Bristol International Balloon Fiesta 2012 - Review

Bristol was ready for another spectacular four days of hot air ballooning as the 2012 Bristol Balloon Fiesta was becoming ever closer. At this time the fiesta had what was known as the ‘100 club’, where local and national companies would put money into the event in return for a chance to become title sponsor, night glow sponsor or air display sponsor. A dinner took place at Ashton Court mansion in the summer of 2012 where the sponsors were announced at random, with Jones Lang Lasalle picking up the top spot of title sponsor. The firm decided to get a hot air balloon made of their own, which was a Lindstrand 77A registered G-CHDH. We remember this flying over Bristol on a pleasant summers evening not too long before the fiesta. It was operated by Lindstrand Media. 

Heart FM Tether Roadshows

​To get everybody in the mood for the 2012 event, three tether roadshows were staged at different locations around Bristol city centre supported by Heart FM with the first of these taking place at Lloyds Amphitheatre. Kubicek Balloons’ Renishaw was new this year, operated by Exclusive Ballooning and registered G-RENI. Seeing Renishaw would become a familiar sight in Bristol every August. Bristol-built Z-105 sponsored by Cash4Cars was also new, gaining attention of the local media at the tether. 2011 title sponsors CTS also appeared. Once all four were stood up there wasn’t much space left - it does make you wonder how they managed to fit in Bertie Bassett and Velvet with fifteen others in 2002! 

​A second tether took place at Castle Park with three balloons attending including the new David Hathaway envelope. It is a Z-120 size, meaning that the shape is a Z type and holds 120,000 cubic feet of air capable of flying 4-5 people in the basket. A 105 is the most popular size. 

​Two days later it was time for the final tether roadshow, which proved to be the biggest with even Lindstrand Media bringing along their Palletways Dragon special shape. Now in its third year of operating, Slick was one of the first balloons to have a glass-bottomed basket and was launched in 2010 from Bath’s Royal Crescent. He might look friendly but if you’re scared of heights you’re probably best flying in another balloon! 

​The special shapes booked to attend were announced in the build-up on Twitter with more than a few surprises! Everybody was looking forward to seeing them at the Thursday evening launch. 

Press Launch

​Fiesta week had arrived and that could only mean one thing - press launch time! The organisers chose a location never used for a mass launch before; Greville Smyth Park in Ashton. It gave each team plenty of space to prepare and take off under the perfect blue skies. It was an amazing start to what proved to be an amazing week…

Thursday Afternoon

​The official start of the 2012 Bristol Balloon Fiesta soon came and the weather could not have been more promising. There was a sense of excitement in the air with high hopes that the special shapes would be flying from 6pm. Now into the final year of the contract, the Airship & Balloon Company (ABC) tethered their Churchill dog special shape for one of the final times. This was alongside Exclusive Ballooning’s Renishaw and Blue Square shape, which would also never be seen again after this fiesta. Jones Lang LaSalle and Palletways also took advantage of the lovely weather as more and more arrived at Ashton Court. Lindstrand hopper G-CEDU and the Panasonic Battery joined the action at around 2pm. This is the second of two battery special shapes built for Panasonic, by Lindstrand in 1999. 

​G-BSIJ, Bristol Uni and brand new Group First inflated to fill the gap between the tethering and evening ascent. 

Thursday Special Shape Rodeo

​Crowds continued to grow and grow as the afternoon progressed and by 6pm the site was extremely busy, with everybody eagerly awaiting a decision from the flying committee. It was a little breezy at times, but the launch was confirmed, making it the first Thursday ascent to go ahead since 2007. Ride balloons began to drive onto the field along with the special shapes. The British Balloon Museum & Library (BBM&L) brought their retro Mr Peanut character balloon to tether, a whole ten years after the last time. One of two peanut men created by Cameron Balloons in the early 80s, G-NUTS was donated to the BBM&L after being permanently withdrawn from use in 1990. It was originally operated by The Balloon Stable. Mysteriously, the fate of the other identical shape after being sold to America registered G-PNUT is unknown. Nigel Appleton of First Flight was first to take to the skies in House of Fraser and reported back the conditions. 

​Flying Enterprises were busy with their Stowells wine box balloon too, which was now 14 years old. As ride balloons were taking to the blue skies, some more shapes were being inflated. The Panasonic Battery team with pilot Craig Thompson were preparing for take off in the northerly winds, which went unnoticed by the arena commentators, whilst the Molly Mae balloon team were rigging up the club orange can. Built by Cameron Balloons in 1988, it was making only its second ever appearance at the fiesta. Though it was much too porous to fly. Besides Churchill and Don Cameron’s old Bristol Belle was a very rare UK shape. G-WCAT, named Wash Cat, was brought along by the Balloon Preservation Group and you may recall that this tethered in 2004 as well. 

​As announced on Twitter just over one week before, G-DIPI was making a welcome return to the city after being in storage for several years. Choc Dips flew in the 1990s and even one evening from Ashton Court in 2003. Not only did the BBM&L bring Mr Peanut, they also inflated one of the very old British Gas flames. Registered G-BGOO, ‘Mr Gas’ the Colt 56 flame was built way back in 1979 making it one of the oldest special shape balloons ever made. The other known as ‘Mr Wonderfuel’, G-BLKU was created five years later and although newer, was said to be in a worse condition. 

