by Tom Hamilton
Bill Murtorff became interested
in ballooning when he read an article in a Sunday newspaper supplement in
1970. One picture in the article showed a balloon in Connecticut going up
and down on a rope and charging $5 a person. "I had surf board stands
on the beach [in Corpus Christi, Texas] and I thought that I could take
that out on the beach and get rich. That was my whole idea.
"The article also mentioned a balloon club in California. The article did not mention anyone's name so I wrote a letter addressed Balloon Club, California. I wrote another letter and addressed it Balloon Company, Connecticut. A few months later I got a letter back from Bob Rechs and I got a letter back from Bob Waligunda.
"From there I was able to find a guy in Austin, Texas that had a balloon. I was going to start taking lesson in November, 1970. I didn't get up in a balloon until the following April. I must have driven to Austin a million times. Every time I got there it was foggy or raining or too windy."
Flying, or in Bill's case tethering, on the beach can be difficult because of the sea breezes. "People told me that you couldn't fly a balloon over five or six knots. I'm thinking, `You can't fly when it is over five or six knots watch me I'm macho I can do this in a hurricane.' Then they told me you couldn't do it on the beach. I thought they were crazy and then I found out. That's how I got started."
Bill went from being a surf board shop operator to a full time balloonist. He got out of surfing because of all the drug problems that he was seeing in the young kids. While he'd admit to not being a "goody-two-shoes" he had given up smoking and alcohol. After he had been in ballooning for a year or so someone made an offer to buy his surf shop. He sold out and moved to Houston where he was doing a lot of his flying.
"I was doing a lot of [balloon] teaching and had a Yellow Pages ad in the Houston directory." He rented a house on five acres just outside of town for $125 month and named it Rainbow's End Balloonport.
With more than 3800 flights in a hot air balloon, Murtorff experienced just about every possible flight condition, from thunderstorms to fog. When asked his most memorable flight he says that he can't single out any one flight. Most of his "exciting" flights were in his mid-ballooning career.
Murtorff became very active in ballooning, both in Houston and on the national scene. In the late 70s and early 80s he served two terms on the BFA's board and two years as the organization's President. In the 90s he again served a term on the board where he was best known for challenging the Competition Division to be more open about their finances.
In 1986 when the BFA's Event Committee resigned over a dispute regarding the U.S. National Championship it was Bill Murtorff who stepped forward and volunteered to be the Event Director so that the event could be held.
Bill is the only pilot to have participated in all 26 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiestas. In 1977 he received the Sid Cutter Award presented by the Albuquerque Aerostat Ascension Association for his contributions to the sport.
He is perhaps best known as the editor of the Houston Balloon Association newsletter, which he published for more than 20 years. The HBA newsletter is one of the great classics in ballooning. While it appears to be a rough, slapped together rag on the surface, it contained a wonderful potpourri of material. From true stories to absurd fiction, the hundreds of people who subscribed will tell you that when it arrived in their mailbox they would put everything else aside. Murtorff injected a mix of humor, truth, and tall tales that educated and entertained. Bill's restaurant reviews from Houston and his travels around the country were legend. After his retirement to Mexico, publication of the newsletter ceased. But not for long. Soon after he began publishing Rainbow's End South, a newsletter in the style of the old HBA rag.
As an editor and writer Bill Murtorff's philosophy was, "I always tried to get the stories that others were afraid to print. I searched for the truth to give my readers the real news in ballooning. I sometimes told such outlandish stories that no one should have believed them, but some people did."
One of Bill's last posts to a balloon Internet mailing list was to crow about a wonderful balloon flight he had just finished.
Bill, you have flown so well and so high, that God has joined you in laughter and set you gently back into the loving arms of Mother Earth. Rest well, my friend...
