AIBF Timeline

2020 2017 1993

The Balloon Fiesta celebrates its 25th year and moves to the current Balloon Fiesta Park. 1997

The “Flight of the Nations,” honoring international pilots on the Wednesday of Balloon Fiesta week, is inaugurated.

The Gondola Club, a V.I.P. experience for Balloon Fiesta guests, is created, and is later joined by the Chasers Club and, most recently, a “glamping” experience. 2002-2003

Balloon Fiesta Park is fully grassed; the change makes the fi eld a pleasant place for guests to linger and turns the Balloon Fiesta into a true destination event for families. 1997

The fi rst Dawn Patrol Show, a choreographed infl ation and pre-sunrise launch, is held. 2000

The Special Shape Rodeo and Glowdeo reach their current form, with morning mass ascensions and evening Glows on both days of the event. 2000

The Balloon Fiesta hosts “1,000 in 2000,” with more than 1,000 balloons participating. It is the largest Balloon Fiesta and probably the largest ballooning event ever held in the world. But in subsequent years, in the interest of safety, the number of balloons is scaled back to 750 and later 550.

2001

Albuquerque Aloft, on the Friday before Balloon Fiesta, brings balloonists to local elementary schools to educate, infl ate and fl y. 2001

The New Mexico Challenge, a distance race for hot air balloons, is held; the event lasts only a few years. 2001

In the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the grounding of all general aviation, the Balloon Fiesta comes close to cancellation. The ban on balloon fl ights is lifted in time for the Balloon Fiesta and the America’s Challenge race to continue as scheduled.

In winning the America’s Challenge, Swiss balloonists Nicolas Tièche and Laurent Sciboz smash the all-time competition distance records for 1,000 meter gas balloons. 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic forces the postponement of the 49th Balloon Fiesta, but “Fiesta Siesta” merchandise sells like hotcakes and Balloon Fiesta Live! provides nine days of streamed highlights from past Balloon Fiestas. 2021

The Balloon Fiesta returns with additional COVID precautions in place and celebrates its 49th year. 2022

The Balloon Fiesta celebrates its 50th year/50th anniversary and the 25th America’s Challenge and publishes a commemorative book, 50 Years of Balloon Magic.

2015 2001 2005

Above: Roadrunner clears the field, Coyotes soon to follow. Right: Don Kersten in Merope waves to the crowd at the City’s first modern hot air ballooning event.

more than a decade. Beginning in 1971, he devoted the rest of his life to ballooning.

Sid flew Roadrunner, a Raven AX-6, N1954R, the club balloon of the Albuquerque Aerostat Ascension Association (Quad A) that morning of April 8, 1972, from the northwest corner of Coronado Center. His co-pilot was Don Draper, Quad A’s president. Sid and Don of course launched first, and soon the chase began. At 7:30 a.m., Governor Bruce King fired the starting gun, and 12 competing Coyote balloons trailing advertising banners began lifting off before 20,000 spectators. Albuquerque’s first Balloon Fiesta was underway. Assisting as launch and chase crews were members of the fledging Quad A. As Roadrunner drifted north, Sid commented to his co-pilot, “Well, Don, we have finally seen a balloon race.”

Sid held some of the highest aviation awards, including the 1975 Fédération Aéronautique Internationale’s (FAI) Montgolfier Diplome for service to sport ballooning and the 2009 FAA Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award in flight safety. He founded the world’s largest local balloon club – the Albuquerque Aerostat Ascension Association, or Quad A – in 1971, organized the first two World Hot Air Balloon Championships in 1973 and 1975, and won the National Hot Air Balloon Championships in 1978 and 1986. He was inducted into five Halls of Fame during the period 1983-2010. He was very proud of how Albuquerque took to ballooning like he did and how the community embraced an annual Balloon Fiesta. After a long battle with cancer, Sid passed away peacefully in his sleep on May 21, 2011. Don Kersten – Fort Dodge, Iowa.

Don was a lawyer and an Air Force veteran (19481952). He had been a licensed balloon pilot since 1965 and in this event flew a white Piccard balloon with two blue bands at the equator. Named Merope after his wife, this AX-6 Piccard balloon was fourth in the pack of Coyotes to launch. Incidentally, back then, everyone in the basket wore helmets.

Don served as the BFA president from 1969 to 1971 and 1975 to 1977. As immediate past president and a delegate to the FAI in 1972, Don was tasked with searching for a site for the First World Hot Air Balloon Championships. He urged Sid and Tom Rutherford, at the time working for KOB Radio, to form an organization to bid Albuquerque as the host site. They formed World Balloon Championships, Inc. “It wasn’t until later that we learned that no one else had bid, or even been invited to bid for this event,” Tom recalled. Nevertheless, Albuquerque was secured as the host city for the 1973 championships. Sadly, Merope Kersten died in 1984, and Don died in 1998 at age 73.

