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By Kirsty, September 14, 2010 4:00 pm

On the last bank holiday of this year Virgin Balloon Flights pilot Spencer Craze was in on the aviation action at the Wings and Wheels festival at Dunsfold Park, Surrey. As a hopeful new launch site for next ballooning season, Dunsfold was the perfect place for such an event with our eager team offering attractive discounts to festival goers.

Father-of-two and our Surrey pilot Spencer, said “Wings and Wheels was a fantastic weekend event, I got chance to talk to numerous local land owners and gained some new landing spots for my balloon when flying from Guildford in Surrey and Fernhurst in Sussex.

“The atmosphere was so upbeat and exciting; our balloon basket got a lot of attention from the 35,000 strong crowds that gathered over the two days. It was good to see that proceeds were for charities too, including Help for Heroes” he added.

Virgin Balloon Flights were not the only ones getting attention at the event, one of Spencer’s balloon crew, Rebecca, met ‘Red Bull Air Race World Champion’ Paul Bonhomme who claimed his title navigating challenging obstacle courses against the clock in his ‘Zivko Edge 540’ plane.

Breitling Wing Walking Team were also on hand to wow the crowds before stopping to pose for a picture with our pilot Spencer and his crew. The two girls (either side of Spencer) performed ‘aerosuperbatics’ whilst suitably named pilot ‘Dangerous Dave’ flew the team’s Boeing Stearman biplane.

Spencer concluded by saying “We had such a great time and after speaking with Dunstall Park Aerospace VIP David McAllister at the event, we hope to be there next year with other hot air balloons in tow! I would like to say a big thank you to my crew and my friends that helped to make the day such a success for Virgin Balloon Flights.”

Next year’s Wings and Wheels event will be held at Dunstold Park on the 28th &29th August 2011.

More information about flying with Spencer and Virgin Balloon Flights is available here.

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By Kirsty, August 24, 2010 11:52 am

This August bank holiday more than 20,000 people are expected to flock to the ‘Wings & Wheels’ festival at Dunsfold Park in Surrey. The two day event will showcase some of the finest civil and military aircraft displays in the UK, as well as motoring displays and some pretty speedy race cars. Virgin Balloon Flights will be there getting in on the action too!

Pilot Spencer Craze who flies for Virgin Balloon Flights in the south east said “Balloon rides in Surrey are fantastic as it has a tremendous amount of beautiful woodland to fly over, yet it’s really close to London, so you can sometimes have great views of the city. Being involved in Wings & Wheels will be great, I imagine the balloon will get a lot of attention.”

The father-of-two will be at the Surrey attraction offering discounted flights to festival goers and launching his big red Virgin balloon from the showground early morning and early evening on both Sunday 29^th and Monday 30^th.

As well as taking to the skies with Virgin, the exciting aviation and motoring show are proud to announce that the famous Red Arrows will be joining the ‘air teams’ in the four hour display on both days too. As if that wasn’t enough there will be family activities including a fairground, over 50 stalls, arts and crafts, food and drink and many demonstrations and trials.

What’s more, all proceeds from Wings & Wheels will go to Dunsfold Park’s nominated charities which include; Brooklands Museum Trust, Surrey & Sussex Air Ambulance, Cranleigh Village Hospital Trust and Help for Heroes.

Tickets are still available and cost £16 for adults, £5 for under 15s and £36 for a family. Hospitality packages start at £120 per person. For more information or to book a ticket visit www.wingsandwheels.net or call 01483 542226.