France’s Decellières & Havret Prevail

The 66th Coupe Aéronautique Gordon Bennett gas balloon race concluded with a pitched final-leg battle from which France’s Eric Decellières and Benoit Havret emerged victorious over German father-and-son team—and 2022-winners—Wilhelm and Benjamin Eimers.

The victory occasioned the Frenchmen’s first win in aviation’s oldest surviving competition—which spanned a grueling 85-hours, 49-minutes.

All told, 16 two-member teams departed Albuquerque, New Mexico on Saturday, 07 October, and proceeded eastbound—carried by prevailing mid-latitude westerly-winds—to Jacksonville, North Carolina and the race’s finish-line.

A global audience watched via livestream as the racers sailed east, the lead repeatedly changing hands, until only two contenders remained—the aforementioned Decellières and Havret in FRA-2, and the Elder and Younger Eimers in GER-1.

On 11 October, as the race neared its conclusion, GER-1 landed near Wilmington, North Carolina, some 39-nautical-miles southeast of Jacksonville, at 11:59 EDT. The father-and-son pair traveled a total of 1,396.9-nautical-miles. For its own part, FRA-2 persevered to the finish-line, landing triumphantly in Jacksonville, only 27-nautical-miles from North Carolina’s Atlantic shore, at 13:00 EDT. The Frenchmen covered 1,437-nautical-miles.

Team FRA-1 (Benoît Pelard and Benoît Péterlé), secured a third-place finish, landing, on 10 October, in the vicinity of Savannah, Georgia after drifting 1,274-nautical-miles.

Decellières and Havret, over a relatively short period of time, have assertively established themselves among gas ballooning’s top teams. The duo finished second in the 2021 Coupe Aéronautique Gordon Bennett, having previously attained two top-five and four top-ten finishes in the prestigious race. The reputation earned by the Frenchmen over their racing exploits is one of toughness, resolve, and courage.

When not aloft in a balloon gondola, Decellières occupies himself in the capacities of businessman and entrepreneur, while Havret works in real estate.

On 14 October, the entirety of the 16 teams that competed in 2023’s Coupe Aéronautique Gordon Bennett gas balloon race reconvened in Albuquerque for an awards ceremony.

The race’s next iteration is slated to launch 13 September 2024.

FMI: www.fai.org