The List seems to have exploded with new ads during April with everything from complete balloons to large collections of all those ancillaries we require— fans, ropes, hoses, flight bags etc. Nick Godfrey’s selection of such items remains on Stop Press so that everything appears in one ad rather than distributed amongst the sections within the main list.
Gone is Peter Mossman’s G-MOSY whilst G-CHAU joined Stop Press late in the month but found a buyer almost immediately. New for May is a lovely Cameron Racer envelope G-CILO, an older Cameron Z-120 G-CBOW and a complete LBL90B G-CDEU.
For rides pilots wanting overseas jobs we have a new ad for working in the Masai Mara, Kenya whilst Mahesh at Skywaltz, India still has vacancies for the next UK winter period.
The next meet for Zebedee is the Midlands Air Festival, 31 May to 2 June, now the UK “meeting of choice” for private flyers. As ever act early if you want to order smallish items from Zebedee for delivery at the meet …
Unsurprisingly with the dreadful weather and state of the fields this past winter the Exclusive Ballooning Cross Channel event did not happen, although a new window, provisionally from 19th October until 7th April 2025 has been set.
Two inflation days took place during April, the first at Saltford, near Bath organised by the Bristol Balloon Collectors on 20th April. This attracted 24 balloons on a perfect sunny morning including ‘Sega’ the hedgehog and ‘Thomas’ the tank engine shapes. Star exhibit was a pristine Rozier style outer envelope G-BYNX which had been in storage for 24 years following a brief career filming an ad when new!
The second was the biennial BBM&L Inflation Day on 27th April at David Hopkins’ site at Pidley, Cambs. Against all the odds and forecasts this enjoyed grey skies but no rain and gentle winds. 41 envelopes were inflated plus 4 model balloons and over 400 people attended. Mark Stelling once again had “unearthed” rare envelopes from Luxembourg, Scotland, Sweden and even England(!) to keep the photographers happy.
The licensing review goes on. Although the BBAC questionnaire has now closed the CAA consultation is still open and all balloonists are encouraged to take part in this time consuming chore. Links to it are in recent Pilots’ Circulars.
Finally sad news is the death of Berkshire based private balloonist Paul Stuart-Kregor after a long illness. Paul who had a long career in healthcare marketing last flew pre food-and-mouth (2001) and owned Colt 69A G-OABC. He flew privately here at Hungerford and at local meets. Simply a quiet ‘nice guy’ who will be missed. Condolences to wife Alice and all the family.