SUPER CHICKEN TOOK FLIGHT IN OCEANSIDE 40 YEARS AGO

On this day in 1980, two Arizona businessmen, John Shoecraft and Ron Ripps, launched a 10-story-tall helium balloon — dubbed the Super Chicken — from a football field at Miracosta College in Oceanside. Attempting to make the first helium-filled balloon crossing of America, they got as far as Columbus, Ohio, before they were forced down by thunderstorms.

In December 1980, the Super Chicken II lifted off from the Oceanside college campus. That flight ended in a southwest Kansas pasture.

In 1981 the Super Chicken III finally made the cross-country journey successfully after Shoecraft and a new co-pilot took off from Costa Mesa.

From The San Diego Union, Saturday, September 20, 1980:

‘ALL LOOKS GOOD’ FOR BALLOONISTS

PLAN FIRST-EVER TRANSCONTINENTAL FLIGHT

By Anthony Perry, Staff Writer,

The San Diego Union

OCEANSIDE — Two balloonists from Arizona were set last night to launch a transcontinental flight from the football field at Miracosta College here.

John Shoecraft and Ron Ripps began filling their 10-story balloon Super Chicken with helium at about 8:30 p.m. and takeoff was scheduled for midnight. The two real estate developers hope to become the first balloonists to fly coast to coast over the United States.

“All systems look good,” Ripps said. “I

was scared all afternoon but I’m calm now. All the mechanisms have checked out fine.”

The scene at the Miracosta field resembled something from “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” The field was aglow with movie lights, rock ‘n’ roll music blared over a public address system and several hundred people milled about awaiting for the launch. Many wore “Super Chicken” T-shirts and jackets.

The launch had been scheduled for Thursday night but was delayed by a wind shift. Shoecraft and Ripps estimate the trip will take four to five days.

On the equator of the balloon is emblazoned the symbol of the flight: the orange, red and yellow cartoon-looking character Super Chicken. The figure has been trademarked for possible commercial use after the flight.

“Ballooning is like Super Chicken,” Shoecraft explained. “It’s adults being children.”

Shoecraft, 35, and Ripps, 37, had been in Oceanside since Sunday checking wind and weather conditions, packing and unpacking

the 9-foot-wide aluminum gondola, and giving interviews. If wind and weather had not permitted a launch from Oceanside, the two planned to launch from Eureka or Newport, Ore.

The pair, residents of Phoenix, Ariz., estimate they have spent more than $100,000 on the Super Chicken flight — including recording an official “Super Chicken Across America” theme song and assembling a 30-member ground crew. A single-engine plane carrying a doctor, a weather analyst and a photographer will follow the flight.

The balloon is expected to reach an altitude of 25,000 feet and be hit with sub-zero temperatures. The gondola has eight plexiglass windows but is not pressurized; both men will use oxygen masks. A heating system will keep ballast water from freezing.

Balloonists have been attempting transcontinental flights for more than a hundred years. In 1859 balloonist John Wise traveled 809 miles in just under 20 hours. In 1879 the four-person crew of the Davinci took off from Tillamook, Ore., and made it to Lima, Ohio, before being forced down by a severe thunderstorm.

In May the father-and-son team of Maxie and Kris Anderson tried to fly their Kitty Hawk from San Francisco to North Carolina but the wind blew the craft nearly 1,000 miles off course. The Kitty Hawk landed in Quebec, Canada.

Shoecraft and Ripps have refused to predict a landing spot for Super Chicken. “Anywhere from Maine to Florida will be fine wit us,” said Ripps.