Editor: This is in regard to Don Piccard's letter in the March issue which seems to be an effort to refute my letter from the December issue. What we have is a certain amount of opinion against opinion. I prefer not to base an argument on opinion, since, as everyone knows, Don can shout louder than I can and in such a debate I am sure to lose by many decibels. I will try to stick with documented facts where possible. And I'll try not to ramble
First, regarding his assertion that "...the [Raven] sport balloon program died...." I don't really believe this is totally a figment of his imagination, but it has to come pretty close. Please, Don, give us some documentation. Following is a small sampling of mine:
I have a 3-page report prepared by H. Randolph, dated 12 November 1964, Subject: Minutes of meeting 2 November 1964 concerning Hot Air Balloon Program. I won't belabor you with all three pages; here are three direct extracts:
* Inquiries - All inquiries will be answered. A form letter will be written to handle routine letters. Letters showing special interest will be individually handled.
* Don Piccard's function in the HAB Program will be taken over by J.E. Kittleson.
* JEK is to review DLP correspondence files and pursue those prospects which appear at all promising.
I have Kittleson's HAB correspondence file for 1965. If we were out of the business, he sure wasted a lot of time. The file is 3/4 inch thick and there are two dozen inquiry answers in January alone.
I would like for Don to produce the newsletter that shows "unequivocally" that we were not in the sport balloon business. I can't find it. I find only two newsletters published in 1965. One had no HAB content, and the other, dated January 1965 had a small article about experiences in hot air balloons. It contains the quotation "If any of you readers care for more details on the system, please contact John Kittleson, hot-air sports balloon coordinator at Raven."
I have engineering drawings, purchase orders and dated photographs originating throughout 1965, all relating to development or production of sport hot air balloons. If this isn't enough, I wonder if Don remembers a letter on the same subject written to him by Ed Owen on 9 April 1965. If he would like to have his memory refreshed, I can arrange to have it published.
I am quite puzzled by Don's comment, "At that time Mr. Winker was not an officer of the company and was not involved in sport balloons as far as I could tell." That may tell more about Don than it does about me. I was Chief Engineer and I had a definite part in anything that was designed or built. My involvement with hot air balloons started in 1959 and continued right past Don's departure. Maybe the problem is in his assumption of the tide "Manager." Yes, he was Manager of the sales and promotion of sport balloons, but contrary to an earlier statement (related by Stekel, l believe) he did not have "design responsibility." Otherwise, why did he feel it was necessary to change so many things when he designed his own balloon?
I repeat, as I said in my earlier letter: Don deserves a great deal of credit for taking all the steps he did to popularize the sport. I never tried to refute that, and I don't now.
This letter is getting way too long. I'll stop here and save the rest for a future issue, if the need arises.
Jim Winker
Sioux Falls, South Dakota
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