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Gordon Bennett Cup in ballooning

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The Gordon Bennett Cup in ballooning is the world's oldest and most respected gas balloon race first run on September 30, 1906 in Paris, France. The event was sponsored by James Gordon Bennett, Jr., the millionaire sportsman and owner of the New York Herald newspaper.

Inaugurated at a time when powered air flight was in its infancy, Bennett wanted to encourage the technical development in this field and in 1909 created a special competition open to powered flying machines.

The winner of the first ballooning event was American, Frank Purdy Lahm who, along with his balloon co-pilot Henry Hersey flew just over 400 miles to the northeast coast of England. In 1907, St. Louis, Missouri was host to the first ever Gordon Bennett Cup race to be held in the United States. In 1908, the Swiss winners set a world duration record of 73 hours aloft, a standard that would not be broken until 1995. In 1910, the winning balloon flew 1,887 kilometres from St. Louis, to northern Quebec in Canada. It took the two pilots, Alan Ramsay Hawley and Augustus Post, four days to walk back to civilization.

After being interrupted by World War I, the race was held every year until the outbreak of the Second World War. It was not revived until 1983 when the International Aeronautical Federation reinstated the popular race with the winning country usually hosting the following year's competition.

On 1995-09-12 three gas balloons participating in the race entered Belarusian air space. Despite the fact that race organizers informed the Belarusian Government about the race in May and that flight plans had been filed, the Belarusian air force shot down one balloon, killing two American citizens. Among the other two balloons, one was forced to land while the third balloon landed safely (because of deteriorating weather) over two hours after the downing. The crews of the two balloons were fined for entering Belarus without a visa and released. Belarus to date has not apologized or offered compensation for these killings (see [1] [2]).

On 2006-09-11 two balloons entered Norwegian airspace with their transponders turned off. The air traffic control in Bodø could no longer follow the balloons' movements on radar, and had to close the airspace over Helgeland until the balloons were located. This caused several flight cancellations and demands for compensation from the Norwegian air traffic control and the airline Widerøe. [3]

