Due to the weather prediction for Saturday, May 20, the Tolland Military Museum will be open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. for visitors, but it is cancelling its Military Vehicle Show. Come visit!
At 2 p.m. on the same day, the Tolland Historical Society and the Tolland Military Museum will host a talk by Carl Stidsen from Tolland (Major, USAF, Ret.), on “Lighter Than Air…Balloons” at the Old Tolland County Jail and Museum at 52 Tolland Green.
Stidsen will trace the history of hot air and other types of ballooning, including the first Channel crossing attempt, balloons over New Haven in 1804, the day the Hindenburg flew over Hartford in 1937 and gondolas during World War II all the way to the Chinese air balloons that made the news this year.
If time allows, Stidsen will answer questions about an earlier talk he gave about serving as a missile combat crew commander at a Titan II site in Arizona during the Vietnam War era.
The event is free, but donations to support the society are always welcome.
Stidsen, the research librarian at the New England Air Museum, has been a pilot for 56 years and has been a member of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association for 52 years.
