hi john,
dusting down the archives, i came across the attached, the regn. was 'double whisky'! pilot was kevin stass, (route planning dept), co-pilot andy watts (then ops controller) and passenger my wife, inge. july 1984, they had just got airborne when i took this shot. unfortunately i had no more film because, following by car, i saw the balloon getting close to the gatwick zone and kevin decided to put it down. the field was about 20 acres
split 12/8 barley/grass, divided by an electricity cable. kevin planned to land on the gentle upslope of the grass side but, at the last minute, the wind gusted and he elected to clear the cable and land in the barley. it was a blazing hot day and a combine had just started harvesting the barley. as the balloon basket tipped on impact, kevin turned off the pilot light but he was a fraction too slow and the barley caught fire. from a hillside half a mile away, i watched inge hurdling barley 50 yards ahead of kevin and andy; the gas bottles exploded spectacularly shortly afterwards. 3 acres of barley burned, the policeman who took evidence said my wife should have been old enough to know better and the chairman declined to replace the balloon; bad publicity! but in its time WW did a good job for dan air, visiting inverness, other uk sites and, memorably, in the days of the wall, berlin, where it was flown tethered, just in case...
good old days!
best of luck; great web site!
dick

HS 748 G-BIUV 26/4/84 Loading a mini-submarine at Gibraltar, for shipment for an oil company Gibraltar.I was captain f/o was Hedderley. 'UV' was a one-off 748- Dan designed and fitted a rear freight door as an extension to the main pax entry door, very successful it was too. I wonder what happened to UV. Somebody must know ?

.