Note: At this time balloons were not named. This balloon was just called the New 80, which was 80,000 cubic feet and constructed by Goodyear in May 1937. It was a favorite of the club and recorded thirty-five inflations in the aircraft  logbook.

April 26, 1969. The large 80,000 cubic-foot balloon at Wings Field, Pennsylvania was being inflated with cooking gas. As it was windy, the load ring was tied to an automobile until a short break in the wind allowed Tony Fairbanks to lift off for a nice flight into New Jersey. Also on this flight was Tony’s brother Edmund

Fairbanks, his wife Virginia, Harvey Smith and Dorothy Hviid. The strong winds and depletion of sand forced a landing in the pine barrens of New Jersey near Red Lion.

During the landing, sharp tree branches cut the cotton net covering the balloon, and the basket and passengers were locked firmly between tree branches as the envelop itself soared skyward, to be last seen heading out far over the Atlantic Ocean.

Tony and crew spent two hours walking out of the unpopulated Pine Barrens. They were met by their very worried chase crew members. The wicker basket was later ‘walked’ out of the woods.

The final flight of the Eighty – an interview with Tony by Mike Fairbanks.

Introduction: This story is known – an 80,000 cubic-foot rubberized gas balloon envelope, filled with cooking gas is now resting on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. The envelope is gone forever with the basket and passengers left on a tree limb twenty feet above the ground. This interview with Tony will help supply the missing details.

Mike: Tell me what happened?

Tony: There were five of us in the basket and about 23 sand bags. We lifted off from Wings Field in Ambler, Pennsylvania. We flew about forty miles to land close by Red Lion, New Jersey. The flight lasted about 90 minutes. It was a nice flight.

Mike: With the winds so strong as to bend the balloon envelope sideways to almost touch the ground, why would you decide to take-off?

Tony: Gas balloons can fly in a lot of wind. If we had one more sand bag, I might have made it through the New Jersey Pine Barrens to a field just ahead. Besides, my brother Edmund Fairbanks and his wife Virginia were visiting from California and I had promised them a balloon flight that they would remember.

Mike: Tell me about the landing ?

Tony: As soon as we crossed the Delaware River I was thinking of a landing as we were traveling fairly fast. We were over a large wooded area. I began a descent from 3500 feet and I just had to drop sand and drop sand. These older balloons sometimes leak. I began a level flight just above the trees and having expended all our sand, the massive balloon sank into a bunch of tall pine trees. The basket settled nicely as it attached itself to one particular tree limb.

Mike: What caused the balloon envelope, enclosed under the cotton net, to continue the flight without the basket and crew ?

Tony: We could hear the balloon rolling back and forth over our heads. I could not pull the rip panel because the balloon turned around several times from the wind and all the ropes to the envelope were twisted together. Suddenly the noise from the wind above became silent. We looked upward and the balloon was gone.

Mike: How did you know her fate ?

Tony: The crew which included my daughter, Jean Fairbanks, had just stopped a State Police Cruiser to ask if there was a report of a balloon landing, when at that moment, the police radio reported a large balloon was seen leaving the shore line and flying out into the Atlantic. For the hour or so it took to climb down from the trees and walk to a road, our crew did not know our fate.

Mike: What do you remember most about this flight ?

Tony: I sure wish I had that balloon back.

Listen to gas inflation by Tony recording.