Welcome to a special feature on one of the most memorable April Fools' Day pranks in history! In 1989, Londoners were stunned as a UFO-shaped hot air balloon glided across the city skyline, sparking a frenzy of curiosity and disbelief as people travelled to work. Written by Mark Lockwood, the creative director of Virgin Airship and Balloon Company (VABC), this article dives into how this clever special shape balloon, designed to look like an alien spacecraft, captured the imagination of Londoners and media across the country.
The whole thing started, like most stupid ideas, in a bar on an alcohol fuelled Virgin weekend away in October 1988. Gathered around a table full of empty glasses with eyes much glazed after a weekend of liver abuse and debauchery, were the marketing director of Virgin Atlantic, Chris Moss; Head of Virgin Corporate Communications, Wil Whitehorn; MD of VABC, Mike Kendrick and myself.
Ever forward thinking, Chris Moss wanted a big splash for the airline and the whole crop circle thing was big in the news at the time. The new Lightship was just coming online and there were often reports of people seeing UFOs generated by it, so the whole idea of actually building one came up. We knew there had already been a flying saucer built and flown in the US, complete with little green alien walking down the steps, but it was small and kind of cartoony and Chris wanted something even more impactful. Nothing was decided at that time, due to our alcohol addled state, but the germ of an idea had been created.
I was hauled off to Jordan immediately afterwards to set up the Royal Jordanian event as well as getting ready for the coming season activity. I seem to recall we sold a whole heap of shape contracts that year and had very little involvement until things were further down the line. In between multiple trips to Jordan, Dubai, the US, Venezuela, and Panama, we started experimenting with ways to make night flying safer and, through some of my nefarious contacts, got our hands on a bunch of military night vision kit and laser targeting equipment. The idea was that a laser shone from the basket would ‘flash’ in the night vision scope when it hit a power line on approach to landing and we spent many nights testing and experimenting but could not find a workable solution. It was frustrating. In the end we decided it was better and safer to launch in the dark and fly into the dawn and try to land in daylight.
Chris contacted Camerons and Don Cameron direct and he developed the balloon design together, the most important factors being the secrecy of the project and that it had to be flown at night. When it went into production, it was called ‘Project Wedgwood’ as the basic shape appeared to be a plate and the manufacturing teams were given small, limited sections of the design to build, the only people knowing the whole plan being Don and Jim Howard, the production manager. The scheduled completion date was end of March and there were many complications with the production, so it was a little late. In fact, it was only test inflated for the first time on the 30th March 1989 and then driven directly to London for the actual flight.
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Photos: Ballooning Pictures UK
I had to set up all the operational requirements, which were very complicated as we could not inform any of the authorities due to the surprise factor inherent in the project. First things first, we needed a pilot who was actually night rated and that turned out to be Don himself. The original plan was to fly from Crystal Palace football ground as Virgin were sponsoring the team at the time, however the potential landing areas were few and we would not be able to guarantee a flight if the wind was slightly wrong as Don recommended that the balloon might not be suitable for anything more than 5 knots. It had to be in a built-up area and it had to be clear of both Heathrow and Gatwick control areas. That restricted us to the south and east of London as the forecast winds were north westerly. The other problem was a front moving in that was due to arrive on the morning of April 1st, thereby reducing our window of opportunity for a flight. We had no idea what we would be dealing with so had to choose a launch site that gave us the maximum variations. In the end we selected Kenley Aerodrome as it had the space and the ability to fly almost 360 degrees, even then some of those directions were only short flights. Kenley is basically a glider and light aircraft training site now, although it was historically one of the most important fighter airfields of WW2 and was still an RAF site. It sits under the 3,500-foot limit TMA (Terminal Maneuvering Area) yet is clear of both Heathrow and Gatwick control zones. As this was going to be a low and slow flight, we had no need for altitude anyway.
Lots of phone calls later I eventually reached the CO in charge of the field and let him in on the secret. Luckily for us he considered the whole thing to be a ‘great wheeze’ and gave us permission to launch. This then mobilised the rest of the activity around the stunt, and we gathered all the equipment and team members we would need. We drove down from Telford with the modified bottom end, spare cylinders, hand inflation wands, specially made silver Nomex ‘spacesuits’, white lab wellington boots with fluorescent stickers on them and possibly the most significant piece of equipment: 2 battery powered bicycle taillights attached to a 5-metre-long piece of string! This being a night flight, the CAA regulations insist that a ‘red signal light of no more than 10K lumens be suspended between 3 and 5 metres below the gondola’. Little did we realise how insignificant this would be!
RV was at Crystal Palace, and we met up with the Virgin team and had our last planning session. Calls to a forecaster at Bracknell confirmed that this night was our only chance of getting the right conditions as the front was coming in during the next day, bringing rain and wind. We had still not seen the actual balloon, and this worried crew chief Colin Thomas and I as we both knew the problems associated with gnarly special shapes, particularly if there was going to be any wind. Towards the evening, we spent the time disguising all the branding on our VABC van with reflective red and yellow magnetic panels and checking all the comms. These were the days when mobile phones were the size of a house brick, and the battery life was about half an hour if you were lucky. Signal areas were patchy and so we had to set up a retrieve number where messages could be relayed.
