This is the first of four flights with La Coquette in Europe in September 1976. This flight was in St. Nickolaas, Belgium. After this flight, the balloon was taken to Augsburg, Germany for the remaining flights.
Pilot - Tony Fairbanks, Passenger Peter Pellegrino. They landed in Steendorp, Belgium after a 30 minute flight.
The Gas Balloon World Championships held in Augsburg, 1976 consisted of three days of flights. The lift-off was from Claudia Augusta Field outside of Augsburg. Tony and Pete flew the first and second day. A target was located on the local maps immediately before lift-off and the balloons were attempting to land as close to the target as possible. There were twenty gas balloons flown by thirteen countries.
The first flight by Tony Fairbanks and Pete Pellegrino, September 11, 1976. They landed in Lauterbaux, Germany after a one hour and forty-five minute flight.
The second flight by Tony Fairbanks and Pete Pellegrino, September 12, 1976. They also landed in Lauterbaux, Germany after a one hour flight.
The Gas Balloon World Championships held in Augsburg, 1976 consisted of three days of flights. This is the third flight with Tony and Mike Fairbanks. The lift-off was from Claudia Augusta Field outside of Augsburg. A target was located on the local maps immediately before lift-off and the balloons were attempting to land as close to the target as possible. There were twenty gas balloons flown by thirteen countries.
Tony and Mike flew for one hour and landed in Stuben, Germany. They would have been able to get closer to the target but neither of them remembered to bring along a compass. They were soon lost because they could not find their location in relationship to the identified target location. The winner was the balloon team from Switzerland.
Note: Some of the photographs below show a frog on a flag . This flag was presented to the U.S. team by members of the Balloon Club of America and was attached to the basket during the flights.
This is the program for the Gas Balloon World Championship in 1976, including copies of balloon mail carried in the basket. Note: Program correction. Don Piccard was unable to attend. Michael Fairbanks was appointed by the Balloon Federation of America as a substitute for Don Piccard. Mike flew with Jim Contos.
Twenty balloons flew to represent their countries. There were three precision landing competitions. A common target was fixed before every start and each crew tried to land in the middle of the target.
Don Piccard was unable to attend. Michael Fairbanks was appointed by the Balloon Federation of America as a substitute for Don Piccard.
