| 1st Icicle |
6/7 January 1973 |
- John Noakes of Blue Peter filmed in Beatrice
- Flight of first Thunder built balloon - G-BAIR
- Flight of world's first hot air airship - G-BAMK
- London Pride II rescued by tree fellers...
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| 2nd Icicle |
5/6 January 1974 |
- 16 balloons flew despite strong winds
- G-AZRN hit by curlover and contacted tree and power lines
- Dream Machine collided with tree
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| 3rd Icicle |
4/5 January 1975 |
- Launch site at Savernake Forest used
- First display of hang glider drop from balloon in the UK at 12700 ft
- 38 different balloons flew
- Low cloud and strengthening SW wind prevents Sunday flying
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| 4th Icicle |
3/4 January 1976 |
- Gale force winds threatened to wreck the Meet
- 29 balloons flew from Savernake Forest
- Maiden flight of Thunder Outspan G-BDOR
- First (then unregistered) Cameron Viva (later G-BDNV)
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| 5th Icicle |
8/9 January 1977 |
- 84 flights by 60 balloons on Saturday - a calm day with clear skies
- First flights of Pink Panther, Windfall, J&B Junior and Le Billett
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| 6th Icicle |
7/8 January 1978 |
- Largest hot air balloon meet ever outside the US
- 85 balloons made 179 flights in almost perfect weather
- First Special Shape at Icicle - Champion Spark Plug
- First Colt balloon to appear at Icicle - Sunrise EI-BDJ
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| 7th Icicle |
6/7 January 1979 |
- Blue sky and 3" of compact snow with a light WSW wind on Saturday
- 66 balloons made 101 flights on Saturday
- Warm front brought strong winds and rain on Sunday preventing further flying
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| 8th Icicle |
5/6 January 1980 |
- 71 balloons made 94 free flights
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| 9th Icicle |
2/4 January 1981 |
- No flights on Saturday following met of surface winds 15 gusting 30 knots, with 55 knots at 6000'
- Sunday briefing was brought forward to 0700 on the promise of early flyable weather
- David Smith in Smirk was airborned at 0727 followed by 36 other balloons
- Ron Griffin in Motorway balloon G-BFOZ got as far as Midhurst, Sussex, in 1h35m
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| 10th Icicle |
1/3 January 1982 |
- Meet held over 2½ days allowed 13 ballons to fly free on Friday
- However winds of 15 knots plus on Saturday and more on Sunday prevented further flights
- Entrants from 9 overseas countries - the highest ever
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| 11th Icicle |
8/9 January 1983 |
- A frost on Saturday morning helped cover the wet ground
- A total of 72 balloons flew free
- Sunday was wet and windy with no flights
- Favourable coverage by TV and three of the Sunday papers
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| 12th Icicle |
7/8 January 1984 |
- Gusty surface wind meant only 5 free flights on Saturday and 6 on Sunday
- Tethered displays by 7 balloons on Staurday and 10 on Sunday, including the overseas registered OY-BOV and N905CB
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| 13th Icicle |
5/6 January 1985 |
- 68 balloons made 86 free flights during the weekend
- 3 commercial balloons did short hops on Sunday in a biting wind, low cloud base and snow showers
- Sir Winston Churchill G-BDNZ slid into trees on south side of the field - nobody hurt
- Graham Elson made a breif flight in a Green Ice Cloudhopper (minus its registration G-BHOJ)
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| 14th Icicle |
4/5 January 1986 |
- Temperature of -6C at Saturday briefing and muddy launch site
- 81 balloons and B&Q Airship made 97 flights before rain at lunch
- Gusty northerly on Sunday allowed only 5 balloons to get airborne
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| 15th Icicle |
3/4 January 1987 |
- 117 balloons plus the B&Q Airship flew on Saturday making 186 free flights
- Sunday brought 15 knot wind with rain...
- Pete Bish retires as principal organiser after 13 years
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| 16th Icicle |
2/3 January 1988 |
- Very strong winds prevented any free flying
- However on Sunday G-AZUV Icarus was brought out of the museum store and briefly inflated
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| 17th Icicle |
7/8 January 1989 |
- 143 balloons registered and flew in good weather on Saturday morning
- Overseas pilots from Australia, USA, Belgium, Canada, Hong Kong and Eire
- Low cloud base on Sunday morning resulted in flying being cancelled at briefing, but 3 balloons flew
- Ron Griffin makes longest flight at just over 100km to Shoreham in Sussex
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| 18th Icicle |
6/7 January 1990 |
- Many tethers on a wet msierable Saturday morning, but Chris Dunkley managed a free flight in G-LUGG
- First balloon airborne on Sunday was G-OSST Concorde, piloted by Tony Brown, Concode Flight Engineer
- Air-to-ground photograph showing almost 50 balloons published in Monday's The Times
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| 19th Icicle |
5/6 January 1991 |
- Gale force winds battered England throughout the weekend
- Tether display by B&Q G-BMST
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| 20th Icicle |
4/5 January 1992 |
- 126 flights made in 104 balloons on Saturday
- Unstable gusty weather on Sunday
- Colin Butter has short flight and long drag landing to Newbury Show Ground - possibly the last from Marsh Benham
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| 21st Icicle |
2/3 January 1993 |
- 97 balloons flew!
