Design and manufacture of hot air balloons, and centre of a world-wide business. For full description of products and recent news click on http://www.cameronballoons.co.uk
Don Cameron gained a BSc in aeronautical engineering and an MSc in industrial engineering before working at British Aircraft Corporation and at Rio Tinto Zinc. NASA had experimented with hot air balloons using the latest materials from the 1950s, and inspired by a demonstration he had seen, Don and some friends set to work to do it cheaper, as engineers are supposed to. Having built several balloons on individual commissions, in 1968 he took the plunge, left RTZ and set up a workshop in Cotham, Bristol, making 5 balloons in thr first year.
Cameron Balloons' achievements range from "first round the world" to supplying Sir Richard Branson with a "Concorde" for a manpowered flight competition off Brighton Pier. Oops!
Today the business is run from the Victorian Robinson factory in Bedminster, with the associated Thunder & Colt trademark just across the road. Factories have been opened in the USA and Australia, and there is a joint venture in Moscow. The best-known flying ground for balloons in Bristol is in Ashton Court Park, where the annual Balloon Fiesta takes place in the summer, once the main wheat and barley harvest has been gathered, so that there are plenty of suitable landing fields around the city.