We deployed to Kenley at 1.30am and the gate man was waiting for us but had no idea what was going on. A call to the CO and all was smoothed out. We found a nice natural dip at the far end of the site and positioned all the cars and support vehicles in a circle with lights pointing inwards. The Camerons team arrived a few minutes later in a high-capacity Transit van which was completely filled by the envelope. It was HUGE! We gathered everyone together and it was then that Don and Jim explained how the inflation would go. Apparently, there was a problem. Everything was normal until sufficient cold air filled the rim of the saucer. At that point the weight of the material forced air into the lower un-inflated part of the rim and the whole thing would fall backwards over the basket and fans. We needed lots of bodies to hold the material up and keep clear passages through to allow the fans to push air through the mouth. It didn’t sound too bad the way he explained it, so we then set about moving this massive blob of material into position. It weighed nigh on 500kgs and took everyone on site to lift it and drag it out of the bag. This would have been difficult in daylight but was a nightmare in just the glow of car headlights. Once we found the mouth, there was the further complication of the inflatable cage that surrounded it. It was impossible to work out which part was which and we just had to guess and connect the flying wires as best we could.
Inflation started at around 3.30am and everything went well at first. Jim had a photograph taken at the previous morning’s test inflation and we used that as a guide to help us find the various bits of the envelope. There were electrical cables and flashing strobe lights festooned everywhere and these also had to be cleared and sorted as the envelope filled and took shape. When the dish started to grow, we realised just how big this thing was going to be! The basic construction was similar to every other special shape balloon with an inner series of structural load tapes (this was based on a 12-gore balloon) and a parachute in the top of the crown. This is where the similarity ended. Each gore then extended out at the equator to the rim, which was 100 feet across! Inside the rim were a further series of baffles that ducted the hot air from the crown to ensure pressurisation at the edge of the rim. Added to that, the material was all silver to allow the light from the burners to reflect through translucent red panels on the underside of the saucer and on the top. This silver material weighs almost twice as much as normal rip stop and explained the massive all up weight.
As Don had said, the envelope inflated normally until the main dish half filled with cold air. It then collapsed back over the basket and fans, and we had to stop the inflation and move all the equipment back. Teams then held the material above their heads to create 2 tunnels through which the fans could continue to push cold air inside. The material was incredibly heavy and we continually had to swap people around as they became exhausted. Eventually Jim and Colin were able to start the hot inflation using the hand wands and the balloon slowly started to settle around the basket. At this point we were able to find all the ends of the electrical cables and also check the Velcro deflation panels. There were 2 large deflation rip panels in the top of the saucer rim as well as 12 smaller rips around the outer circumference, 12 underneath the rim, 12 in the lower black section and 8 in the inflatable cage around the basket. It was then we also found that the flying wires had been connected through the side of the cage and some time was lost disconnecting them, feeding them through the right way and re-connecting them.
The lights were powered by a small Honda generator that was held in a custom-built wooden cradle that lifted the exhaust so that it pointed through the step hole in the side of the basket which had been heat shielded with aluminium sheeting. There was a lighting controller that looked like something out of the Space Shuttle that allowed the strobe lights to be fired in different patterns and we then connected everything up and tested all the systems. It looked incredible! There were 3 banks of strobes encircling the entire envelope that could be fired in sequences that chased either vertically or horizontally or in combinations of both. Richard had to be briefed on this as he would be responsible for operating it.
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Once the balloon was standing fully inflated there were 12 separate lines trailing into the basket: 1 parachute line, 2 top Velcro rip lines, 3 electrical cables for the lights, 4 lines that allowed the inflatable cage around the basket to be hauled up so the pilot could see where he was going, the night flying navigation light and a crown line. The cage effectively disguised the basket but also had a major downside. As it was silver reflective material, each time Don operated the whisper burner it completely ruined his night vision. He would have to rely on Richard to give him instructions once they got close to the ground.
One last check for comms and lift off was at 05.35. The UFO climbed majestically and slowly away from the launch site and looked simply amazing! The wind was light and variable with a slight ground mist that added to the mystique but also made our proposed flight plan a mockery. We expected the balloon to drift to the east and follow the clear corridor parallel to the M25 towards Kent and into clear open fields. Instead, it flew south towards Gatwick controlled airspace and the M23.
