|
"Bob" |
|
"Atlanta" |
Tulip |
Glory Glory |
Motley |
| Robert "Professor Bob" Willbanks |
|
"Bob" |
|
"Atlanta" |
Tulip |
Glory Glory |
Motley |
| Bob is from Snellville, Georgia. He has born September 6, 1947 in Royston, Georgia and has lived in Lavonia, Athens, College Park, Bremen, Decatur, Stone Mountain and Chamblee, Georgia. He attended Franklin County High, Dekalb College and the University of Georgia. Bob's military service has been with the 116th Army National Guard Band in Avondale, Georgia. He is currently President and owner of Aeronautical Enterprises, Inc. in Snellville; a company which has been an FAA-certified repair station since 1980. |
| Bob has been in commercial ballooning since 1978. He has owned and flown Adams balloons, as well as Thunder & Colt, Raven, Colting, Piccard and Stokes. His nickname "Professor Bob" comes from the fact that his degree is in music and was a School Band Director for seven years. This and the fact that around the turn of the 19th century, aeronauts were referred to as "Professor". The nickname also naturally evolves from his vast knowledge of balloons and what keeps them airworthy. He is constantly sought for advice by the Adams Family pilots when they need first hand information. Typical of the help he has given Adams pilots was the training he gave to Bob Woodall and his crew on putting the pop-top back in after a flight. Bob was having difficulty pulling the red line and Professor Bob showed them the right way. Now Bob Woodall pulls the red-line with one hand. Bob got his private pilots license in 1975 and his commercial license in 1976. |
| How did Bob get "hooked"? He said he saw a balloon flying, called the owner, got one flight and as they say, the rest is history. The first balloon he owned was a home-built balloon. He was a part owner of a Stokes Super-pressure as a club balloon in the 1970s. His first flight was in 1975 with Ron Lively, a local Delta Airline pilot. Bob recalls some of those early flight memories. "Ron and I had some great misadventures in that old Stokes Super-pressure. With no pilot light system and a very unreliable electric igniter system, we many times ended up in the trees before getting the burner to light. It was not uncommon for us to fly with toilet tissue stuffed in our shirt pockets as an emergency burner relight flare." Ron is now retired from Delta and lives on a boat in the Bahamas. He recently traveled with Bob to Paris to help crew for the Gordon Bennett Helium Gas Race. |
| He now owns the New Tulip Balloon, which is a Head 105 rebuild over a Raven Classic Basket. The construction time was about six weeks from the time they ordered the fabric until they were on their "maiden voyage". The "Motley" balloon is a Head Ax7 over an Adams basket. The "Glory Glory" balloon is an Adams pop-top with only 60 hours on the envelope. |
| He has flown in the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, Freedom Weekend, Funfest, Rhormoos & Innsbruck Festival in Austria, Lorraine/Mets, France, "Mathis Balloon Camp", Selsine, Germany. |
| He provided contract weaving services to the Adams Balloon Company for over ten years. During that time he wove about 165 baskets. He also performed production test flight for max gross weight for the FAA on the Adams HotAirBus. He has totally rebuilt three Adams envelopes and has been modifying the Adams burner to add liquid glow valves. His repair station stands ready to provide any service on the Adams system in addition to standard inspections and repair services for all other balloons manufactured in the U.S. or Europe. Bob is presently learning to weave helium balloon nets as a beginning step to building his own helium netted balloon system. He is also doing the pre-conctruction design work for constructing a thermal airship (hot air blimp). He is currently a dealer for the Head hot air balloons. Bob is pleased to be able to continue to offer services to the family of Adams flyers who still carry on Mike Adam's tradition. |
| Bob believes in giving back to the community by providing free tethered rides for schools and gives free gift certificates for charity fundraisers and special events. He is on the list for the "Make a Wish" foundation to provide balloon rides for children with special needs and terminal illnesses. Bob has been a member of the Balloon Federation of America since 1977. He is co-founder of the Georgia Balloon Association and was it's President, Vice-President and on the Board of Directors several times. He was the Editor of the GBA newsletter for several years. He has performed Balloonmeister duties throughout the Southeast at Kingsport Funfest race for seven years, Greenville Freedom Weekend Aloft, Mike Adams Memorial Balloon Rally, Atlanta, Conyers International Horse park, Great southern Balloon Ascent, Great Chattahoochee Balloon Regatta, Atlanta. When asked about ballooning awards, Bob modestly proclaimed, "I have won several balloon races." |
| Bob performs regularly with an 18 member swing band called "Bob Martin's Swingin' Big Band". They appear at Warren Bruno's Phoenix Brew Company in Atlanta. Warren is a former balloon student of Bob and is an Adams balloon flyer. The band really enjoys playing music from the Dorsey Brothers, Duke Ellington, Doc Severenson, and tunes from the 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s. He says, "Many of our local ballooning buddies come out and dance to our upbeat musical style. |
| Bob's crew include: |
| Ron Hilburn, Crew Chief | Todd Peters | Pam Crowe |
| Debbie Ferrall | Rick Ferrall |
Bryan Ferrall |
| Leo Bosarge | Leo Bosarge, Jr. | Susie Bosarge |
| Rob Hoppe | Thelma Hoppe | Suzanne Hoppe |
| Jennifer Hoppe | � | � |
| Bob's personal data include: |
| Aeronautical Licenses: Private Balloon Pilot and Commercial Balloon Pilot (Required for paid rides.) |
| Day Job: Balloonist, President, Aeronautical Enterprises, Inc "Georgia's Oldest Balloon Company, dba Balloon Safaris International, "your lift ticket to Adventure". He also runs an FAA Certified Repair Station, HL4R236M, Lavonia Balloon Port, Lavonia, Ga 30553. |
| Hobbies: Hot Air Ballooning, Music, Computers...including authoring a company website which can be found at http://www.balloonsafari.com/index.html , Automobiles, Art, Antique Furniture and Balloon Related Items. |
| Motto to live by: Use only what you need. Replace what you use. Leave only your shadow. Love the one you are with. Make the world a better place than when you arrived. |
| Best Ballooning Experience: Building and flying his first balloon. Also flying in France, Austria and Germany. In recalling his great ballooning experiences, he paints this exciting verbal picture: "One of my most breathtaking experiences happened a couple of years ago in Austria when we crossed the Alps on a crystal clear winter day. The visibility must have been 100 miles! Ice fields and glaciers were clearly visible over several Alpine ridges." He adds, "Then there was the IFR flight through 300 meters of fog in Slovenia. Quite an exciting climb and descent since we had no instrument pack on board." |
| Worst Ballooning Experience: Powerline contact. 'nuff said! |
Professor Bob in France |
The Faces is actually the first balloon Bob ever owned. It is one he built in 1975 under the experimental amateur built category. |
| You may contact Bob with any ballooning question at: |
 e-mail address: gaballoon@alltel.net, or call 1-877-BALLOON |
He can also be reached on Cell 678.777.5438 or Atlanta phone 770.972.1741 |
Click on a pilot's picture to go to that page
Copyright� 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002. Except for educational entities, no reproduction without written permission of The Adams Family Hot Air Balloon Teams is allowed.