- The first year at Warren Farm, Savernake Forest
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| 22nd Icicle |
8/9 January 1994 |
- 115 free flights. Computerised registration introduced
- Airship crashed into tree in flying field - crew rescued by fire brigade - incident became a "999" feature on TV
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| 23rd Icicle |
7/8 January 1995 |
- 131 balloons flew. First year that the Social Event and Exhibition held at Hilton Swindon
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| 24th Icicle |
6/7 January 1996 |
- Only 2 balloons doing 2 flights... a blow-out!
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| 25th Icicle |
4/5 January 1997 |
- 80 balloons attended but none flew!
- Dinner at Hilton on Saturday evening. Tethers on Sunday morning: G-SAMI, G-BICU, G-FLOA, G-TING
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| 26th Icicle |
3/4 January 1998 |
- 43 balloons attended. Gales all weekend
- After dinner slide show on Saturday "BA Round The World" presented by Pete Bish.
- During the weekend, Steve Fossett flew over England on his Round The World attempt
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| 27th Icicle |
9/10 January 1999 |
- 57 balloons attended. 29 flew in 35 flights. Only 1 flight on Saturday
- After dinner speaker was Alan Noble on "Round-The-World Flying"
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| 28th Icicle |
8/9 January 2000 |
- 93 balloons attended. 81 flew in 94 flights
- Only 10 flights on Saturday in spite of good weather, 84 on Sunday
- After dinner on Saturday, Phil Dunnington talked about his flight over the North West Passage
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| 29th Icicle |
6/7 January 2001 |
- 52 attended. 39 flew in 46 flights. 7 flights on Saturday and 39 on Sunday
- After dinner speaker was Brian Smith who entertained with tales of his involvement in the Breitling Round The World Flight
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| 30th Icicle |
5/6 January 2002 |
- 40 balloons attended
- 6 flew - one went 34kms into Oxfordshire to win the distance prize. Sell out dinner with David Hempleman-Adams as guest speaker
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| 31st Icicle |
4/5 January 2003 |
- At the 0800 Saturday briefing the wind was blowing and the launch area was muddy. By 0900 it was snowing hard.
- David Smith did fly three times later in the day, but not from the farm and at one stage achieved 29 knots at 1000ft.
- Both the dinner and guest speaker Anthony Smith were excellent.
- The Sunday morning brought a very hard frost and no wind! A total of 39 balloons free flew, with Vic Trimble getting the furthest flight, landing at Trowbridge, a distance of 35.5kms. To add to the morning's activities a couple of Special Shapes tethered and at least two one man balloons flew.
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| 32nd Icicle |
3/4 January 2004 |
- On Saturday 60 balloons flew in a light southerly wind with the occasional snow shower.
- Tim Orchard entertained us after the dinner with 'A day at the office' - he was a Concorde Captain!
- On Sunday 44 balloons flew in slightly warmer conditions.
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| 33rd Icicle |
8/9 January 2005 |
- In spite of bad weather forecast, 17 balloons registered in advance.
- However on Sunday one brave soul - Trevor Read - free flew.
- Our after dinner speakers were Jim & Mike Howard.
- We also had a visiting team from Slovenia - Avi & Masa Sorn.
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| 34th Icicle |
7/8 January 2006 |
- In spite of cold, windy & snowy conditions, 50 balloons flew on the Saturday morning.
- Our guest speaker was Alan Noble who was Control Centre Chief overseeing the altitude record by Dr Vijaypat Singhania who achieved a record of 69,852 feet.
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| 35th Icicle |
6/7 January 2007 |
- Despite a rainy weekend, five flew out of the field on Saturday and two balloons hopped round the site.
- At the dinner on the Saturday evening, Mark Pacan did the draw for the '2000 Balloons' painting which was won by Icicle stalwart Vic Trimble - a popular winner.
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| 36th Icicle |
5/6 January 2008 |
- A welcome return to the Elcot Park Hotel for the social side of the meet. We were last there in 1984.
- Robin Batchelor entertained a sell out dinner of 115 people on the Saturday evening.
- No flying on the Saturday due to rain & high winds but an overnight frost enabled 32 balloons to fly on Sunday morning.
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| 37th Icicle |
3/4 January 2009 |
- A year worthy of the name with hard frosts and blue skies both days.
- 70 balloons flew on the Saturday - some more than once and 42 on the Sunday.
- The Saturday evening dinner was a sellout with guest speaker Al Carter giving a 'tongue in cheek' look at ATC Heathrow.
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