1 april 1971 headquarters bristol england key people don cameron website cameron balloons ltd. a cameron z105 balloon near bristol the balloon the skywhale which was designed by the sculptor patricia piccinini and manufactured by cameron balloons during 2012 and 2013 the cameron s factory with two balloons manufactured by cameron balloons cameron balloons is a company established in 1971 in bristol england by don cameron to manufacture hot air balloons . 1 cameron had previously with others constructed ten hot air balloons under the name omega . 2 production was in the basement of his house moving in 1972 to an old church in the city . in 1983 cameron balloons moved into its current premises in the former robinsons paper bag printing factory built in 1887 in the bedminster area of the city . 3 in 1989 the company received the queen s award for export . output has grown to around 500 balloons per year . as of december 2007 update cameron balloons accounted for 1 073 of the 1 553 hot air balloons registered with the united kingdom civil aviation authority . 4 cameron balloons is also famous for its special shapes the first being robertson s golly constructed in 1975 . most special shapes are made for commercial advertising but some have been bought privately . notable amongst these private buyers is the late malcolm forbes of forbes magazine who commissioned a number of special shapes including harley davidson motorbike sphinx bust of beethoven french chateau pagoda and minaret . 5 6 the bedminster factory occupies three floors . most factory space first and second floors is devoted to laying out the hundreds of yards of fabric which is sewn together by machinists . if the detail on the balloon is intricate to save cost and weight the designs may be sprayed or painted on instead . the company also makes airships helium balloons and static inflatables . it has been involved in record breaking balloon flight attempts including trans atlantic altitude and distance records . contents 1 expansion via acquisitions 2 references 3 external links 4 see also expansion via acquisitions edit during the 1990s cameron strengthened its position via a string of acquisitions . first cameron acquired its main british competitor thunder & colt balloons . 7 then it bought the smaller sky balloons which had been formed by former thunder & colt employees after the company s sale . 8 finally cameron acquired two thirds ownership of lindstrand balloons which had been formed by per lindstrand after he left thunder & colt in the early 1990s . 9 cameron bought the majority stake in lindstrand balloons from rory mccarthy a british industrialist associated with richard branson who had invested in the company to support branson s series of record setting balloon flights . cameron has integrated the thunder & colt product range notably the as series hot air airships into its own catalogue while sky s products have been discontinued . lindstrand balloons continues to operate as an independent company with separate management and its own designs and products . references edit work life hannah cameron hot air balloon pilot . stylist . retrieved 16 november 2015 . omegas western & cameron . ballooning history . retrieved 16 november 2015 . the history of cameron balloons ltd. bristol . balloning history . retrieved 16 november 2015 . g info database search . united kingdom civil aviation authority . retrieved 31 december 2008 . bristol lift off for billionaire s flying chateau . bristol post . 26 september 2009 . retrieved 16 november 2015 . we made it cameron balloons . bruichladdich . retrieved 16 november 2015 . thunder & colt . airship and blimp resources . retrieved 16 november 2015 . manuals and tcdss . easy balloons . retrieved 16 november 2015 . 19 jobs go as oswestry hot air balloon factory closes . shropshire star . 15 april 2015 . retrieved 16 november 2015 . external links edit cameron balloons ltd. uk company cameron balloons us independently owned us affiliate licensee see also edit rozi re balloon retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title cameron balloons & oldid 704477591 categories balloon manufacturersballooningaircraft manufacturers of the united kingdomcompanies based in bristolhidden categories use british english from august 2011use dmy dates from august 2011articles containing potentially dated statements from december 2007all articles containing potentially dated statements navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages edit links this page was last modified on 11 february 2016 at 20 57 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view