Biggest excitement on campus last month was the birthday balloon flight taken by Ted Daddow and Bob Rabb on Saturday, August 7. Our neighbors in Chapel Hill heard about it too. Valarie Schwartz told the whole story in a feature article in The Chapel Hill News on Sunday, August 15th. A pair of balloonists aged eighty-five and ninety - do you think that should be reported in the Guinness Book of Records?

   It all started when Ted Daddow planned to do something special for his 90th birthday. He wanted to fly in a balloon. Flying was not something new to Ted. His first airplane flight - before we had commercial flying in the United States - was from Paris to London in 1925, when he was 11 years old. He was deadly sick all the way, he remembers. Later in 1929 he had the experience of enjoying a sightseeing flight over New York City in a Fokker amphibian plane piloted by the famous Charles Lindbergh, then a test pilot in New Jersey. He has pictures to show this really happened!

   How do you arrange for a flight in a balloon? Go to the Yellow Pages, as Ted did. The first service he contacted refused to take him up. Ted had a broken hip and uses a walker. He had better luck with his second contact. This was with Karen Gould, owner and pilot of Wild Flower Adventures in Fuquay-Varina. Karen is an experienced balloonist who has handled over 800 trips in fifteen years. She agreed to take him up and the trip was set for Saturday, August 7, weather permitting.

   His fellow balloonist was Bob Rabb, who was celebrating his eighty-fifth birthday. Bob is also an interested ex-flier and Air Force veteran of World War Two.

   They had a beautiful fall-like evening for their trip, perfect for sailing through the clouds and enjoying a beautiful sunset, as Bob recalls. Bob drove to Fuquay-Varina along with Ted and his friend Evelyn Taylor. They wanted 79-year old Evelyn, better known as Tick, to join the flight but she begged off. The Carolina Meadows threesome was joined in Fuquay-Varina by Misty Pidgeon, Ted's SunDance physical therapist from Carolina Meadows Health Center.

   To prepare for the flight Misty had worked for many weeks with Ted with a simulated balloon basket to see if he could get in and out of it easily. She had also checked to make sure that he could tolerate a full hour in the standing position he would have to take during the flight.

   In Fuquay-Varina the party was greeted by Karen Gould and her big chase van, which had the balloon packed on it. They all piled into the van and drove some ten miles east on IS 40 until they found a suitable take-off farmer's field. Here the hot-air balloon was prepared and blown up for its flight. Karen, the pilot, Ted and Bob, as well as cylinders of propane were loaded into the basket and the balloon headed skyward about 6 p.m. in the evening.

   They reached an altitude of 3000 feet as the balloon was carried by the wind upwards and then downwards in an arc following the line of IS 40 traveling south for almost an hour. On the highway the chase crew followed in a van and kept in touch by radio.

   Both Ted and Bob commented on how quiet it felt up there in the balloon with no sensation of flying - just a great panoramic view of the ground below. The only sound was the occasional popping of the propane torch when the balloon needed an upward boost. At one time, Ted recalls, they were flying just above the treetops and could almost pick the leaves off the branches.

   They saw only two other manmade objects during their hour-long flight, Bob recalls. One was another balloonist also enjoying the summer air. Another was a parachutist who was so far away that they could not see the plane from which he had dropped or where he planned to land.

   About seven o'clock the pilot skillfully landed the balloon at McGee's Landing before an admiring crowd of local residents lined along the roadside. After landing, the pilot invited fifteen local children to come and sit in the balloon basket, which they thoroughly enjoyed. The balloon was deflated and loaded into the van, in which everybody returned to Fuqua-Varina. Bob picked up his car and made it home with Ted to Carolina Meadows before darkness fell. An interesting evening and one they will both long remember. What a way to celebrate two birthdays!

   In her article about the birthday flight, Valarie Schwartz reported that the two men planned their next adventure on the way home. "I told Ted," Bob said, "for our next adventure I think we should consider a bungee-cord jump". What was Ted's answer? "Bob, I'll go with you in another ten years - if you'll make all the arrangements."

   Contact:
   Michelle Westrom
   Marketing Director
   (919) 370 - 7160