[edit] Winners

Date Starting Point Crew Country Balloon Name Time Distance [km]
30.09.1906 Paris (France) Frank Purdy Lahm, Henry Hersey Image:Flag of the United States.svg United States United States 22:15 641,10
21.10.1907 Saint Louis (United States) Oskar Eberlöh, Henry Helm Clayton Image:Flag of Germany.svg Germany Pommern 40:00 1403,55
11.10.1908 Berlin (Germany) Theodor Schaeck, Emil Messner Image:Flag of Switzerland.svg Switzerland Helvetia 73:01 1190,00
3.10.1909 Zürich (Switzerland) Edgar W. Mix, Andre Roussel Image:Flag of the United States.svg United States America II 35:07 1121,11
17.10.1910 Saint Louis (United States) Alan Ramsay Hawley, Augustus Post Image:Flag of the United States.svg United States America II 44:25 1887,60
5.10.1911 Kansas City (United States) Hans Gericke, Otto Duncker Image:Flag of Germany.svg Germany Berlin II 12:28 757,84
27.10.1912 Stuttgart (Germany) Maurice Bienaimé, René Rumpelmayer Image:Flag of France.svg France La Picardie 45:42 2191,00
12.10.1913 Paris (France) Ralph Hazlett Upson, Ralph Albion Drury Preston Image:Flag of the United States.svg United States Goodyear 43:30 618,00
23.10.1920 Birmingham (United States) Ernst Demuyter, M. Labrousse Image:Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Belgium Belgica 40:15 1769,00
18.09.1921 Brussels (Belgium) Paul Armbruster, Louis Ansermier Image:Flag of Switzerland.svg Switzerland Zürich 27:24 766,00
6.08.1922 Geneva (Switzerland) Ernest Demuyter, Alexander Veenstra Image:Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Belgium Belgica 25:49 1372,10
23.09.1923 Brussels (Belgium) Ernest Demuyter, Leon Coeckelbergh Image:Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Belgium Belgica 21:00 1155,00
15.06.1924 Brussels (Belgium) Ernest Demuyter, Leon Coeckelbergh Image:Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Belgium Belgica 43:16 714,00
7.06.1925 Brussels (Belgium) Alexander Veenstra, Philippe Quersin Image:Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Belgium Prince Leopold 47:30 1345,00
30.05.1926 Antwerp (Belgium) Ward Tunte van Orman, Walter W. Morton Image:Flag of the United States.svg United States Goodyear III 16:37 864,00
10.09.1927 Detroit (United States) Edward J. Hill, Arthur G. Schlosser Image:Flag of the United States.svg United States Detroit 48:00 1198,00
30.06.1928 Detroit (United States) William Elsworth Kepner, William Olmstead Eareckson Image:Flag of the United States.svg United States US Army 48:00 740,80
28.09.1929 Saint Louis (United States) Ward Tunte van Orman, Alan L. McCracken Image:Flag of the United States.svg United States Goodyear VIII 24:00 548,94
1.09.1930 Cleveland (United States) Ward Tunte van Orman, Alan L. McCracken Image:Flag of the United States.svg United States Goodyear VIII 27:56 872,00
25.09.1932 Basel (Switzerland) Thomas G.W. Settle, Wilfred Bushnell Image:Flag of the United States.svg United States US Army 41:20 1550,00
2.09.1933 Chicago (United States) Franciszek Hynek, Zbigniew Burzyński Image:Flag of Poland.svg Poland SP-ADS Kościuszko 38:32 1361,00
23.09.1934 Warsaw (Poland) Franciszek Hynek, Władysław Pomaski Image:Flag of Poland.svg Poland SP-ADS Kościuszko 44:48 1333,00
16.09.1935 Warsaw (Poland) Zbigniew Burzyński, Władysław Wysocki Image:Flag of Poland.svg Poland SP-AMY Polonia II 57:54 1650,47
30.08.1936 Warsaw (Poland) Ernest Demuyter, Pierre Hoffmans Image:Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Belgium OO-BFM Belgica 46:24 1715,80
20.06.1937 Brussels (Belgium) Ernest Demuyter, Pierre Hoffmans Image:Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Belgium OO-BFM Belgica 46:15 1396,00
11.09.1938 Liège (Belgium) Antoni Janusz, Franciszek Janik Image:Flag of Poland.svg Poland SP-BCU LOPP 37:47 1692,00
1.07.1983 Paris (France) Stefan Makne, Ireneusz Cieślak Image:Flag of Poland.svg Poland SP-BZO Polonez 36:00 690,00
13.10.1984 Zürich (Switzerland) Karl Spenger, Martin Messner Image:Flag of Switzerland.svg Switzerland HB-BFC Jura 43:08 793,00
28.09.1985 Geneva (Switzerland) Josef Starkbaum, Gert Scholz Image:Flag of Austria.svg Austria HB-BBL Volksbank 21:09 342,00
18.10.1986 Salzburg (Austria) Josef Starkbaum, Gert Scholz Image:Flag of Austria.svg Austria HB-BBL Volksbank 19:11 272,43
3.10.1987 Seefeld (Austria) Josef Starkbaum, Gert Scholz Image:Flag of Austria.svg Austria HB-BBL Volksbank 32:16 852,00
23.10.1988 Bregenz (Austria) Josef Starkbaum, Gert Scholz Image:Flag of Austria.svg Austria OE-PZS Polarstern 41:09 1110,90
16.09.1989 Lech (Austria) Josef Starkbaum, Gert Scholz Image:Flag of Austria.svg Austria OE-PZS Polarstern 37:33 911,20
2.09.1990 Lech (Austria) Josef Starkbaum, Gert Scholz Image:Flag of Austria.svg Austria OE-PZS Polarstern 33:20 692,50
21.09.1991 Lech (Austria) Volker Kuinke, Jürgen Schubert Image:Flag of Germany.svg Germany D-EUREGIO 44:18 1039,40
19.09.1992 Stuttgart (Germany) David Levin, James Herschend Image:Flag of the United States.svg United States D-ASPEN 45:36 964,19
4.10.1993 Albuquerque (United States) Josef Starkbaum, Rainer Röhsler Image:Flag of Austria.svg Austria OE-PZS Polarstern 59:29 1832,00
18.09.1994 Lech (Austria) Karl Spenger, Christian Stoll Image:Flag of Switzerland.svg Switzerland HB-BZH Stadt Wil 31:01 825,14
9.09.1995 Wil (Switzerland) William Eimers, Bernd Landsmann Image:Flag of Germany.svg Germany D-OCOL Columbus II 92:11 1628,10
28.09.1996 Warstein (Germany) William Eimers, Bernd Landsmann Image:Flag of Germany.svg Germany D-OCOL Columbus II 72:01 1286,90
7.09.1997 Warstein (Germany) Vincent Leys, Jean François Leys Image:Flag of France.svg France F-PPSE Le Petit Prince 45:30 1732,50
1.10.1999 Albuquerque (United States) Phillipe de Cock, Ronny Van Havare Image:Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Belgium D-OCOX Belgica II 40:15 1666,54
9.09.2000 Saint-Hubert (Belgium) Wilhelm Eimers, Bernd Landsmann Image:Flag of Germany.svg Germany D-OOWE Columbus IV 70:49 795,70
8.09.2001 Warstein (Germany) Vincent Leys, Jean François Leys Image:Flag of France.svg France F-PPSE Le Petit Prince 77:47 1626,60
31.08.2002 Châtellerault (France) Vincent Leys, Jean François Leys Image:Flag of France.svg France F-PPSE Le Petit Prince 69:59 1282,30
14.09.2003 Arc-et-Senans (France) Vincent Leys, Jean François Leys Image:Flag of France.svg France F-PPSE Le Petit Prince 53:42 1596,50
29.08.2004 Thionville (France) Richard Abruzzo, Carol Rymer Davis Image:Flag of the United States.svg United States N96YD Zero Gravity 52:52 1803,36
1.10.2005 Albuquerque (United States) Robert Berben, Benoît Siméons Image:Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Belgium N6326T 65:20 3400,39
9.09.2006 Waasmunster (Belgium) Philippe De Cock, Ronny Van Havere Image:Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Belgium D-OCOX Belgica 2 66:53 2449.60

[edit] Links

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