​Attention had turned to the stars of the show at the 2012 fiesta; Action Man and Babybel ‘Mr Cool’. Both built by Cameron’s back in the 90s, they are firm fiesta favourites and were brought back to the city by a German hot air balloon team. Amazingly, they still had CofAs so could free fly, despite being flown and tethered lots years ago. After forty minutes of cold inflating, Action Man’s burners were fired up for the first time in thirteen years at Ashton Court along with Babybel. Action Man took off and flew for around ten minutes before coming into land. Muir Moffat’s Jaguar Car was fully cold inflated for a CofA as the remaining few shapes tethered and the daylight started to disappear. 

Thursday Night Glow

​The conditions remained calm and perfect for the first night glow of 2012. Lindstrand Media glowed the Palletways Dragon along with twenty-five other round balloons, leaving G-CHBX glowing to a background of fireworks. 

Friday Morning

​Light winds greeted balloon teams on site for the Friday morning mass ascent, plus many TV crews and media eagerly awaiting confirmation. The only slight complication, which hadn’t occurred too often at the fiesta in recent years, was an easterly wind direction. This would take the balloons towards Nailsea where there are plenty of landing opportunities, but ideally the direction would be over Bristol so the whole city can watch and enjoy this spectacle. Nevertheless, of course, the launch was called on. The field was packed with baskets and envelopes of all sizes with many teams turning their fans on, getting ready to go flying. Exclusive Ballooning’s new Gossard racer was one of the first to take off, flying away from the city.
 
A very popular foreign special shape flew from this launch too. It was Woody the Woodpecker registered PR-ZKC, brought to Bristol by a Brazilian pilot and attending for the first time ever. Choc Dips also flew towards the end, which left Palletways, Blue Square and Churchill tethered. 

​Later in the morning the 1998-built Jaguar Car was tethered for a short time after passing its CofA the day before. Sadly, this would be its last ever appearance at the fiesta. 

Jaguar Car photo thanks to Paul Whincup

Friday Evening

​The evening ascent was kicked off with Slick taking to the skies for his first flight of the 2012 fiesta! 102 balloons launched in total, still flying towards Nailsea, including Choc Dips, Woody Woodpecker and a yellow ride balloon sponsored by Lidl. At the very end, old favourites Action Man and Babybel took to the skies simultaneously to finish a fantastic day at the fiesta. ‘Mr Cool’ gained some considerable height whilst Action Man stayed low over the trees. An incredible moment. 

​Next up was the IlluminAir display where a plane flew above Ashton Court with fireworks attached to the wings, lighting up in the night sky. So, it was a perfect start despite the wind direction with all three flights going ahead so far. However, hopes were not quite as high for Saturday morning as the wind was forecast to pick up. 

Saturday Morning

​With no night glow the night before, everyone had caught up with some sleep and were back on site bright and early on Saturday to see the day’s events unfold. It was breezy, at times very gusty, and this was meant to pick up. Seventeen brave pilots decided to go for it though! First to launch was G-BXJG, an LBL 105B, just one of the many Lindstrand envelopes at the fiesta in 2012. Following were Richard Parry in Chelsea Finance, the BUHABS, Gary Davies’ G-UZLE, Derek Maltby in Visit Bristol, plus others. Surprisingly, Woody also flew this morning despite it being a special shape with some large add-ons. 

​Once flying had come to an end, Lindstrand Media’s fleet tethered alongside Don Cameron, Discover Waterford from Ireland, the Trigger balloon team (now Ballooningmedia), Taittinger and The Learning Balloon. Operated by Lighter Than Air who one year later got the Paddy Power contract, The Learning Balloon was a very regular sight around Bristol in 2012, often seen flying from the bowl. The LBL 69X was later sold and registered in Austria. 

Saturday Evening

​The wind continued to pick up throughout Saturday so the flying committee were forced to call off mass ascent number five. Ashton Court had reached its full capacity by 6pm and people had to be turned away at the gates. It just shows that dry and often sunny weather is not necessarily good for hot air ballooning. Winds at 500ft, 1000ft and 2000ft, plus the visibility and chance of precipitation are the things to watch. A few teams attempted to put on a show of tethering in the arena for the huge crowds, but even this proved extremely challenging. 

Saturday Night Glow

​Title sponsors Jones Lang LaSalle took centre stage at the glow, which went ahead as planned as the winds dropped out. 

Sunday Morning

​Nothing happened on Sunday morning as the site was hit with a bad thunder and lightning storm. Organisers were hoping that the rain would clear in time for 6pm ascent that the forecast was promising. 

Sunday Evening

​The dark clouds passed at midday bringing more settled weather behind it, and hours before the evening launch was due to commence, it was officially announced that it would be going ahead on time. We were a little surprised by this as it’s usually not announced a second before 6pm or normally later. By the time 6pm was upon us the weather certainly wasn’t ideal with moderate winds at 500ft. A change of direction would take the balloons over the Clifton suspension bridge, the Downs and onto Filton, if pilots wanted to fly that far. First up was Visit Bristol followed by Exclusive Ballooning’s Book People, Cash4Cars, G-BRTV and another twenty-eight. This is when the wind really started to pick up and the remaining balloons decided to begin packing their equipment away. Ex-Somerfield envelope G-SFSL was last to fly with Virgin Balloon Flights’ A-400. 

​Click here to watch Woody Woodpecker’s landing on the Durdham Downs. 

Thank you to Ballooning Pictures, Ollie Warren, Liam Whitelock and James McDonald for providing photos. 

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If you would like to read more of our fiesta reviews from 2004 to 2020, click here. 

Written by Matt Joyce 29/01/19