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Gordon Bennett Cup (ballooning)

The Gordon Bennett Cup (or Coupe Aéronautique Gordon Bennett) is the world's oldest gas balloon race, and is "regarded as the premier event of world balloon racing" according to the Los Angeles Times.[1][2] Referred to as the "Blue Ribbon" of aeronautics, the first race started from Paris, France, on September 30, 1906.[3] The event was sponsored by James Gordon Bennett Jr., the millionaire sportsman and owner of the New York Herald newspaper.[4] According to the organizers, the aim of the contest "is simple: to fly the furthest distance from the launch site."[4] The contest ran from 1906 to 1938, interrupted by World War I and in 1931, but was suspended in 1939 when the hosts, Poland, were invaded at the start of World War II. The event was not resurrected until 1979, when American Tom Heinsheimer, an atmospheric physicist, gained permission from the holders to host the trophy.[5] The competition was not officially reinstated by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) until 1983.[6]

The record time for the winner of the event is held by Germans Wilhelm Eimers and Bernd Landsmann who remained airborne for over 92 hours in the 1995 race,[7] taking off from Switzerland and landing four days later in Latvia. The distance record is held by the Belgian duo of Bob Berben and Benoît Siméons who, in 2005, piloted their balloon 3,400 kilometers (2,100 mi) from Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States, to Squatec, Quebec, Canada.[7] The most successful pilots are French Vincent Leys who won the trophy nine times between 1997 and 2017 (six times as the main pilot, three times as the co-pilot) and Austrian Josef Starkbaum [de] (won seven times as the main pilot). American teams have won on the most occasions, with twelve victories.

The 2010 competition started in the United Kingdom, with the balloons departing from Bristol on September 25. The race was marred by the loss of the American team during a storm over the Adriatic Sea on October 1.[8] The balloon was missing until December 6, when a fishing vessel found the cabin containing the pilots' bodies off the coast of Italy.[9] The 2013 event, departing from France and landing in Portugal, was again won by the French in F-PPGB.[10]

Rules

According to the official rules, the competition is open to all National Aero Clubs (NACs) "who have met their obligations to the FAI", with each NAC being allowed to enter up to three teams whose pilots are of the same nationality as the NAC.[11] Before this, only two teams from any single NAC were permitted to compete in a single competition.[12] Pilots should have at least 50 hours experience as pilot in command and be authorized for night-time flying. At least one member of each team must be capable of communicating with Air Traffic Control in English.[11]

The team who wins the contest receives the Coupe Aéronautique Gordon Bennett trophy and the team's NAC will hold the contest two years later (originally the winning NAC would host the competition the following year). Any NAC winning the cup in three consecutive races will be the final holder of the cup with the subsequent option to offer a new cup.[13]

Unofficial events

Resurrected in 1979 by American Tom Heinsheimer, the competition was held without official FAI sanction for four years. Ben Abruzzo and Maxie Anderson secured victory piloting Double Eagle III 987 kilometers (613 mi) in 47 hours from California to Colorado.[5] The following year, the winning team of Jerry Tepper and Corky Myers floated 862 kilometers (536 mi) from the takeoff point in California.[14] The 1981 race was won again by Abruzzo, with different co-pilot Rocky Aoki, who covered 2,168 kilometers (1,347 mi) before touching down,[15] while the 1982 race was won by Joe Kittinger and Charles Knapp who piloted Rosie O'Grady 1,423 kilometers (884 mi).[15] Heinsheimer attempted to gain the copyright over the name "Gordon Bennett" and run the event without FAI sanction. However the FAI were granted exclusive rights to the name in 1983, and the organization officially reinstated the competition later that year.[6] Heinsheimer went on to arrange further contests in the United States which were still reported in the national press as being the "Gordon Bennett Balloon Race" or similar.[16][17][18]

