Above: Bill Murtorff, Willie Piccard, Oscar Kratz on the ground, Karl Stefan in the air. year 1971 for service to ballooning. With Tracy Barnes 25th Anniversary Reunion and Dodds Meddock, this aeronautical engineer helped On September 28, 1996, at Coronado Center, there co-found The Balloon Works, a highly successful balloon was a special reunion of The Original Thirteen. Willie manufacturing company in Statesville, North Carolina. Piccard was unable to attend, and Oscar Kratz was Karl did not recall serving as the Safety Officer in 1972, represented by his widow Patti. but he distinctly remembered trailing a very long banner. Tom Dunn, KOB Radio producer, director and morning Of his rapid ascent in his skirtless AX-6, Star of Texas, show host, once said of the first Balloon Fiesta, “When N1930R, to deploy his banner, he said, “I kept climbing disc jockeys put on a show you can expect a windbag and so turned the burner off, but I could still hear its roar. promotion.” And what a promotion it was – not just for I then looked over the side and realized the roar was from KOB but for ballooning in Albuquerque. The story of this the crowd below.” Karl’s flight ended with a ripout landing inaugural ballooning event was carried by that evening’s punctuated by two hard bounces. Albuquerque Tribune as front-page news, and that was For well over a decade, he served as the U.S. delegate just the beginning as planning commenced for the 1973 to the FAI Ballooning Commission and had the pleasure World Hot Air Balloon Championships. As the forerunner of announcing Montgolfier awards to many other of the annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, American balloonists. He also served as FAI Ballooning that first “windbag promotion” has become known as Commission President from 1984 to 1994. Sid Cutter the first Balloon Fiesta and those balloon pilot pioneers succeeded Karl as the U.S. Delegate. For many years, have landed themselves in ballooning history books as Karl and his wife Lucy lived in Fort Collins, Colorado. Lucy “The Original Thirteen.” passed away in 2015 at age 92; Karl followed in 2018 at All images by Dick Brown from the eastern side of the age 102. launch field, using a single-lens reflex camera loaded with Kodachrome-25 slide film. ® 60 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta