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Written by Mark Lockwood and Tom Orpin Anyone who watched a BBC TV programme between 1998 and 2002 will have seen the BBC globe hot air balloon. Those indents were on TV around 15 times a day before the start of every programme, making this balloon surely the most seen in the collection. TV idents first appeared in the pre-internet era of four terrestrial TV channels and are still used today to show brand identity between programs. By the mid‑1990s, competition from commercial broadcasters pushed the BBC to refresh its visual identity. Lambie‑Nairn, the agency responsible for reinventing BBC2’s idents to great acclaim, were then commissioned to modernise BBC1’s globe as well. The idea was floated to create a digitally animated floating world over British landscapes, but CGI technology was too primitive at this point to create such a feat. With deadlines looming, Lambie‑Nairn approached the Virgin Airship and Balloon Company to ask whether the concept could be achieved using a real hot air balloon. The answer was an immediate yes.  To ensure the balloon stood out against the green and blue landscapes of the UK, Martin Lambie‑Nairn redesigned the globe in contrasting red and orange tones. Cameron Balloons were commissioned to build the envelope, using existing earth‑pattern templates from previous globe balloons but recoloured to match the new Pantone specifications. Meanwhile, VABC’s Telford team began planning an unprecedented aerial filming schedule to capture all locations identified by Lambie-Nairn and signed off by the BBC. Every location required careful analysis of geography, airspace restrictions, launch and landing options, and the availability of helicopter crews carrying heavy Betamax broadcast cameras. With VABC’s commercial balloon teams already allocated and operational for the summer, a dedicated team was created specifically for the job, led by pilot James Mossman and crew chief Peter Bird. The UK was divided into four operational zones, with the balloon, G-IBBC, moving according to long‑range weather forecasts. Daily coordination with the Met Office allowed rapid mobilisation when conditions aligned. Each flight involved synchronised operations between balloon, helicopter, ground cameras and air‑traffic control. Throughout the summer of 1997, the team captured footage over major landmarks including the Angel of the North, Yorkshire Dales, Peak District, Lake Windermere, Stonehenge, Lowestoft docks, Belfast shipyards and Canary Wharf. One of the most technically demanding flights was over the Forth Road Bridge, requiring a precise south‑to‑north wind and a rescue boat in case of a water landing! The most challenging location was Eilean Donan Castle, surrounded by water, forests and steep terrain. With the crew “on the clock” financially to get the project over the line, Mossman made the call to fly in marginal but workable weather. The balloon achieved the required shots over beautiful Scottish scenery, but running low on both fuel and wind, a ‘positive’ landing was necessary on the edge of dense forest. A winch‑equipped Sea King helicopter eventually rescued the crew after hours waiting beside the balloon. To pass the time, the crew used the burners to brew tea. With filming complete, Lambie‑Nairn produced the BBC1 idents which were then launched in spring 1998. They became hugely popular, but often, people assumed they were CGI. To prove they were real, VABC persuaded the BBC to allow the balloon to make a number public appearances at balloon festivals and on TV programmes.  VABC’s programme with the Globe came to a conclusion in 2002, with the balloon making its final flight at that year’s Bristol Balloon Fiesta, with the BBC, of course, on-board. The balloon passed between a number of collectors before being rediscovered in Bristol in 2022 by the Bristol Balloon Collectors, who received a number of donated envelopes and were shocked to discover the world-famous Globe sitting inside one of the bags. Upon hearing of its discovery, the BBC were delighted and came out to film as members of the Bristol Balloon Collectors worked hard to restore the balloon, including hand-painting cloud artwork that had suffered from a long time in storage. Cameron Balloons also assisted in some repairs to get the balloon back to a tetherable state. The Bristol Balloon Collectors have now displayed the globe at events across the country including the Midlands Air Festival, Bristol International Balloon Fiesta and Longleat’s Icons of the Sky (did you see us at the Night Glow on Friday last week?) It is somewhat fitting that the balloon built for the BBC is now safely in the custody of the other BBC. 
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 G-MAPS on one of its first flights Written by Tom Orpin Our favourite event of the year, the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta, is almost upon us, and as we all set our sat navs for Ashton Court, we thought it was an ideal opportunity to tell you a bit more about one of our Bristol shapes for this year, the iconic Ordnance Survey map. When it was established, the Ordnance Survey balloon programme wasn’t just a standard commercial balloon operation. It was the union of two industries that have been linked for over 200 years. It wasn’t just the fact that pre-digital mapping, every balloon flight in the UK most likely included use of an Ordnance Survey map in the basket and another in the retrieve vehicle. Going back further, Ordnance Survey was founded from the original Ministry of Defence’s “Board of Ordnance” in 1783, the same year as the Montgolfier Brothers first flight in a hot air balloon. Moreover, an early version of a hydrogen balloon was first used to review and sketch the landscape from above, to confirm the accuracy of recordings made on the ground, and to inform the first really accurate series of maps, triggered by Napoleon’s looming threat from across the channel. So, Ordnance Survey and ballooning have a past, and this made the launch of the balloons (a special shape map and a 31 cloudhopper) in 1998 a momentous event.  G-OSVY hitches a ride The special shape is an important piece of ballooning heritage in its own right, as it is the first shape (and one of a small number) to be built by Sky Balloons. Former Thunder & Cold designer Mark Broome, responsible for designing many complex shapes previously, was tasked with realising the complex shape, which would feature intricate details of two specific regions, Southampton, home to Ordnance Survey’s headquarters, and Wrexham, home of Sky Balloons. Featured within the map design are a number of easter eggs as well for the team at Virgin Airship & Balloon Company, who operated the Ordnance Survey contract. The balloon programme itself was an extensive one, featuring not only the special shape and the back-up cloudhopper (for when the forecast was not favourable for a giant map), but also a mobile Global Information Systems demonstration unit, to go out to local councils, public service agencies, developers and contractors and give them technical demonstrations.  The OS Flying Suits - 2 of which are in our Collection The special shape, helpfully registered as G-MAPS, was a very common sight across the UK ballooning circuit from 1998 to 2000. Once the contract came to a close, both the shape and the cloudhopper (G-OSVY) went into storage before being passed between collectors and then eventually arriving with us in 2025. Since we’ve had it, it’s appeared at the Midlands Air Festival and Longleat’s Icons of the Sky event, but 2026 will see our first tether of it at Bristol, where it was a regular fixture in the late 90s and even a partner sponsor in 2000. We are very excited to not only display Maps at the Fiesta but to also do so in two of the original flight suits from the commercial contract, fully branded with Ordnance Survey, which have also found their way to us. It is very exciting to be the guardians now of such a unique piece of special shape heritage.  Glowing at Longleat 2025 with the Bristol Balloon Collectors Written 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.
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.  Written 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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