Oldest aviation race

The Gordon Bennett Cup is the world’s oldest and most prestigious gas balloon race, the first one taking place on 30 September 1906 in Paris, France. It was suspended for World Wars 1 & 2 and only recommenced after WW2 in 1979. The aim of the race was to fly the furthest distance from the launch site. Originally sponsored by James Gordon Bennett Jr, a millionaire sportsman and owner of the New York Herald, it was resurrected in 1979 by the American, Tom Heinsheimer and officially reinstated in 1983 by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI). The record for longest time went to the Germans Wilhelm Eimers and Bernd Landsmann in 1995, who remained airborne for over 92 hours, while the record for the longest distance is held by Belgians of Bob Berben and Benoît Siméons, who, in 2005, piloted their balloon 3,400 kilometers (2,100 mi) from Albuquerque to Canada. The 54th race hit the headlines in 2010 when the American crew was lost over the Adriatic Sea.