The following article was reprinted with permission of the author Mr. Michael Fairbanks and Balloon Life Magazine.  More information about the article and the magazine is available at:  www.balloonlife.com. 

The Army-Navy Football Game of 1964 by Michael Fairbanks

     An event of long ago.  Unique and special for the multitude of spectators who attended the game and for the crew who participated in the inflation.  The Naval Academy was eager to create excitement for the annual Army-Navy football game of December 1964. Anthony “Tony” Fairbanks was invited to inflate the “LaCoquette” gas balloon by the front gate of the John F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

     The “LaCoquette” which in French translates “the flirt” was used in the movie “Around The World In Eighty Days”.  The movie received an Oscar for best picture of 1956.  The balloon was painted for the movie with large figures from Greek Mythology.  She was built by Goodyear for the United States Navy and was used during the World War II era for the training of  blimp pilots.  The Balloon Club of America acquired the balloon in 1952.

     The inflation of the “LaCoquette” was a family affair.  Tony Fairbanks, age 58 years old was the pilot in charge.  The crew

included his two daughters,  Jean and Nica Fairbanks, and his son,

Michael Fairbanks who was a college student.

     The crew arrived three hours before kick-off.  The four hundred pound envelope had to be filled slowly with the non-flammable helium gas. On the stadium parking lot sat a truck with 19,000 cu.ft. of helium for this purpose. The crew had to fill forty bags with sand, which were lowered down the net as the helium was pushed into the balloon through an inflation sleeve.   Sand bags were placed inside the wicker basket and hung from the sides of the basket to prevent an unplanned ascension.  A close proximity to the Philadelphia International Airport prevented an actual free flight from the stadium grounds.

     The balloon remained on display outside of the stadium for the entire football game and until the crowd had left the stadium.  The final score was Army eleven and Navy eight. 

     The “LaCoquette” continued to fly in the United States and

made several flights from Germany until her final flight in 1977.

John F. Kennedy Stadium continued to be the host of the Army-Navy football game for each year through 1979.  The Stadium was

demolished in 1992. 

      The stadium was built in 1925 and named the “Municipal Stadium”.  The Army-Navy football game was first played in this stadium in 1936.  It was in 1964 that the city of Philadelphia renamed the stadium, the “John F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium”. 

     The Army-Navy football game is an annual event played on the last weekend of the regular college football season.  This event is one of the oldest rivalries in sports.  The first game was played in the year 1890.  Throughout the years the Army-Navy football game has been played in different cities.  It is believed that Philadelphia is the favorite city for the game as it is located halfway between the US Military Academy in West Point, New York and the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

     Jean Fairbanks, on the left side of the basket.  Antonica “Nica”

Fairbanks, on the right side of the basket.