BRITISH PEER

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 69, Issue 78, 12 January 1949, Page 4

BRITISH PEER

BALLOON ENTHUSIAST >

A Peer who would like more people to start asking “What time does the ballon go up?” is burly 50-year-old Lord Ventry who has just made a 15minute lighter-than-air ascent from the R.A.F.’s balloon station at Cardington, Bedfordshire.

The flight was made in a French balloon brought over for use in a new British film, “Trottie True.” Lord Ventry’s co-pilot was Mr Jerry Long, former coxswain of the RIOO,

Air Ministry regulations to safeguard against the possibility of collieion between the balloon and passing planes limited tlie flight to a radius of 20 miles.

Combined weight of the pilots ■ — “I’m sixteen stone and Jerry is about fourteen,” Lord Ventry said limited the height of the ascent lo just under 2000 feet. “But we could have gone much higher with a bigger balloon,” he said.

His interest in lighter-than-air craft dates from his schooldays. He became an R.A.F. balloon officer at tbe end of the 1914-18 war and believes he is the only man in the country who still holds a ballon pilot’s licence. To get a “balloon ticket,” Lord Ventry said, requires at least seven flights, including a solo and a night ascent. He want.fi to encourage a greater interest in ballooning as an air sport. Lord Ventry, the seventh baron, is a, bachelor, who lives in Bournemouth. This winter he and members of the club start work on an airship which will take them about two years to build.