Above: Denny Floden launches while Gene Dennis, Bill Murtorff, and Don Piccard make final preparations.

Dennis Floden – Flint, Michigan.

A stockbroker and financial consultant, Denny became a licensed balloonist in 1969. At age 32, he won the 1971 Nationals in Indianola, Iowa, and piloted a red, white, and blue Raven balloon decorated with eagles and pennants in the first Fiesta as the reigning U.S. Champion. In his early ballooning years, he flew under the pseudonym “Capt. Phogg”. Coincidentally, 1972, the year of Albuquerque’s First Fiesta, was also the 100th anniversary of Jules Verne’s fantasy novel Around the World in Eighty Days with Capt. Phileas Fogg.

In 1973, Denny joined Bill Cutter, Tom Oerman, and Bruce Comstock on the U.S. team at the First World Hot Air Balloon Championships. He won the title and the distinction of becoming the world’s first champion balloonist. Denny used to say, “It takes a little bit of skill and a lot of luck to excel in balloon competition.”

Like Sid, Denny was a balloon sales distributor and successful commercial balloonist. He designed Kellogg’s first Tony the Tiger balloon and for 22 years led his Gr-r-reat Tony Balloon Team in the operation of one of the first special-shape commercial balloons. Denny is now retired from the financial world and the world of commercial and competitive ballooning. He says he was a “card-carrying Michigan snowbird” for some time but now spends most of his time as a boater and real estate investor in Bradenton Beach, Florida. Bill Murtorff – Corpus Christi, Texas.

Bill was an Army veteran (1955-1958) and an extraordinary aeronaut. While operating a water sports store in Corpus Christi, he became infatuated with hot air ballooning. As a student of Derek Howard, Bill received his pilot license in 1971. Derek remembered “Wild Bill,” as he was affectionately known, as being so enthusiastic about ballooning that he would be around for a long time. Indeed, Bill and his wife Mary were regular participants in the first 25 Balloon Fiestas.

On that special day in Albuquerque in 1972, Bill was fresh from a victory in the Florida Balloon Championships. His balloon, Smile, N22US, red with four blue bands, was the second Coyote balloon to launch. Bill received Quad A’s Sid Cutter Award in 1977. He was BFA President 1979-1981. He retired in Mexico where he died in 1998 at age 64, but his name lives in a place of honor in the BFA as the Bill Murtorff Spirit of Ballooning Award.

Don Piccard – Newport Beach, California.

Don was the son of Swiss pioneer aeronauts Jean and Jeannette Piccard. He had been flying balloons since the 1940s and was a pioneer in his own right. During WWII, he served in the Navy as a balloon and airship rigger and again at Lakehurst, New Jersey, during the Korean War. In 1947, he received the nation’s first Free Balloon Certificate. He made numerous epic balloon flights and was awarded the 1962 Montgolfier Diplome for his

Above: Surprisingly, there were only two mounted patrolmen for this crowd of 20,000.

record altitude flight in a “poly-cluster” balloon. In 1963, he and Ed Yost became the first men to pilot a hot air balloon across the English Channel from Great Britain to France. Don is credited with many of the innovations we see today in modern hot air sport balloons.

Although Don spent much of his life in Minneapolis, Minnesota, he also spent decades in Newport Beach, California where in 1964 he started a balloon manufacturing company. At the time of Albuquerque’s first Fiesta, he claimed Newport Beach as home. He remembered most of northeast Albuquerque was empty lots. Indeed, there was little development north of Montgomery where most of the Coyote balloons landed.

Don was one of the last to launch but he flew Spirit of 76, N76US, an AX-8 Piccard, to a first-place finish, landing only 184 feet from the deflated Roadrunner balloon that Sid had left spread out as a giant target. Don had a ripout landing with a long drag across the East Mesa as Albuquerqueans rushed to grab his basket and as a helicopter hovered a few hundred yards away. That balloon was made for Burns, Burke and Morton of Gardena, California, with George Morton getting his first ride as the nation was getting psyched up for the American Bicentennial. “It had two giant burners and two rip panels,” recalled Don. “It was ideal for that flight. Dr. George, the met guy, was perfect, and I paid attention to him.” Don was referring to Dr. George Fischbeck, the popular Albuquerque weatherman on KOB-TV from the early 1960s. Don returned to Minneapolis in the 1980s and died in 2020 at the age of 94.

