The spectacular aviation show, the Midlands Air Festival, returns to Ragley Hall in Alcester next week for 3 days of flying fun for all the family on the platinum jubilee weekend! Enjoy hot air balloon mass ascents with over 100 balloons taking to the Warwickshire skies in the morning and evening as well as tethered displays, nightfire and air displays including the RAF Red Arrows.
Book your Tickets | Hurry, secure your tickets now!! CLICK HERE
The Ballooning Schedule
Whichever day you have tickets for, there's plenty of hot air ballooning activity in the schedule. But please remember all activities are weather dependant.
Find more timings here: www.midlandsairfestival.com/whats-on/
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Thursday 2nd June
12:30-14:30 - Tethering
18:45-20:45 - Mass Launch
21:50-22:15 - Night Glow |
Friday 3rd June
06:00-08:00 - Mass Launch
10:30-12:15 - Tethering
15:00-15:30 - Tethering
19:00-20:30 - Mass Launch |
Saturday 4th June
06:00-08:00 - Mass Launch
10:00-11:30 - Tethering
15:00-15:30 - Tethering
18:30-20:30 - Mass Launch |
In this blog we'll take a closer look at the balloons attending, particularly the special shapes, and give you our top picks to look out for. Let's begin!
| Funny Bunny & G-CIMW Hopper | Reg: OO-BXV |
Midlands Air Festival 2022 will welcome pilots Bart Geeraerts and Kevin Van Dessel from Belgium with their Funny Bunny add-on special shape, making its second UK appearance. Cameron O-31 hopper G-CIMW will also be coming along.
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| J&B Whiskey Bottle | Reg: G-OJBW |
G-OJBW is set up to fly with its new owner and will be taking to the skies at Ragley Hall weather permitting. This is 1 of 3 J&B whiskey bottle special shapes in existence, plus a number of round balloons, all part of a huge commercial advertising contract during the 1980s and 90s. G-OJBW is a Lindstrand from 1997. G-RARE was the first way back in 1980 built by Thunder, and Colt G-JANB the second in 1990.
| The Scottish Piper, Chubb Fire Extinguisher & Nescafe Mug | Reg: G-PIPY, G-CHUB, G-RMUG |
One of the best special shape balloons ever built, the Scottish Piper, known amongst some as "pipy" will be standing tall above Ragley Hall in 2022, 165 feet tall to be precise! The Piper was built in 1997 and operated privately, displayed all around the world, until 2015 when it was donated to the British Balloon Museum & Library (BBM&L), and was a regular sight above the Bristol skies every August. If you see a tartan pattern being pulled out the bag, you are about to witness something very special indeed. Keep your eyes peeled...
Alongside the Piper, the BBM&L are also bringing the original Chubb Fire Extinguisher which Thunder & Colt built in 1990 (followed by 2 further shapes; G-BVYJ in 1995 and G-BZJA in 2000 which were both Cameron). It's a more simplistic balloon compared to the others with no shaping at the bottom or little nozzles at the top. It will be brilliant to see up close.
There were 2 red Nescafe mug balloons built over 20 years ago but there's no question that G-RMUG is the better one. After being at Midlands last year and the weather not being suitable for an inflation on Sunday, we are looking forward to seeing this lovely shape next week!
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| Maxwell House Coffee Jar | Reg: G-BVBK |
The Maxwell House special shape will be taking to the skies at the 2022 festival! This 90ft tall shape, similar to the Nescafe mug above, was 1 of 2 identical balloons built in 1993 - for a TV advert over Iguazu Falls in Brazil. The other, G-BVBJ, is with the BBM&L and rarely seen.
...now onto some round balloons....
Here's a few of the more conventional shaped balloons to look out for; some recognisable old envelopes, some new, some non-UK based and some just because we like them.
 G-OSVY |  G-ODAY |  G-CMEX |  EC-MBZ |
 G-FLAG |  G-UKUK (it is the jubilee after all!) |  G-SERV |
 G-BXDR |  G-GOGW |  G-FUND |  G-MINN |
You might also like G-CMBU, F-HMRV, G-CCFV, and non-airworthy OO-GDB and OO-GDF...
