The flight of the Small World

By the 1950s the glamour of ballooning (very popular around the turn of the century) had waned, and Britain had reached a point where there were no current licence holders, and therefore no one who could legally train newcomers to obtain a licence.

It was at this point the author (Arnold Eiloart - known without explanation as ‘Bushy'), with the encouragement of a few drinks proposed to some like-minded friends that it would be possible to cross the Atlantic from the Canary Islands to the West Indies, by balloon, and rather than a car or basket (balloonists will tell you is may not be referred to as a gondola), why not a lightweight boat which would allow them to complete the journey should the balloon need to land. So they laughed, they speculated, the thought is a good way to spend some spare time planning and preparing, and so they agreed to look into it. Colin and Rosemary, and later Bushy's son Tim make up the team. Colin is a boat designer, Tim a student of mechanical engineering.

This became a two year investment of not only spare time, but practically all their time.

To be blunt - the venture didn't succeed fully - they broke some records, but ultimately they completed the journey in the very small boat, rather than their ambition of by balloon the whole way. This is stated in the Foreword, before the end of page 1.

I am no balloon expert, but I understand that modern “hot air” balloons use just that - air heated by propane burners. Back in 1958/59, the balloon was filled with Hydrogen - so it was a strictly non-smoking flight!

The co-author (who it seems was the primary author, with the information provided by Bushy and the others) used the first 2/3 of the book to catalogue the teams preparation and planning, their testing and obtaining of materials and equipment, licences, permissions, and most importantly sponsorships. These things allowed them to 1 - manufacture the balloon; and 2 - design, prototype and then build the boat (yes, it dangles from the balloon, and when required sails them to safety!).

Beside the hydrogen, the trade winds provide the energy and drive (and direction) from their departure point in the Canary Islands to Barbados - or it would if they had made it that far. The ambitious journey relied on the team being able to manage the superheating of the hydrogen (lifting them ever upward) by taking on ballast (water in this case), and some venting of the hydrogen - and conversely when the hydrogen is vented, escapes, or cools, they must throw off ballast to prevent the balloon ended up in the ocean! In this case ballast was initially sandbags, and the water they took on, but also ended up being anything they considered non-essential - which became their receiver, their transmitter (!), the propellers and mounts (these were pedal mounted and were to provide lift, but were very labour intensive!), their navigation books (!), their luxury food, their reserve food, their reserve water etc etc!

He then outlines the story of the voyage from his perspective - ie the balloon sets off, one brief contact is made, then nothing more is heard - vague (inaccurate) reports are heard of various contacts, then a hoax about them landing in Venezuela - and then of course, the painful waiting for news.

The last third of the book tells the story of the voyage from departure to arrival in Barbados - by Bushy, Tim (his son), Colin and Rosemary. It is here the highs and lows are really shared - although to be fair the first part is interesting for the pioneering of materials and design.

So in summary, the previous record of time in flight of a gas balloon was 87 hours. This team managed 94.5 hours before they became a boat, thereby setting a new record.

This was an enjoyable read, and would appeal across various interests. Their pioneering in design and ability to problem solve, the tradition of British manufacturing and some stubborn need to succeed, the romantic ideal of balloon flight (not very, you would soon see), attempts at records, the need to beat the Spanish and Americans (both rumoured to be planning similar ventures), and good old fashioned adventure.

4 stars