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Photos: Ballooning Pictures UK
We all bundled into the retrieve vehicles and some found that the whole night using their headlights had played havoc with the battery. One broke down on the field and had to be left behind and we set out in hot pursuit. As soon as we were outside the boundaries of Kenley, we realised that the balloon was creating exactly the kind of effect we were hoping for. We would stop at the side of the road and pretend to be looking at scanners and ‘instruments’ by pointing non-operational Panasonic mobile phone battery packs at the sky like Spock checking his tri-corder. They had a green read out panel that gave a suitably effective glow to anyone who did not know what they were. We encountered a lot of very confused people who were on their way to work or just collecting the milk from the doorstep, including a security guard from Gatwick on a bridge over the M25. One of the retrieve vehicles had finally died and the guys had the bonnet up looking at the engine and this guy stopped and asked what was wrong. When told that it just stopped, he pointed up and said, “It’s them aliens!”
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The view from the bridge confirmed our success. The M25 and M23 were a solid traffic jam in both directions and in 4 lanes! People had pulled over into the hard shoulder and got out of their cars to watch and the subsequent mobile phone use had completely overloaded the network. Of course, the UFO had been blamed!
Chris Tarrant had been primed on Capital Radio and was taking calls from the public, some of which were hilarious! Unfortunately, we did not have time to stop and listen as the balloon had crossed the M25 and was getting dangerously close to the Gatwick zone. Don was looking for a landing site and we were in hot pursuit. He found a large grass area at the side of an industrial estate and made a perfect touch down in zero wind and a layer of ground mist. The envelope collapsed over on one side as a giant half disc and lay there with the lights blazing through the mist.
You can watch a very short YouTube video here.
We were beaten to the balloon by a Police panda car containing 3 very nervous coppers, 2 men and a policewoman. According to Richard, they approached the balloon with truncheons drawn calling ‘Hello, is anybody there?” When he climbed out from under the material in his space suit and wearing an ET mask, there were some sharp intakes of breath however when he whipped the mask off, they all visibly deflated and said, “Thank god, it’s only you!”
It took another 2 hours to pack the balloon up and get it in the trailer we had brought with us. We returned to Kenley to recover the ground equipment and the broken-down vehicles and retired to Crystal Palace for a well-earned breakfast! The plan was to hold a press conference that evening at the ground and reveal the balloon, so we unloaded everything again onto the pitch and set up for another inflation. I tried to get some sleep then, however the phone was ringing off the hook with calls from ATC and the Surrey police to confirm that this had been a hoax. I think I managed an hour or so!
The met man had been completely right in his forecast and the front hit at about midday bringing light rain and winds of 12 knots. We still inflated the balloon as the stadium was quite sheltered, but it was very hard to control the envelope and we only kept it up for a few minutes. It was enough and Virgin had all the publicity they needed despite a boy falling into the gorilla enclosure at Jersey Zoo, that stole a little of the thunder and some of the front page headlines, but the kid was fine so a happy ending.
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The balloon came out infrequently after that as it took a minimum of 10 crew to operate and was therefore an expensive exercise, so we strictly limited its appearances in order to keep each one as spectacular as possible. We had refined the set up process and added 50 foot long fabric tubes to the inflation fans, which made things much easier and relieved the crew from visits to the osteopath after a flight. It appeared that year at the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta, making a flight over the city early in the morning and returning to be the star of the night glow.
There were several other opportunities that came up over the next few years including a trip to the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta and some filming for German TV, however the best one came in the summer of 1993 when crop circles suddenly became hot news. We learned that a university team had camped out on a ridge overlooking the Somerset Flats, where many of the crop circle sightings had appeared, intent on catching whatever caused them in the act. It was a mickey take too good to be missed! I contacted Sky News and recruited them to cover the item and we set about planning our coup.
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Photos: Ballooning Pictures UK
I recruited Jim Howard from Camerons to be the pilot and researched where the scientists were going to be based, the met forecast for the week and a series of launch sites to make sure we could do a close fly by. The fates aligned and a weather window of opportunity opened that allowed all the right parameters, so we pulled the trigger and got set up for a pre-dawn launch. The flight was uneventful and Jim drifted perfectly past the appointed target zone at about 500 feet, waking up the students and causing a degree of frenetic panicked activity. It was only later that I discovered they had an automated motion activated heat seeking infra-red camera set up that, at the time, cost about £60 a shot. With the motor drive on the camera it went berserk, chewing through 250 shots, completely blowing their entire annual research budget in a matter of seconds!
The demise of the balloon was rather ignominious unfortunately. Virgin had provided an old army surplus Landrover 111 and artillery gun trailer with the plan to modify and customise the whole rig with Ghostbusters style gizmos and greebles to add to the fun of each appearance. Sadly, the Landrover was on its last legs and, when it did actually manage to stay running, guzzled diesel at an alarming rate. Any outing required carrying several 5 gallon jerry cans of additional fuel and these ended up being put on the trailer with the balloon envelope. One of them leaked.
The caustic effect of diesel fuel on the silver coated fabric of the balloon was disastrous and it literally ate its way through like alien blood. It was the Roswell death knell for the UFO and normally the fabric of an old balloon can be re-cycled or donated to charitable causes but in this case and it was harvested for any useful components, the registration panels removed and consigned to a landfill.
A big thanks to Mark for sharing this fascinating project with us all, we hope you enjoyed it!
