

Richard Branson - Per Lindstrand

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