Incidents

Conqueror draped over houses of Berlin 1908

The 1908 race in Berlin saw the fall of the balloon Conqueror, flown by A. Holland Forbes and Augustus Post. Conqueror was the largest balloon entered in the race, standing 80 feet (24 m) high and with a gas capacity of 80,000 cubic feet (2,300 m3). Before the race Forbes had attempted to lengthen the balloon's appendix to give the team a strategic advantage. Instead the balloon hit a fence just after takeoff, lost two ballast bags, ascended rapidly and ripped open three minutes into the race. The pair slashed off ballast as they fell 3,000 feet (910 m). Their descent was slowed only as the balloon's fabric caught in the netting and formed a rough parachute. They took hold of the ring above them and lifted their feet as the basket smashed through the tiled roof of a house in the Berlin suburb of Friedenau. Both the men and their instruments survived intact.[19][20]

Hawley and Post following 1910 Gordon Bennett Cup

The winners of the 1910 Gordon Bennett Cup, Alan R. Hawley and Augustus Post, set a distance and duration record of 1,173 miles (1,888 km) in 44 hours and 25 minutes,[21] but the pair of experienced balloonists landed in a remote section of Canadian wilderness in Quebec. After a week passed with no word from the team, search parties were formed by the Aero Club of America, but many newspapers reported that the men were likely dead. Instead they emerged after ten days, assisted by two local trappers who had been out on a hunting trip and happened to run into them. Hawley had injured a knee, but otherwise the pair were unharmed and received a hero's welcome upon their safe return.[22]

On September 23, 1923, five competitors were killed when they were struck by lightning while six more were injured in storms. Among the dead were Lieutenants John W. Choptaw and Robert S. Olmsted who were killed when their balloon "US Army S6" crashed in Loosbroek, Netherlands.[23][24][25] Sixty years later, in 1983, Americans Maxie Anderson and Don Ida were killed as the gondola detached from their balloon during an attempt to avoid crossing into East German airspace.[26] Anderson and Ida were participating in the "Coupe Charles et Robert" (named for Jacques Charles and the Robert brothers, inventors of the gas balloon) which was run in parallel with the Gordon Bennett Cup. Following their deaths, the "Coupe Charles et Robert" was never run again.[12]

On September 12, 1995, three gas balloons participating in the race entered Belarusian air space. Despite the fact that competition organizers had informed the Belarusian Government about the race in May and that flight plans had been filed, a Mil Mi-24B attack helicopter of the Belarusian Air Force shot down one balloon,[1][27] killing two American citizens, Alan Fraenckel and John Stuart-Jervis.[2][28] Another of the balloons was forced to land while the third landed safely over two hours after the initial downing. The crews of the two balloons were fined for entering Belarus without a visa and released. Belarus has neither apologized nor offered compensation for the deaths.[29]

On September 29, 2010, the 2004 trophy-winning American team of Richard Abruzzo and Carol Rymer Davis went missing in thunderstorms over the Adriatic Sea.[30] On September 30, the USA retrieval crew suggested that the balloon may have ditched in the sea or have been destroyed by lightning.[31] Debris was found on October 1 by search crews but race control determined that it was not from the missing balloon.[32] Despite this, organizers later stated that the final calculated rate of descent of the balloon had been about 50 miles per hour (80 km/h), and that the team's survival was "unlikely".[33] The search for the missing pair was called off on October 4.[8] The balloon's cabin containing the bodies was recovered by an Italian fishing boat on December 6.[9]

Official winners

Key

Record breaking flights are denoted by the following:

Gordon Bennett Cup images
  • A man in a military uniform, sitting on a bench.
    Frank Lahm, inaugural winner of the cup
  • Balloons and grandstand.
    St. Louis GB Cup 1907, mass inflation of balloons
  • A large ballon lifts off
    The balloon United States rises, October 21, 1907, St. Louis, Gordon Bennett 'Great Balloon Race of 1907'
  • An airship floating behind a number of balloons in the foreground.
    Gordon Bennett balloon race in 1909, Zürich featuring the Parseval airship PL-1
  • A man in a pilot's uniform, smiling.
    1932 winning pilot Thomas G. W. Settle
  • Levin as Deputy Event Director (2015).
    1992 winning pilot David N. Levin
  • Many white and yellow gas balloons taking off from a grassy field.
    Launch day of the 50th Gordon Bennett Cup in Waasmunster, Oost-Vlaanderen
  • Several white balloons and two yellow balloons taking off from a grassy field.
    Gordon Bennett Cup 2007, Brussels
  • Start of Gordon Bennett race in Montbéliard - 2019.
    Start of Gordon Bennett race in Montbéliard - 2019.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gordon Bennett Cup in ballooning.