Gene Dennis – Grand Blanc, Michigan.

When Gene got into ballooning, he owned his own electrical contracting business that was geared to support the automotive industry in Michigan. His balloon instructor was Denny Floden, who also trained Bruce Comstock, just before Denny won the 1971 Nationals. Gene and Denny had only one balloon between them. Both made it through the qualifying rounds, but a toss of the coin put Denny in the basket instead of Gene.

After flying balloons with Denny, Gene adopted the name “Captain Phair Weather.” He claimed that the excellent flying conditions at the 1972 Fiesta were not the work of George Fischbeck, with his high-altitude millibar charts, but it was he who ordered the day’s good weather.

Gene recalls lifting off with Tom Oerman as his passenger. Tom’s balloon never made it to Albuquerque because of a Chicago snowstorm. Gene’s flight connections through Chicago were also cancelled but he drove to Detroit and caught a direct flight to Albuquerque. Regarding the 1972 race, Gene said “My balloon was a Raven with red and white stripes, blue equator and yellow top. We landed somewhere in the boonies. The next day, several of us flew from the West Mesa and drifted over the Rio Grande.”

Gene placed sixth in the qualifying rounds for the 1973 World Championships, being edged out by Denny Floden, Tom Oerman, and Bill Cutter. He returned to Albuquerque several times, flying in the Fiesta, visiting the Balloon Museum, and revisiting the 1972 Coronado launch site where Macy’s is today. While he is no longer active, his two sons are avid balloonists.

Matt Wiederkehr – St. Paul, Minnesota.

Matt served four years in the Navy during the Korean War. He was an engineer when he started ballooning and in fact was one of the fi rst ten hot air balloon pilots in the country. He and wife Bobbie operated a balloon sales distributorship and staged the hot air balloon competition at the annual St. Paul Winter Carnival. Matt and his daughters, Denise and Donna, set over 40 world ballooning records.

The fi rst Coyote balloon to launch was Matt’s blue and white balloon, Raven One, N1926R, with co-pilot Denise and a long Melloy Datsun banner trailing below the basket. They made a classic ripout landing among cholla cactus on the East Mesa, stopping dead in their tracks in a matter of seconds. Matt’s wife Bobbie recalled, “At fi rst everyone thought we won the race. Suddenly the wind changed and the Piccards won, even though they were off course until the end.” Matt and Denise ended up in third place. We lost this veteran aeronaut in 2019 when he passed away at age 90. Wilma Piccard – Newport Beach, California.

Don’s wife, Willie, is an accomplished balloonist. The two met when Don hired her as a seamstress at Piccard Balloons. Willie set the A-1 distance record for male and female using a single-cell mylar balloon. As the only female pilot in the fi rst Fiesta, Willie fl ew solo in Gypsy, N10TA, a Piccard AX-6 which later went to Bruce Comstock and helped him win the Nationals. Don recalled, “It was a super balloon, especially for the time, and gave Willie no trouble.” She placed second, landing 206 feet from the Roadrunner. Don added, “It was a kick for us to take fi rst and second.” Don and Willie relocated to Minneapolis where Willie survives her husband of 50 years. As a tribute to Don, she said, “His most powerful legacy is in helping to develop the sport of hot air ballooning and making it aff ordable for families to enjoy.” Now 91 years of age, she still resides in Minneapolis. Brent Stockwell – Daly City, California.

As a licensed commercial balloonist since 1970, Brent participated in many hot air and gas balloon races around the world. At the time of Albuquerque’s inaugural ballooning event, he had been working on establishing the fi rst FAA-approved balloon fl ight school in the nation. Beginning in 1974, Brent operated an FAA-certifi ed balloon repair station. He was active in the BFA for decades and received numerous BFA and FAA awards.

At the fi rst Fiesta, his small AX-4 balloon, Firebird, N14US, trailing a Rich Ford banner, was one of the last Coyotes to launch. Other sponsors included Cactus Realty, Galles Chevrolet, Horizon Corporation, Melloy Datsun, Pedal ‘n Spoke, Vickers Petroleum and Watchworld. Brent’s balloon ran out of fuel before reaching the target Roadrunner balloon. He and his wife, Christine Kalakuka, authored several ballooning books while operating their fl ight school and repair station in Manteca, California. Sadly, Christine passed away in 2007. Brent passed away in 2021 at age 90. (See Brent Stockwell’s account of his fl ight, reprinted from the 1991 Balloon Fiesta program, following this story.)

Below: Matt Wiederkehr, Carter Twedt and Denny Floden infl ate at Coronado Center.

