Welcome to Part 3 of our Midlands Air Festival special shape blogs! See the latest 14 special shapes to be attending the event taking place at Ragley Hall From Friday 4th to Sunday 6th June below. Don't miss out on Europe's largest gathering of special shape hot air balloons!
Some very exciting news for fans of the air display - the RAF will be attending with the Red Arrows for their first display since the pandemic, alongside the Typhoon, BBMF Spitfires and Falcons. A brilliant line-up.
For more information and to book tickets visit the Midlands Air Festival website. Saturday tickets are already sold out.
| 21. Mr Wonderfuel | Reg: G-BLKU |
Kicking things off is 1980s favourite Mr Wonderfuel! It's the final balloon of the British Balloon Museum & Library to be attending, built in 84 and operated by Flying Pictures back in the day. Seen here at the festival two years ago.
| 22. Forklift | Reg: G-BWBH |
Built in 1995 by Cameron Balloons, the Forklift will make its Midlands Air Festival debut in 2021. The balloon has been in the UK since 2019 after repair work and it's now retired from flying, expertly looked after by Team For Old Balloons in the Netherlands who were originally attending with other shapes but plans changed due to Covid travel restrictions. Nonetheless we can't wait to see the Forklift at Ragley Hall!
Kubicek have since made a replica with their shiny hyperlast material in 2007, which is still active today.
| 23. Crème Egg | Reg: G-OEGG |
Announced rather appropriately at Easter, this Crème Egg can fit over 30 million chocolate Crème Eggs inside! Recently under new ownership, this 1989 Cameron special will be flying at the event weather permitting. It was operated by Virgin Airship & Balloon company back in its commercial days.
Photo: Phil Hooper
| 24. UP | Reg: G-UPOI |
Cameron Balloons are attending with their very popular UP balloon! Built in 2009 to promote Disney Pixar movie UP, originally it had an inflatable basket cover to replicate the house from the film, which some of you will remember, and even tethered at Disneyland France. Since its commercial operations finished, the balloon was given back to Cameron's and still appears at events across the world including Taiwan and of course Midlands.
| 25. Master Zaba | Reg: G-ZABA |
Making its first event appearance since build completion in October 2020, it's Master Zaba! On the same team as Hyla the frog from part 1, we can't wait to see this new Kubicek shape flying high above Ragley Hall this weekend.
| 26. Ordnance Survey | Reg: G-MAPS |
Classic special shape G-MAPS returns for its second Midlands Air Festival appearance! It was built by Sky Balloons back in 1998, the golden era of ballooning, who only made a handful of special shapes and before digitally printing artwork became 'the norm'. Look closely, the map is all hand-painted work.
| 27. Andre Heller's Flying Sculptures | Reg: G-BMUJ, G-BMUK, G-BNMI, G-BMUL |
...although they're a bit too old to fly now! Consisting of the Dragon Fish, UFO, Black Night and Children’s Moon, these retro and slightly bizarre special shape balloons really must be seen to be believed. Andre Heller was an Austrian artist and had the balloons built by Thunder & Colt in 1986 and 87, which were operated by the Virgin Airship & Balloon Company.
During their world tour in the 80s they even flew over Niagra Falls! 2021 will be their second Midlands appearance after all 4 were inflated after many years in storage two years ago at Arbury Hall.
Photo: Ballooning Pictures UK
| 28. Simbaloo the Longleat Lion | Reg: G-LEAT |
Next up is the Longleat Lion, which recently turned 5 years old since build completion in 2016. It's been seen at events all around the world including Albuquerque and the home of Ultramagic Balloons; Igualada in Spain.
Seen here launching out of Ragley Hall Estate in 2018.
| 29. Adelaide the Koala | Reg: G-DAAY |
Another animal special shape for Longleat, Adelaide joined Exclusive Ballooning's fleet in 2018 to advertise their opening of Koala Creek, and will be making its debut at Ragley Hall this year. Look out for it alongside Simbaloo on all 3 days of the festival, flown by Lee Hooper.
| 30. Tall Steve the Penguin | Reg: G-WINZ |
The next special shape is Tall Steve the Penguin! Original balloon named Puddles the Penguin was created as a result of a Facebook challenge posted by Exclusive Ballooning and proved extremely popular with crowds across the globe. A much larger version was built in 2017 by Lindstrand Technologies, following the creation of a second Ultramagic B-70 penguin, and named Tall Steve!
| 31. Dyno | Reg: G-DYNO |
And here we come to the final special shape to be announced; the brand new Dinosaur G-DYNO! Fresh from the Cameron Balloons factory, Dyno is the newest special shape in the world, ready just in time for Midlands 2021. Here's a photo from the test inflation on Thursday morning.
That takes the total to 38 special shapes attending the 2021 Midlands Air Festival. View the full list including round balloons here. We cannot wait and look forward to seeing you at Ragley Hall on Friday!
More information
For more information and to book tickets visit the Midlands Air Festival website. Be quick - don't miss out!