Notes

References

  1. ^ a b Browne, Malcolm W. (September 14, 1995). "2 American Balloonists Die When Shot Down in Belarus". The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 12, 2010. Retrieved September 28, 2010.
  2. ^ a b Cimons, Marlene; Williams, Carol J. (September 15, 1995). "Ill-Fated Balloonists Shared Passion for Flying". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on November 2, 2012. Retrieved September 28, 2010.
  3. ^ "Aero Club of the United Kingdom — Official notices to members — Gordon-Bennett Aeronautical Race, 1909". Flight Global. January 30, 1909. p. 69. Archived from the original on November 2, 2012. Retrieved September 27, 2010.
  4. ^ a b "The Coupe Aéronautique Gordon Bennett". Fédération Aéronautique Internationale. Archived from the original on October 9, 2010. Retrieved September 27, 2010.
  5. ^ a b Jares, Joe (June 11, 1979). "A Bunch Of Basket Cases". Sports Illustrated. Time Inc. Archived from the original on November 3, 2012. Retrieved October 5, 2010.
  6. ^ a b "CIA Policy Manual". Fédération Aéronautique Internationale. June 1997. p. C6/6. Archived from the original (doc) on August 9, 2011. Retrieved October 5, 2010. The First Official Gordon Bennett Cup race since 1938 will take place on 26 June 1983, from Place de la Concorde in Paris, the same spot where the first race started on September 30th 1906.
  7. ^ a b "Winning pilots and co-pilots (alphabetic list)". Fédération Aéronautique Internationale. Archived from the original (xls) on October 8, 2010. Retrieved September 27, 2010.
  8. ^ a b "Italian coastguards call off search for US balloonists". BBC News. October 4, 2010. Archived from the original on October 5, 2010. Retrieved October 4, 2010.
  9. ^ a b "Bodies of missing US balloonists found off Italy". BBC News. December 6, 2010. Archived from the original on July 4, 2017. Retrieved December 6, 2010.
  10. ^ a b Haggeney, Markus (29 August 2013). "57th. Coupe Aéronautique Gordon BennettFAI World Long Distance Gas Balloon Championship Official Results" (PDF). GordonBennet2013.org. Fédération Aéronautique Internationale. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 2 September 2013.
  11. ^ a b "Model Event Rules for Coupe Aéronautique Gordon Bennett". Fédération Aéronautique Internationale. 2010. p. 2. Archived from the original (doc) on August 9, 2011. Retrieved September 28, 2010.
  12. ^ a b Hohmann Sr, Ulrich. "The 27th Gordon Bennett Race 1983". Fédération Aéronautique Internationale. Archived from the original (doc) on July 25, 2011. Retrieved October 6, 2010.
  13. ^ "Model Event Rules for Coupe Aéronautique Gordon Bennett". Fédération Aéronautique Internationale. 2010. pp. 5, 10–11. Archived from the original (doc) on August 9, 2011. Retrieved September 28, 2010.
  14. ^ "2 Denver pilots win Gordon Bennett race". The Bulletin. Bend, Oregon. April 30, 1980. p. 43. Archived from the original on March 7, 2017. Retrieved October 5, 2010.
  15. ^ a b "Balloonists' 884-Mile Flight Is Tops In Endurance Race". Toledo Blade. Block Communications. May 10, 1982. p. 12. Archived from the original on April 28, 2024. Retrieved October 5, 2010.
  16. ^ "Winner declared in balloon race". The Register-Guard. Eugene, Oregon. May 6, 1986. p. 3A. Archived from the original on March 7, 2017. Retrieved October 7, 2010.
  17. ^ "Rosie O'Grady wins balloon race". Ellensburg Daily Record. May 3, 1988. p. 9. Archived from the original on March 7, 2017. Retrieved October 7, 2010.
  18. ^ Johnson, Ann (October 28, 1989). "Rolling Hills Official Nudges Soviets to an Uplifting Venture Ballooning: The Soviet Union gets its first taste of the sport in a competitive, international venue and a glimpse at its research application". Los Angeles Times. p. 28. Archived from the original on November 4, 2012. Retrieved July 6, 2017.
