RE: [balloon-makers] New to the list

[private e-mail address]

Drat, uncovered on the first day.  Thanks for the kind words Don.   

In fact, Don was part of my first memory from ballooning, so let me use this
opportunity to share a bit of history.

It was a dark and stormy night.....    OK, OK, it wasn't stormy, but the
night was dark.  

It was the evening of August 24, 1962 and we were in Sioux City, Iowa.  I
was all of four years old and was bundled up in a blanket sitting on the
tailgate of a Raven pickup truck.  Dad was crewing for Don (again).  Off in
the distance, illuminated by spotlights, Don was sitting underneath a
cluster of small helium balloons, preparing to ascend into the night sky.
When the flight was over, Don had set a new AA-2 altitude record that still
stands to this day - 17,747 feet.  I don't remember any more details on the
flight - hey, I was only 4.  Maybe Don could fill in some of the blanks.

Greg


-----Original Message-----
From: Donald L Piccard [mailto:balloon@juno.com]
Sent: Wednesday, March 28, 2001 1:30 PM
To: balloon-makers@mail.deering.org
Cc: balloon-makers@deering.org
Subject: Re: [balloon-makers] New to the list


Greg is  a little modest.  He actually goes back a little farther than
that.  In fact, you will see his dad in an upcoming Smithsonian Air &
Space magazine serving on the crew of the 1947 Fugo manned flight.  Greg
has literally been brought up concurrent with the developement of the
"Modern Hot Air Balloon".

On Wed, 28 Mar 2001 10:45:52 -0600 Greg_Winker@Dell.com writes:
> > Greetings from central Texas.  I thought I would take a moment to
> > introduce myself to everybody.  I'm a long-time hot-air pilot, 
> having been
> > certified in Jan. of 1975.  Over the years, I have owned four hot 
> air
> > balloons, three of which were experimental.  But even before all 
> that, I
> > built a double walled AX-2 that Donna Wiederkehr used to set the 
> world
> > records for duration and distance.  In addition, I've built two 
> other
> > envelopes and substantially rebuilt two more.  
> > 
> > I'm now shifting my focus to gas ballooning and recently purchased 
> a
> > partially built BC Corp. bag (that a Tim Cole kit) and am building 
> a
> > basket to go along with it.  Fellow Austenite Phillip MacNutt and 
> I are
> > jointly working on this.  You can follow our basket making project 
> here:
> > 
> > http://www.jump.net/~macnutt/gasbasket.html
> > 
> > This is the first homebuilding project I've done in many years and 
> I have
> > to say I'm having a blast.  I'm actually sorry to see the basket 
> nearly
> > finished as there will be nothing left to work on.  As I look 
> forward to
> > where ballooning will take me, I see that it will mostly involve
> > experimental systems, parts of which I'll be building myself.
> > 
> > Thanks to Tom for setting up a forum for us to ask questions and 
> give
> > answers.  I look forward to being a regular contributor of both.
> > 
> > Greg Winker
> > 
> -------
> Balloon-makers mailing list: use "imailsrv@deering.org" to 
> unsubscribe
> 


Don Piccard, Balloon@Juno.Com,
1445 East River Parkway
Minneapolis, MN 55414-3625
http://balloon.freeyellow.com/Homepage.html  www.thepiccardsociety.com
612/333-6912
-------
Balloon-makers mailing list: use "imailsrv@deering.org" to unsubscribe
-------
Balloon-makers mailing list: use "imailsrv@deering.org" to unsubscribe