It is great news that the Canowindra Hot Air Balloon Challenge has
been scheduled for April next year. The big questions is will the Kookaburra
fly again?
Local balloonist, Richard Swansborough and ‘Kookaburra’ pilot
Martin Moroney have offered to put $10,000 of their own money into
restoring the ‘Kookaburra’ balloon.
The balloon has been stored for a few years, since it was last
inspected by an expert from Camerons Balloons from the UK, when
it was quoted as costing approximately £35,000 to make it ready for
flight again.
Both Richard and Martin initiated the “Save Our Kookaburra” posters
and petitions that you may have seen around town and their petition
collected 257 signatures, so there is a lot of local support to get
it back into the air.
Their offer of $10,000 is now being assessed by a committee that
was recruited at a meeting on 2nd December at the Services Club.
The two other proposals discussed were either scrapping the balloon
and selling the bits of equipment that are worth anything to make a
memorial to Frank Hackett-Jones, or handing the balloon over to the
Historical Society to make an exhibit for their “History of Ballooning”
project.
This week, Paul Gibbs, from the Australian Ballooning Federation is
in Canowindra and will be inspecting the Kookaburra with Kel Lewis
who is one of the custodians of the Kookaburra. Whilst it is great to
have an offer to get this back in the air, it would still need to be decided
who would retain ownership and be responsible for it’s ongoing
upkeep. Let us know what you would like to see happen with the
Kookaburra.