Ordnance Survey - G-MAPS

G-MAPS on one of its first flights

Written by Tom Orpin
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​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.
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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. 
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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. 
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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.  ​​​​

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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. 
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It is very exciting to be the guardians now of such a unique piece of special shape heritage.

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Glowing at Longleat 2025 with the Bristol Balloon Collectors