Our apologies for the June issue being so late to appear – mainly due to the very busy run up to the Midlands Air Festival last weekend, where we had a multitude of bits & pieces to deliver including the last minute construction of an “elephant bag”!
Meanwhile the “old elephant” listed last month sold very quickly as have a number of older inhabitants of the List.
For June we can offer a good range of items, many sliding over from ‘Stop Press’ to the main listing. These include a complete Kubicek 90, a Cameron 105 envelope, the reappearance of a Cameron V-90 envelope, Cameron Shadow/Stealth burner and two trailers.
Also new for this issue is a tail lift from Glenn Board suitable for a VW Transporter which enables a fully laden basket to be loaded with ease – and a fully refurbished flat bed trailer with front box, rebuilt to a very high standard by Andrew Strange.
The Midlands Air Festival as mentioned above drew a huge number of balloonists once again – but disappointingly low amounts of flying – the whole weekend being plagued by a persistent north easterly wind and variable amounts of cloud – which has been the norm, particularly for the southern part of the UK for several weeks. Congratulations go again to James McDonald and his team on a well organised meeting incorporating everything from balloons to the Red Arrows!
Finally, in an all too familiar routine these days we have to report the death of Doug Clarke, owner of the ‘Frog’ balloon (G-BIGD) in the early 1980s, flying with the ‘Hedgehoppers’ group in South Oxfordshire & Berkshire. Doug had his own electronics business and was also a keen vintage car enthusiast owning a lovely open top Rolls Royce. Condolences go to wife Joyce and son William, who also trained for his PPL(B).