Bristol Belle
Encyclopedia
Hot air balloon
The hot air balloon is the oldest successful human-carrying flight technology. It is in a class of aircraft known as balloon aircraft. On November 21, 1783, in Paris, France, the first untethered manned flight was made by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d'Arlandes in a hot air...
in Britain.. The balloon was created from an idea developed by members of the Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, UK Gliding Club. Following developments by Ed Yost
Ed Yost
Paul Edward Yost was the American inventor of the modern hot air balloon and is referred to as the "Father of the Modern Day Hot-Air Balloon." He worked for a high altitude research division of General Mills when he helped establish Raven Industries in 1956.-Inventor:Born on a farm 7 miles...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, members of the Bristol Gliding Club decided to create their own hot air balloon. Bill Malpas (chairman of the project), Mark Westwood, Giles Bulmer of the Bulmer cider making family
H. P. Bulmer
H.P. Bulmer is a brewing company founded in 1887 in Hereford, England. The founder was Percy Bulmer, the twenty-year-old son of the local rector at Credenhill...
and Don Cameron
Don Cameron (manufacturer)
Don Cameron is a Scottish balloonist, and later founder of Cameron Balloons, the world's largest hot air balloon manufacturer.-Early life and career:...
were the four project creators.
Three other members, Charles Meisl, a Czech
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
citizen, Tom Sage, a press photographer from London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and Malcolm Brighton subsequently joined the group. Malcolm Brighton had built a number of balloons and became the main builder for the project.
In the summer of 1966, the team went to Dunstable
Dunstable
Dunstable is a market town and civil parish located in Bedfordshire, England. It lies on the eastward tail spurs of the Chiltern Hills, 30 miles north of London. These geographical features form several steep chalk escarpments most noticeable when approaching Dunstable from the north.-Etymology:In...
Air Day and saw a number of attempts at a hot air balloon flight by other teams. One, built by Bolton Technical college, succeeded with a tethered flight before breaking free unintentionally and taking its pilot some distance before the pilot escaped unhurt, but with the balloon draped over a power line. The committee of the air day prohibited any further balloon take offs that day.
In 1967, the Bristol Belle balloon was complete. Wing Commander
Wing Commander (rank)
Wing commander is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countries...
Gerry Turnbull from RAF Weston-on-the-Green
RAF Weston-on-the-Green
RAF Weston-on-the-Green is a former Royal Flying Corps station that was redeveloped after the great war period. Much demolition took place . The former RFC Officers and Sergeant's messes are located on the opposite side of the road, and are now in commercial use...
, an experienced gas-balloon pilot, was to teach the team how to fly. Space heating blowers known as Jetairs were used to inflate the balloon. The balloon initially failed after the first few attempts at inflation, splitting with three distinct tears. Westwood and Cameron set about working on correcting this in the design, and with the assistance of GQ Parachutes in Woking
Woking
Woking is a large town and civil parish that shares its name with the surrounding local government district, located in the west of Surrey, UK. It is part of the Greater London Urban Area and the London commuter belt, with frequent trains and a journey time of 24 minutes to Waterloo station....
, had the ballon repaired and correctly manufactured to cope with the stresses.
The first flight of the Bristol Belle took place on the 9 July 1967 from RAF Weston-on-the-Green, and was covered by the Daily Telegraph and other media. The balloon took part in some famous flights including one from HMS Ark Royal
HMS Ark Royal (R09)
HMS Ark Royal was an Audacious-class aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy and, when she was decommissioned in 1978, was the Royal Navy's last remaining conventional catapult and arrested-landing aircraft carrier...
, where it was piloted by Lt
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
Terry Adams, accompanied by Lt Howard Draper both of B Flight of 849 Squadron (Gannets). This early morning launch carried mail to Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
whilst the Ark Royal was steaming off the southern coast of the island on 29 November 1970.