1972 One Mile Up, and Still on the Ground

By Col. Brent Stockwell

From the 1991 Balloon Fiesta program, reprinted with permission from Ballooning, the Journal of the Balloon Federation of America

here I was, altimeter indicating 5,000

Tfeet, with some guy standing next to the basket yelling, "Get ready; you're up soon, get ready to take off ." What in the world was happening? Today was the day I had planned to plant a second crop of lettuce in my tiny, San Francisco-fog-enshrouded backyard vegetable garden. Who was this man and why was he telling me to take off while I was already one mile up (and still on the ground)?

This episode was no aeronaut's mushroom-inspired fantasy, but the Albuquerque International Coyote and Roadrunner Balloon Race, a hot-air balloonist's dream on a mile-high plateau in New Mexico.

On very, very short notice (due to some Madison Avenue-type brainstorming, I suspect), the Albuquerque Aerostat Ascension Association had staged a professional, BFA-sanctioned race in a one balloon town. Well, it once was a one balloon town.

The amazingly short time in which this race was organized was matched by the short length of time needed by aeronauts all over the country to organize themselves and congregate on Albuquerque’s desert plain. With notice of a bit over a week, nineteen pilots and balloons from eight states had entered the race. Some withdrew or merely failed to appear; some aeronauts were caught in an unseasonal snowstorm in Chicago, but twelve aeronauts representing California, Arizona, Iowa, Michigan, Texas, Minnesota, Nevada and of course New Mexico, made the launch site. If all nineteen entries had appeared, Albuquerque could have claimed the largest balloon gathering in the United States, exceeding the seventeen balloons at last year’s National Championships at Indianola, Iowa.

Radio station KOB, Albuquerque's NBC affi liate, was celebrating its 50th anniversary in broadcasting. Their network affi liation inspired Don Piccard to dub the California contingent 'The CBS Team", representing of course, the California Balloon Society. Another Piccard pun, and another club was born.

Aeronauts arriving in Albuquerque were treated like visiting brass. In fact, each pilot was commissioned "Colonel, Aide-de-Camp" on the Staff of the Governor of the State of New Mexico by Governor Bruce King! New Mexico now has a balloon air force.

Race day started at 6:00 a.m., calm and clear despite the fact that Albuquerque had just suff ered a terrible sandstorm the previous week and natives pointed

Above: Brent Stockwell, in Firebird, ready for launch in the fi rst Balloon Fiesta. Photo from the original 1991 article.

out that April is the windiest month of the year in New Mexico.

Each pilot was driven to the airport and issued a brand-new Chevrolet pick-up truck. I can almost hear the television commercial now: "Yessiree, friends and neighbors, Galles Chevrolet, in beautiful downtown Albuquerque, has twenty almost-brand-new pick-ups, driven only once through the desert by the little old wife of an aeronaut with a very light balloon." Each pilot was also issued one driver/aeronaut-retriever/groundcrew/ slave. I was fortunate enough to get Bill Blackwell, a young, strong, handsome radio announcer from Albuquerque's classical music station who is a future aeronaut and an excellent tour guide.

Albuquerqueans must be early risers, as the shopping center launch area was crowded by 7:00 a.m.; the Albuquerque Tribune estimated the crowd at 20,000, and the New York Times reported, “The fi rst traffi c jam the arid mesa northeast of town ever had.”

Someone had very considerately supplied about 1,800 square feet of plastic sheeting for each balloon to infl ate on without getting too sandy or stuck in cactus.

Befi tting this western setting was a mounted sheriff whose horse did the most fantastic four-legged version of the Mexican hat dance every time a balloon burner came on, and western character actor Slim Pickens stood on one foot and then the other, muttering "yep".

The Hare and Hound even naturally was called the "Roadrunner and Coyote Race”. Roadrunner Sid Cutter, with Don Draper, lifted off at 7:45. The coyote balloons, at 30-second intervals, followed fi fteen minutes later. All followed except Don Kersten in Merope, who took off about forty-fi ve degrees off course to the east, and I in Firebird about forty-fi ve degrees off course to the west. I fi nally managed to turn Firebird around, but it was too much and too soon.

By the time Cutter landed Roadrunner, a sizable crowd gathered, and the contestants appeared to be landing in the middle of a parking lot full of cars.

From an organizational standpoint, the race was most impressive. For instance, no sooner had Firebird and I hit the ground than we were checked out by a medic (my landing wasn't that bad!), greeted and interviewed by a lady radio announcer, and presented with a bottle of Cold Duck by another beautiful lady. Wow!

