Images from The Great British Mass Ascent 2008
© All images Flycam BMSS Ltd
The Great British Mass Ascent 2008
26th September - 28th September
Sackville Lodge is a huge airfield owned by Tim Wilkinson just to the north of Bedford. Two balloons hopped down the airfield on Friday evening after all the preparations had been made ready for the main event to begin on the Saturday morning. Saturday morning dawned to find low level mist across the airfield but this eventually cleared by around 1100 hours and eleven balloons got airborne whilst Mike Gunston assisted three PUTs with their tether flight part of their training. The event itself included microlight pilots who were invited to ‘swap’ a balloon flight for a microlight flight and several of the local farmers and landowners had also been invited to come along for a balloon flight. Old and rare balloons were inflated and the microlights buzzed around. The evening 'mass ascent' went off with very light winds and clear weather. A few balloons stayed on to get a morning flight the next day again in perfect flying conditions.
Robert Cross and Tim Wilkinson had organised bacon butties, a hog roast, a lamb roast, jacket potatoes, tea & coffee all day, and a beer tent with loads of real ale. This was a truly back to basics balloon meet with everything as near as perfect as you can get. Good food and drink, a friendly welcome from everyone, lots of friends to catch up with, perfect ballooning weather, and friendly farmers.
James Hunter, a farmer from nearby Tilbrook came along and after his balloon
flight commented:
"I was surprised and delighted to have a chance of a flight, trainee Darwin and
instructor Brian looked after me well, I enjoyed helping to get ready and soon
up and away, I MUST SAY THEY WERE VERY RESPECTFUL OF LIVESTOCK AND HAZARDS AND
THE COUNTRYSIDE .
We landed at Stonely Grange. It was a great day and really enjoyable. THANK YOU.
Please pass on my appreciation to them”.
For a full list of the images from this Event contact Flycam-Bmss.