German Gas Balloon Championship & Balloon Museum Cup Gersthofen

A Championship for a Rare Discipline

The German Championship for Gas Balloons is one of Germany's rarest and most fascinating sporting events. Gas balloons are a technical rarity: Only 35 gas balloons are registered in Germany, with about 50 existing worldwide. This makes Germany by far the most important location for this form of historical air sports — and Gersthofen, with the Augsburg Free Balloon Club, the traditional heart of this small scene.

125 Years of the Augsburg Free Balloon Club

The Augsburg Free Balloon Club is Germany's oldest free balloon club, founded in 1901, and will celebrate its 125th anniversary in 2026. On the occasion of this anniversary, it is organizing the 2026 German Championship together with the Gersthofen Balloon Museum — a unique combination of top sporting performance, historical remembrance, and public spectacle. Up to ten teams from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland will participate.

Main Race on May 13, 2026

The main race of the competition is on Wednesday, May 13, 2026: Starting at 11:00 AM, the inflation and preparation of the gas balloons will begin at the launch site — a visually and technically fascinating process that spectators can follow up close. At 6:00 PM, the joint launch of all balloons is planned, weather permitting. Ulrike Ferderl will moderate the event on-site and explain to the general public how this rare aviation discipline works.

Competition Format — Tasks Vary with Each Launch

The competition tasks for the Gas Balloon Championship are determined only shortly before the launch — depending on wind, weather forecast, and visibility. Possible tasks include distance races, target races (landing as close as possible to a designated point), duration races, or multiple tasks with GPS tracking. The discipline combines meteorological understanding, route planning, and cool piloting skills in a way that would be hardly possible in powered flight.

Gersthofen Balloon Museum — The Perfect Museum

The Gersthofen Balloon Museum is located right next to the launch site and will be open during the competition. It houses one of the most important collections on the history of ballooning in Germany: historical balloon baskets, pilot equipment, technical models, and memorabilia from 125 years of Augsburg's ballooning tradition. A visit to the museum can be ideally combined with watching the competition process.

Gersthofen — Industrial City with Ballooning Tradition

Gersthofen is an independent industrial city in the Augsburg district north of the Swabian metropolis. Geographically flat, with relatively calm west winds in spring and open countryside towards the Danube Valley, the region is ideally suited for balloon launches. The Augsburg-Gersthofen connection, with Germany's oldest gas balloon tradition, has made the town a center for this sport for over a century.

Weather Dependency — Excitement Until the End

Since gas balloons cannot launch in storms or thunderstorms, the event is weather-dependent. Current updates will be published on the Augsburg Free Balloon Club's website and Facebook page starting May 12, 2026. In case of impending bad weather, the launch may be postponed to another day of the competition week (May 12-17, 2026).