The story behind the replica balloon
Barbara Fricke, local Albuquerque pilot and AIBF board member was brainstorming for a special project to enhance the celebration of the October 2022 event that would be the 50th Balloon Fiesta. She hatched the idea of recreating one of the iconic balloons of the early Fiesta years.
Much research was undertaken to learn as much as possible about the original balloons. Archives were searched for photos of this balloon. One still unsolved mysteries was uncovered during the research. The original build sheet graciously provided Alyssa Sullivan, the current curator of the Raven archives, clearly states that the N# is N1979R and some photos do show the envelope sporting that number is four foot high characters. However other photos show it instead wearing the N# N1951R. The R is no mystery as all Raven envelopes of that era sported a final R as a reference to Raven. However, Judy uncovered the fact that 1951 was the year that Sid Cutter his first pilot rating. On the other hand 1979 does not seem to have any significance to either the balloon’s construction or to Sid's career. Is it possible that Sid arranged with the FAA to have the N# changed sometime after its original certification?