... and back to the shapes...
| Ronald McDonald | Reg: G-CKWH |
Don't like clowns? Well, how can you not love this giant waving Ronald McDonald balloon! At a similar height to the great Piper and Rupert Bear, Ronald was bought a few years ago from France and transferred to a G registration. Be sure to wave back to him as the pilot and crew work hard to inflate him.
| Joycam Lips, Ohoo Dips & Hopper | Reg: G-LIPS, G-DIPZ, G-DIPI |
We couldn't do this blog without mentioning ours, could we?! Lips is returning to Midlands following a 3 year gap but will be properly free flying this time. Our retro and popular Ohoo Dips tub, built in Bristol 34 years ago, will be arriving at Ragley Hall for the very first time and we can't wait to display it during the balloon tethering slots alongside hopper G-DIPZ!
Also look out for Lips in the night glow on Thursday. It won't be glowing anywhere else this season.
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Satzenbrau Pils Beer Bottle
Our good friends Bristol Balloon Collectors are bringing their beer bottle along for a tether once again. Built way back in 1981, it's one of the oldest balloons on display at this year's festival.
Also attending is G-BUVW, new iconic addition G-CBHW, Bryan Brothers G-BUUO, G-BFME and German D-OMPH - definitely one of the prettiest and most colourful balloons attending this year.
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| Action Man | Reg: G-CGIS |
We are super excited to see all-time classic Action Man return after tethering at the first Midlands Air Festival in 2018. He's coming from Germany with owner Gaby and will be making a special appearance during one of the day time tether slots. It was last flown 10 years ago, now rarely seen after touring the world, and takes a little longer to inflate these days. You may see the crew using the fans to blow cold air into his legs to get the balloon properly inflated, but he will still look magnificent! Very calm conditions are needed for these big special shapes to stand up.
Tropsy
Midlands 2022 will be the first ever public appearance for Tropsy the Dinosaur! After a few years sat in the bag due to paperwork and Covid after build was completed by AirFly Balloons in Brazil, Tropsy finally took to the skies last week in Germany and is ready for its first big adventure in June.
| Orient Express, Brandenburg Gate & Forklift | Reg: G-LOKO, D-OBBT, G-BWBH |
Gerard and team at Team For Old Balloons will be travelling to Ragley Hall from the Netherlands to display their 3 huge special shapes. Two Cameron and the Forklift Thunder & Colt. 1 of the Orient Express trains, of which there are 2 (the other D-OLOK in Germany still airworthy) will be making an inaugural appearance alongside the Brandenburg Gate and Forklift. There are also two Forklift shapes; this is the original, but the most recent was built by Kubicek Balloons from all hyperlast.
Check out their website here: https://teamforoldballoons.wixsite.com/teamforoldballoons/special-shapes
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| Bertie Bassett Men | Reg: G-BZTS, G-BXAL |
Both Bertie Bassetts will be inflated together for a brief stand up when conditions allow; their 4th appearance as a double act. Who remembers 2018 with them tethered alongside the Piper, Action Man, Light Bulb and Ronald McDonald? Great memories. G-BZTS is the newer, created in 2001 by Cameron Balloons, distinguishable by his raised hand (and the fact he looks a bit cleaner!)
| Van Gogh | Reg: PH-GOG |
And finally, a very famous balloon is set to return to the UK skies on all 3 days... Vincent Van Gogh. It's hard to believe it last visited this country in 2004. The 90ft high balloon carries an accurate representation of the Dutch artist's "self portrait with grey felt hat" artwork.
Check out this impressive video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-FE1P_ffxs
There's our top picks; we hope you enjoyed the blog. Find out which others are attending by clicking here, including some of the animal add-on balloons.
Book your Tickets | Hurry, secure your tickets now!! CLICK HERE
A look back at some videos from previous years...
Explore YouTube videos on our channel from 2018, 2019 and 2021, but here's some highlights.
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Follow MJ Ballooning and Midlands Air Festival for the latest hot air ballooning updates
We'll be posting on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram during the weekend (so long as we have phone signal!) with photos of all the ballooning activity and special shapes. Make sure you're also following the official Midlands Air Festival accounts for important updates.
See you at Ragley Hall from Thursday 2nd to Saturday 4th June!
Photo credits to Ballooning Pictures UK: G-CHUB, G-ODAY, G-SERV, G-GOGW, G-FUND, G-MINN, G-DIPZ, G-CGIS, G-BZTS, G-BXAL.