PHO T O: BILL W AL T ON FL YNT Gene and Denny had only one balloon between them. Both made it through the qualifying rounds, but a toss of the coin put Denny in the basket instead of Gene. After flying balloons with Denny, Gene adopted the name “Captain Phair Weather.” He claimed that the excellent flying conditions at the 1972 Fiesta were not the work of George Fischbeck, with his high-altitude millibar charts, but it was he who ordered the day’s good weather. Gene recalls lifting off with Tom Oerman as his passenger. Tom’s balloon never made it to Albuquerque because of a Chicago snowstorm. Gene’s flight connections through Chicago were also cancelled but he drove to Detroit and caught a direct flight to Albuquerque. Regarding the 1972 race, Gene said “My balloon was a Raven with red and white stripes, blue equator and yellow top. We landed somewhere in the boonies. The next day, several of us flew from the West Above: Surprisingly, there were only two mounted patrol- Mesa and drifted over the Rio Grande.” men for this crowd of 20,000. Gene placed sixth in the qualifying rounds for the 1973 World Championships, being edged out by Denny record altitude flight in a “poly-cluster” balloon. In 1963, Floden, Tom Oerman, and Bill Cutter. He returned to he and Ed Yost became the first men to pilot a hot air Albuquerque several times, flying in the Fiesta, visiting balloon across the English Channel from Great Britain to the Balloon Museum, and revisiting the 1972 Coronado France. Don is credited with many of the innovations we launch site where Macy’s is today. While he is no longer see today in modern hot air sport balloons. active, his two sons are avid balloonists. Although Don spent much of his life in Minneapolis, Minnesota, he also spent decades in Newport Beach, California where in 1964 he started a balloon manufacturing company. At the time of Albuquerque’s first Fiesta, he claimed Newport Beach as home. He remembered most of northeast Albuquerque was empty lots. Indeed, there was little development north of Montgomery where most of the Coyote balloons landed. Don was one of the last to launch but he flew Spirit of 76, N76US, an AX-8 Piccard, to a first-place finish, landing only 184 feet from the deflated Roadrunner balloon that Sid had left spread out as a giant target. Don had a ripout landing with a long drag across the East Mesa as Albuquerqueans rushed to grab his basket and as a helicopter hovered a few hundred yards away. That balloon was made for Burns, Burke and Morton of Gardena, California, with George Morton getting his first ride as the nation was getting psyched up for the American Bicentennial. “It had two giant burners and two rip panels,” recalled Don. “It was ideal for that flight. Dr. George, the met guy, was perfect, and I paid attention to him.” Don was referring to Dr. George Fischbeck, the popular Albuquerque weatherman on KOB-TV from the early 1960s. Don returned to Minneapolis in the 1980s and died in 2020 at the age of 94. Gene Dennis – Grand Blanc, Michigan. When Gene got into ballooning, he owned his own electrical contracting business that was geared to support the automotive industry in Michigan. His balloon instructor was Denny Floden, who also trained Bruce Comstock, just before Denny won the 1971 Nationals. Above: Matt Wiederkehr and Don Kersten rise in search of Roadrunner. OFFICIAL PROGRAM 57