October has proved to be a good month for sales from the List. Envelopes sold include a 31, 2 x 105s, a 275 and 300, in addition to a complete 133, Geta Flug airship gondola and a good range of smaller items. Two more balloons have been withdrawn from sale.
No new envelopes feature this month, although Zebedee is offering a complete one-man bottom end, assembled by Ross Powell which has been flown under a 31. This qualifies under the old EASA Annexe II (i.e. homebuilt) rules although confusingly this is now renamed as EASA Annexe I! At the same time we have dug out 3 old frames , 2 ex Thunder Sky Chariots, one ex Belgium which are unlikely to fly again but may appeal to anyone creating an exhibition etc. Another nice exhibition piece is a triangular 77 size Barnes basket/burner, not flown for over 20 years, beautifully finished but impractical for flying unless you have a big trailer ….!
Zebedee offers our congratulations to two recent Pu/ts who have checked out recently using balloons which have passed through Zebedee in recent times – Lisa Humphrey in the lovely Colt 77A G-BUVB and Paul Coman in G-DURX.
Meanwhile we have customers looking for a “grab tester” used for fabric pull tests at annual inspections and another some ‘jade’ colour Cameron Hyperlast or LBL Hyperlife for some repairs.
Sadly we have to report the death, on 2nd October of Derek Mitchell after a long fight against cancer. He was co-founder of the Royal Engineers Balloon Club, who bought and flew the ‘Sapper’ series of balloons. Derek was a good instructor who trained several well known pilots of today and was a regular customer here at Zebedee. Our condolences go to wife Jill and their family. The Army and ballooning has lost a good guy …