  19. ^ Post, Augustus (October 1908). "A Fall From the Sky". The Century Magazine: 935–946
  20. ^ "Aeronauts Unhurt in 4,000 Foot Fall". The Washington Times=October 12, 1908. p. 1. Archived from the original on March 5, 2018. Retrieved June 17, 2017 – via Newspapers.com. Free access icon
  21. ^ Carrera, Faustine. "1910 - 5th Coupe Aéronautique Gordon Bennett". World Air Sports Federation. Archived from the original on September 21, 2019. Retrieved April 3, 2022. Spreadsheet content may not display correctly in all browsers.
  22. ^ Post, Augustus (1911). A Record Voyage in the Air. Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine.
  23. ^ "Luchtballon op Loosbroek" (in Dutch). Brabants Historisch Informatie Centrum. Archived from the original on July 19, 2011. Retrieved March 3, 2011.
  24. ^ "Scores of Lives Deliberately Risked and Sacrificed in Pursuit of Knowledge to Protect Others From Disease and Death". Popular Mechanics. 44 (July). Popular Mechanics Co: 49–54. 1925.
  25. ^ "First photos of International Balloon Race which resulted in five deaths". Hagley Digital Archives. Archived from the original on July 7, 2012. Retrieved March 8, 2011.
  26. ^ "Balloon tried to avoid border". The Milwaukee Sentinel. July 1, 1983. p. 3. Archived from the original on December 23, 2015. Retrieved September 28, 2010.
  27. ^ "Racing Balloon Is Shot Down by Attack Helicopter in Belarus" (PDF). Flight Safety Foundation. July 1996. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 23, 2010. Retrieved September 28, 2010.
  28. ^ "Belarus shoots down US balloon". The Independent. September 14, 1995. Archived from the original on November 9, 2012. Retrieved September 28, 2010.
  29. ^ "Belarus". United States Department of State. August 27, 2010. Archived from the original on April 18, 2021. Retrieved September 28, 2010.
  30. ^ "Hydrogen race balloonists missing in Adriatic storm". BBC News. September 29, 2010. Archived from the original on September 30, 2010. Retrieved September 30, 2010.
  31. ^ "Lightning may have struck missing balloonists' craft". BBC News. September 30, 2010. Archived from the original on October 1, 2010. Retrieved September 30, 2010.
  32. ^ Messia, Hada (October 1, 2010). "Debris may not be of missing balloon". CNN. Archived from the original on October 28, 2010. Retrieved October 1, 2010.
  33. ^ "Gordon Bennett director 'pessimistic' about balloonists". BBC News. October 1, 2010. Archived from the original on October 2, 2010. Retrieved October 1, 2010.
  34. ^ a b c d e "Race Home Page". The British Balloon and Airship Company Ltd. Archived from the original on October 2, 2010. Retrieved October 6, 2010.
  35. ^ "Event Director's eBoard". www.gordonbennett2011.org. Archived from the original on December 20, 2011. Retrieved September 9, 2012.
  36. ^ "Official Results Are Final". www.gordonbennett2012.ch. Archived from the original on October 16, 2012. Retrieved September 9, 2012.
  37. ^ "58th. Coupe Aéronautique Gordon BennettFAI World Long Distance Gas Balloon Championship". GordonBennet2014.org. Archived from the original on 3 September 2014. Retrieved 2 September 2014.
  38. ^ "59th Coupe Aéronautique Gordon Bennett Victory for Swiss Team SUI 01 Frieden and Witprächtiger!". gordonbennett.aero. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved September 9, 2015.
  39. ^ "Touchdown! Team SUI-01 crosses the sea to Greece to win". gordonbennett.aero. Archived from the original on September 24, 2016. Retrieved September 21, 2016.
  40. ^ a b c "Gordon Bennett Historical Results". Fédération Aéronautique Internationale. Archived from the original on October 3, 2010. Retrieved September 28, 2010.

Further reading

External links