POP was purchased by Sandy Mactaggart from Don Piccard. It was to be a gift for a friend. Since this was one of the first hot air balloons to be brought into Canada the border agents were not sure how to register it, so it was imported as a spiniker sail, laundry basket and weed burner. Sandy registerd it as an experimental balloon with a serial number of SM-1 (Sandy Mactaggart #1).

Sandy loaned the balloon to the club in 1974 which the club flew mostly in the Fort Saskatchewan area.

The club actively flew it until 1986 when it was donated to the Aviation Hall of Fame in Edmonton.

This was the clubs first purchase in the spring of 1976 when they bought it as a used balloon from Stan Wereschuk.  Albatross participated in many of the early events and competitions in Western Canada, including the Canadian Championships which were first held in Grande Prairie, Alberta in 1979.

Albatross was used to train many of the club pilots which included:

Albatross I served the club well until 1983 when due to age and hours flown it was retired and replaced by Albatross II. The club retained the same call letters CG-HOT

Purchased new in 1981.  The club had many pilots, a good source of revenue from flying passengers and almost 100 active members. The new balloon was an active addition and it was often seen in the skies besides Albatross.   POP was flown a few times and it was great to see several occasions where all three balloons were riding the winds.

In 2001 this balloon was sold by the club.

For two years (1902 - 1983) the club was asked to fly the first ReMax balloon in Western Canada.  The club had free use of the balloon provided it did a number of flights and tethers over the city.  It was well used until the demands of the ReMax agents exceed the capacity for the club to fulfill them. 

In 1990 Edmonton Telephones and the club got together to put the Yellow Pages balloon back over the city of Edmonton.  The arrangement was that the club would have free use of the balloon provided it did a number of flights over the city.  The agreement worked for a number of years until Edmoton Telephones was merged with AGT.

After the phone company merger, the balloon was sold to the club provided the Yellow Pages logos were removed.  A great deal for the club so an evening of cutting thread resulted in a fingerless balloon.  It was first renamed to Mellow Yellow and later to Buglite.

Currently this is the main club balloon.

Originally this was another balloon that Sandy Mactaggart had built.  Unfortunately, through initial construction problems it took much to long to get it made with the result that interest in the project was lost.  The balloon sat in several garages for a number of  years before Sandy and his business partner donated the balloon to the club in 1998.