Lindstrand Balloons

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Per Lindstrand (right) with Richard Branson in Miyakonojo, Japan, prior to their record breaking flight across the Pacific Ocean in the largest hot air balloon ever built and longest distance flight by a hot air balloon

Lindstrand Balloons is a manufacturer of hot air balloons and other lighter than air craft. The company was started by Swedish-born pilot and aeronautical designer Per Lindstrand in Oswestry, England, as Colt Balloons (later Thunder & Colt Balloons, then Lindstrand Balloons) in 1978. Lindstrand Balloons is known for its leading-edge engineering, which includes sophisticated testing and production facilities.

Of note, Lindstrand Balloons designed and built all of the hot air balloons flown by Per Lindstrand and Richard Branson on their record breaking flights first across the Atlantic Ocean in 1987 and then the Pacific Ocean in 1990. Lindstrand's then designed and built three Rozière balloons that Per Lindstrand and Branson (and others, including aeronautical engineer Alex Ritchie, and adventurer, Steve Fossett) 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.

[edit] Ownership Structure

In the late-1990s, Cameron Balloons 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 is owned by its founder Per Lindstrand.

Despite Cameron's ownership, Lindstrand Balloons continues to operate as an independent company with separate management and its own distinct designs and products. Per Lindstrand also independently operates a separate company, Lindstrand Technologies, which designs and builds gas balloons, innovative buildings, specialized aerospace equipment (including an advanced parachute for the Beagle 2 Mars-lander) and cutting edge inflatable structures including aircraft hangars, plugs for fire-containment for road tunnels and flood prevention systems.