<![CDATA[BRISTOL BALLOON COLLECTORS

<![CDATA[BRISTOL BALLOON COLLECTORS - Blog]]>Sun, 07 Jun 2026 11:56:16 +0000Weebly<![CDATA[Thomas the Tank Engine – G-BXND]]>Wed, 27 May 2026 08:18:06 GMThttps://www.bristolballooncollectors.co.uk/blog/thomas-the-tank-engine-g-bxndWritten by Tom Orpin

Test inflation at Ashton Court, Bristol in 1998.

Ahead of the 2026 Midlands Air Festival, let’s take a look at one of the largest and most spectacular balloons in the Bristol Balloon Collectors vault; the iconic Thomas the Tank Engine special shape.

First appearing in Rev. W Awdry’s Railway Series in 1946, Thomas the Tank Engine went from being a storybook character in a series to a global children’s icon, with success across books, television, merchandise and theme parks continuing to this day. Whilst Thomas is known worldwide, he remains especially popular in the UK, where the franchise holds deep cultural roots, and in Japan, where the combination of railway enthusiasm and character culture has made Thomas a long-standing favourite.

It was in 1998 that a special shape balloon was commissioned by The Brit Allcroft company for global promotional events for the brand. Built by Cameron Balloons as a ‘Cameron Thomas-110’, Thomas started out life under Flying Pictures, one of the world’s leading hot air balloon marketing companies in the 1980s and 1990s, before ending its commercial life with the Virgin Airship & Balloon Company; a transfer that was made in 2000. Weighing in at 366kg, Thomas is the biggest balloon in the Bristol Balloon Collection.

From 1998 – 2002 the Thomas balloon toured widely, appearing at festivals and public events across the UK, Germany, Japan, USA and New Zealand, amongst others, becoming a crowd favourite wherever he flew. Notably, it appeared at the launch of Thomas Land in Japan, reinforcing Thomas’s strong popularity there.

Thomas flying in New Zealand in 1999

Thomas visits a Toys R Us in the USA

As he reached the end of his commercial life, Thomas went into storage for several years before passing through several collectors. It was eventually donated to the collection in 2023, and at the Midlands Air Festival in 2023, Thomas made his first public appearance in over a decade.

Since then, the Bristol Balloon Collectors have displayed Thomas at events across the UK and it’s full steam ahead for Thomas at this weekend’s Midlands Air Festival, where Bristol Balloon Collectors are hoping to tether him once again for the public, back at the location of his first appearance in his new life three years ago.

Next stop, Ragley Hall.

]]><![CDATA[The Bristol Balloon – G-BUVW]]>Mon, 11 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.bristolballooncollectors.co.uk/blog/the-bristol-balloon-g-buvwWritten by Tom Orpin

1993 Bristol International Balloon Fiesta

It’s only fitting that, for the first edition of the blog, we look at the collection’s flagship balloon, G-BUVW.

Built in 1993 by Cameron Balloons as an N-90 (90,000 cubic feet), G-BUVW was commissioned by the world famous Bristol International Balloon Fiesta to be an official Fiesta balloon.

Throughout the 90s the balloon was a regular fixture in the skies above Bristol and was always a focal point of the Fiesta each year. It also appeared at the Fiesta’s twin events Chateau d’Oex, a wintry meet in the Swiss alps, and St Niklaas in Belgium. Beyond that, the balloon visited festivals across the world, including appearances in Chile and Albuquerque, NM, USA, where it took part in the world’s largest balloon festival.
After many years of loyal service for the Fiesta, it was sold to the University of Bristol’s Hot Air Balloon Society (colloquially known as BUHABS) where it saw out the remainder of its flying life.

Its last ever flight was a long way from home in Bristol; being recorded in the Libyan desert whilst attending an event there.

Flying in the Libyan desert (circa 2007)

Some balloons tend to take on a legendary status because of some mysterious event in their timeline, and that is certainly the case with our Fiesta balloon, which seemingly completely disappeared for a number of years.

It was in 2017 when Bristol Balloon Collectors co-founders Liam and Dan received a message to see if they’d be interested in picking up 3 retired balloons that were sitting in a barn in Bath. One of them was supposedly the Fiesta balloon, except it wasn’t there, and this began an investigation into its whereabouts. After some sleuthing, local balloonist Paul Spellward located the balloon and delivered it to Liam and Dan.

When the balloon arrived, it was in pretty bad shape. The balloon had ended up in a leaky garage and time had not been kind. The envelope (the balloon part of the balloon) had a large hole in it and the Velcro tabs on the parachute were too weak to hold it in place effectively. There was also a significant amount of sand in the balloon from the Libyan desert; the last time it had appeared.

The Bristol Balloon Collectors were essentially formed out of what happened next, as G-BUVW became a personal restoration project for Liam and Dan who, along with friends and family, worked to fix the balloon so it could be given a new lease of life and to be inflated and tethered properly. Liam and Dan unpicked the panels in the envelope affected by the hole before it went into Cameron Balloons for repairs. The support from Paul Spellward continued as he very kindly covered the cost of the new panels. Once returned from the factory, the restoration of the balloon truly became a family affair when Liam and his nan replaced the Velcro tabs on the parachute.
As part of the restoration, a new banner was added to the envelope that simply read ‘Bristol Balloon Collectors.’

Today, the Fiesta balloon is the flagship balloon in our collection. At the 2025 Bristol International Balloon Fiesta, we took part in the Night Glow with it in front of tens of thousands of people, 32 years after it first appeared there.

The balloon will appear at future editions of the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta for, hopefully, many years to come.

2025 Bristol International Balloon Fiesta

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