Youth Camp of the Balloon Club of Stuttgart

Once every year, around Whitsun, a small group of balloon enthusiasts from the south of Germany gathers on a little meadow near Augsburg, to hold the famous Youth Camp of the Balloon Club of Stuttgart, which can be seen with no doubt as the roots to generations of balloonists.

This was no different in 2008.

The weather was quite nice, and so we could do the first flight on Thursday Afternoon already, launching two hot air balloons directly from the camp. The kids really had great fun with the balloons!

A youth camp, of course, does not only consist of ballooning. Whether ball games...

... or music, the ground activities were just as entertaining as the flights.

The close beholder might recognize our Basti in this picture, who participated in the camp for his first time that year. Apart from his fascination for ballooning, he brought along another talent which was highly welcome in the camp: He is learning to play the guitar :-)

On Saturday morning, we could take off with a gas balloon from Gersthofen.

Sunrise over the chemical plants of Gersthofen - they supported us with the hydrogen to fill the balloon.

Bastian was lucky enough to be among the passengers - his first flight with a gas ballon so far.

Touch down - in a corn field? Of course not, behind it there was a path, which pilot Volker had aimed at precisely ;-)

To save the sealing of the gas balloons paracute from damage, it is covered by a protecting hose after landing... quite a fiddly thing!

The kiddies are tired - let's go back to the camp!

There, Bastian and Matthias found the time to go through the questions of the theoretical hot air balloon exam - their own exam was scheduled just after that weekend!

A youth camp without model balloons? Impossible... Götz (also known as "the older man") got the flag ship of the Stuttgarters ready...

... while Matthias and Basti (definitely NOT known as "the two strange guys") tried a "fly in" to the campfire with the two Penguins.

But the wind was not quite on our side, so we didn't really make it...

Finally, everyone yet gathered round the campfire to celebrate the traditional camp chart show.

"Country roads, take me home..." We played and sung until long after midnight.

After putting down the camp on Sunday, we were nearly unseperable!

Same procedure as every year: The group photo traditionally is the last act of the camp.

And probably, next year around the same time, we'll all meet again on the same meadow ;-)

Thanks to all supporters and participants!

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