Lindstrand Balloons was a manufacturer of hot air balloons and other aerostats. The company was started by

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

-born pilot and aeronautical designer Per Lindstrand in Oswestry, England, as Colt Balloons (later Thunder & Colt Balloons, then Lindstrand Balloons) in 1978. Lindstrand Balloons was known for its leading-edge engineering, which included sophisticated testing and production facilities. Lindstrand Balloons designed and built the hot air balloons flown by Per Lindstrand and Richard Branson on their record breaking flights; first across the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

Ocean in 1987 and then the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

Ocean in 1990. Subsequently Lindstrand designed and built three

Rozière balloon A Rozière balloon (or simply Rozière) is a type of hybrid balloon that has separate chambers for a non-heated lifting gas (such as hydrogen or helium) as well as for a heated lifting gas (as used in a hot air balloon or Montgolfière). The design ...

s which Per Lindstrand and Branson and others used in their unsuccessful attempts to circumnavigate the Earth by balloon. Per Lindstrand played an instrumental role in making these flights possible, and was pilot for all of them.

Ownership structure

In the late-1990s, Cameron Holdings and its owner Don Cameron acquired two-thirds ownership of Lindstrand Balloons. Cameron bought the majority stake in Lindstrand Balloons from Rory McCarthy, a British industrialist associated with Richard Branson, who had invested in Lindstrand to support Branson's series of record-setting balloon flights. The remaining third of the company was owned by its founder Per Lindstrand, until 2003 when Per sold his remaining share to Cameron Holdings. Despite Cameron's ownership, Lindstrand Balloons continued to operate as an independent company with separate management and its own distinct designs and products. Lindstrand Technologies Per Lindstrand independently operates a separate company, which designs and builds

gas balloon A gas balloon is a balloon that rises and floats in the air because it is filled with a gas lighter than air (such as helium or hydrogen). When not in flight, it is tethered to prevent it from flying away and is sealed at the bottom to prevent t ...

s, innovative buildings, specialized

aerospace Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astr ...

equipment (including an advanced parachute for the

Beagle 2 The ''Beagle 2'' is an inoperative British Mars lander that was transported by the European Space Agency's 2003 ''Mars Express'' mission. It was intended to conduct an astrobiology mission that would have looked for evidence of past life on Mar ...

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...

-lander) and cutting edge inflatable structures including aircraft hangars, plugs for fire-containment for road

tunnels A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A Pipeline transport, pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used ...

and

flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...

prevention systems. On 15 April 2015 it was reported that Lindstrand Balloons had closed, with 19 workers losing their jobs, citing the strength of the pound and terrorism threats in the Middle East as factors in the slow sales of balloons.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Lindstrand Hot Air Balloons Ltd. (UK company)

Lindstrand Technologies Ltd. (UK company)

Lindstrand Balloons US (independently owned US affiliate/licensee)

Ownership structure

References

External links

See also