Matt Wiederkehr, in Flying Raven 1, had an early starting time and dogged Roadrunner to the landing site to take an early lead. Wilma Piccard, however, soon maneuvered Gypsy to within 206 feet and took over fi rst place. That looked like it, until last-place starter Don Piccard, Wilma's husband/mentor, swooped the giant Spirit of '76 to a mere 184 feet from the target, putting the Piccard pair into fi rst and second places in the fi nal results. ''Too bad the kids weren't fl ying", kidded Piccard between gulps of champagne, but fortunately for Wiederkehr there were no more Piccards in the air that day.

With this outstanding race behind, an excellent eff ort fi rst time out, the Albuquerque Aerostat Ascension Association is already planning for their second race, "The First World Hot Air Balloon Championship.'' in Albuquerque 11-17 February 1973.

Good luck and please invite me.

Award-winning balloonist Brent Stockwell, one of the “Original 13” (see article on page 52) fl ew balloons for nearly fi ve decades. He was the owner of Balloon Excelsior, a balloon fl ight school and repair station, served as an FAA designated examiner and aviation counselor, and co-authored several books with his late wife Christine Kalakuka, including 1998’s “Hot Air Balloons. Stockwell passed away in 2021 at the age of 89.

ALBUQUERQUE RACE RESULTS

1. Don Piccard, Newport Beach, Ca Piccard AX-8 Spirit of '76 2. Wilma Piccard, Newport Beach, Ca Piccard AX-6 Gypsy 3. Matt Wiederkehr, St. Paul, Minn. Raven AX-6 Flying Raven l 4. Karl Stefan, Palestine, Tex. Raven AX-6 Star of Texas 5. Gene Dennis, Grand Blanc, Mich. Raven AX-6 6. Carter Twedt, Carson City, Nev. Raven AX-6 7. Dennis Floden, Fenton, Mich. Raven AX-6 8. Bill Cutter, Phoenix, Ariz. Raven AX-6 * Bill Murtorff , Corpus Christi, Tex. Piccard AX-6 Smile * Brent Stockwell, Daly City, Ca. Piccard AX-4 Firebird * Oscar Kratz, Tucson, Ariz. * Don Kersten, Ft. Dodge, Iowa Piccard AX-6 Merope

1975 The world competitors were back in Albuquerque in 1975 for the second World Hot Air Balloon Championships. As in 1973, 38 of the world’s fi nest balloonists competed over several days and through a series of grueling tasks. American competitor David Schaff er emerged victorious. Of more long-term importance, the Balloon Fiesta as we now know it began to emerge in 1975. After the 1974 event, organizers had reached the conclusion that both the time frame and the launch location needed to change. A weather study determined that early fall and specifi cally early October would be the best time for the event. A new site uptown – Simms Field, near I-25 and Jeff erson – provided easy access and plenty of space for growth. With the move to the new fi eld, for the 1976

fi rst time, spectators were allowed to walk among the balloons on the launch site, a rarity for air shows, where spectators are usually strictly separated from aircraft operations. This change was revolutionary and added a rare and perhaps unprecedented level of involvement and excitement for air show spectators.

But even as these plans were coming to fruition, the very future of the Balloon Fiesta was in jeopardy, as Sid Cutter withdrew from the day-to-day management to focus on his business. Fortunately, Mayor Harry Kinney realized the Balloon Fiesta created an incredible opportunity for Albuquerque to have a signature event that could bring revenue into the community. He recruited business leaders to form a Citizens Committee to run the event. This committee, over the next couple of years, evolved into the current non-profi t Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, Inc.

One more lasting development came out of all the 1975 changes. Local balloonists were worried, with the move to October, that people would miss seeing balloons in February. So they held a separate February balloon rally, called the Cloudbouncer Rally, at the state fairgrounds. This 40-balloon event is now considered to be the fi rst Friends and Lovers Rally, still held today. And 1975 is sometimes referred to as the “year with two Fiestas.”

PHOTO: BILL WALTON FLYNT

After all the 1975 changes, the Balloon Fiesta began to settle into a nice routine in 1976. With no world championships on the menu, balloonmeister Bob Ruppenthal set a diff erent tone for the event, “He (and she) who has the most fun wins.” Fun competitions such as the Tumbleweed Drop were on the menu for the 150 participating balloonists. Meanwhile, the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta completed its incorporation and offi cially took over management of the annual event.

During the 1976 Fiesta, a number of the participating balloons were involved in the fi lming of “Day of the Balloons,” a multi-media fi lm produced for exhibition at Busch Gardens. The fi nal scene was shot in Albuquerque and at the Balloon Fiesta.