History

Image of the character that gives its name to the town This mining town nestled on a rocky plateau, is located on the border of the provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan and owes its name to a curious character of a science fiction story called Josiah Flintabbatey Flonatin. In the image at right we see the statue near 7 meters high erected by the inhabitants of the city in his honor.

History tells us that the first explorers who came to the area in early 20th century in search of gold, possessed as the only entertainment a copy of the novel The Sunless City and decided to call the newly discovered place using a contraction of the name of his main character. Later in 1929, when arrived the railway, to name the train station there was used that denomination, transforming Flin Flon in the only city named in such a unique way around the world.

From there took place during the second half of the 1960's, many stratospheric balloon launches under the orbit of the "Skyhook" program which has been carried out in those years on the coast of Churchill on Hudson Bay. The launches at Flin Flon were made from the installations of the Municipal Airport, located in Bakers Narrows about 20 kms southeast of the city, sometimes using as launch field the main runway and sometimes the extensions of grass in their sides.

According to the records, the first launches from there dating from 1961 and the last ones apparently took place in 1965.



Balloons launched list

DateHourFlight DurationExperimentPayload landing place or cause of the failure
9/14/1961 ---SCINTILLATION COUNTER--- No Data ---
9/15/1961 ---SCINTILLATION COUNTER--- No Data ---
9/18/1961 ---SCINTILLATION COUNTER--- No Data ---
9/25/1961 ---SCINTILLATION COUNTER--- No Data ---
9/27/1961 ---SCINTILLATION COUNTER--- No Data ---
9/28/1961 ---SCINTILLATION COUNTER--- No Data ---
9/30/1961 ---SCINTILLATION COUNTER--- No Data ---
10/1/19612:10 utcF 11 h 20 mSCINTILLATION COUNTER + GEIGER TELESCOPE--- No Data ---
9/19/196217:29 cst---COSMIC RAY MEASUREMENTS--- No Data ---
9/19/19623:26 cst---COSMIC RAY MEASUREMENTS--- No Data ---
9/25/196221:58 cst---COSMIC RAY MEASUREMENTS--- No Data ---
9/28/196219:15 cst---COSMIC RAY MEASUREMENTS--- No Data ---
9/29/19628:35 cst---COSMIC RAY MEASUREMENTS--- No Data ---
9/30/196217:54 cst---COSMIC RAY MEASUREMENTS--- No Data ---
9/30/19628:21 cst---COSMIC RAY MEASUREMENTS--- No Data ---
10/1/196218:36 cst---COSMIC RAY MEASUREMENTS--- No Data ---
10/2/196218:13 cst---COSMIC RAY MEASUREMENTS--- No Data ---
9/20/1963 ---X-RAY DETECTOR--- No Data ---
8/23/1964 14 h 45 mCOUNTERS--- No Data ---
8/25/1964 16 h 15 mCOUNTERS--- No Data ---
8/26/1964 -COUNTERSThe balloon leaked at 15.700 ft
8/27/1964 ---COUNTERSBalloon burst at launch
8/29/1964 16 h 45 mCOUNTERS--- No Data ---
9/5/1964 -COUNTERS--- No Data ---
9/8/1964 16 hCOUNTERS--- No Data ---
9/11/1964 17 h 30 mCOUNTERS--- No Data ---
9/16/1964 14 h 30 mCOUNTERS--- No Data ---
9/17/1964 4 hCOUNTERS--- No Data ---
8/8/196511:41 utc---TWO SCINTILLATION COUNTERS--- No Data ---
8/12/196510:40 utc---SCINTILLATION COUNTER--- No Data ---
8/16/196510:15 utc---TWO SCINTILLATION COUNTERS--- No Data ---
8/19/196510:35 utc---TWO SCINTILLATION COUNTERS--- No Data ---
8/19/19659:04 utc---FOUR SCINTILLATION COUNTERS--- No Data ---
8/21/196510:18 utc---SCINTILLATION COUNTER--- No Data ---
8/27/196510:32 utc---TWO SCINTILLATION COUNTERS--- No Data ---
9/5/19659:09 utc---TWO SCINTILLATION COUNTERS--- No Data ---
9/14/19652:26 utc---TWO SCINTILLATION COUNTERS--- No Data ---
9/16/19656:22 utc---SCINTILLATION COUNTER--- No Data ---
9/16/196510:12 utc---SCINTILLATION COUNTER--- No Data ---
9/16/196512:11 utc---TWO SCINTILLATION COUNTERS--- No Data ---
9/17/196511:43 utc---SCINTILLATION COUNTER--- No Data ---
9/18/19658:04 utc---TWO SCINTILLATION COUNTERS--- No Data ---
9/19/19659:50 utc---TWO SCINTILLATION COUNTERS--- No Data ---
9/20/19654:05 utc---TWO SCINTILLATION COUNTERS--- No Data ---
9/21/19654:45 utc---TWO SCINTILLATION COUNTERS--- No Data ---
9/24/196511:17 utc---SCINTILLATION COUNTER--- No Data ---
8/19/196620:54 utc------No Data---Balloon recovered 1 km N of Lintlaw, Saskatchewan, Canada
8/23/196623:00 utc------No Data------ No Data ---
8/23/196620:42 utc------No Data---Balloon burst at 73.000 ft. Recovered 10 miles W of The Pas, Manitoba, Canada
8/26/19662:36 utc------No Data---Leaker balloon. Ascended just to 47.000 ft
8/29/196617:13 utc------No Data---Last observed N of Goosebay, Canada on September 3
8/29/196622:21 utc------No Data------ No Data ---
9/1/19661:06 utc------No Data---Launch in gusty winds. Received RF signal only
9/1/196620:23 utc------No Data------ No Data ---
9/2/196620:23 utc------No Data------ No Data ---
9/4/19661:06 utc------No Data------ No Data ---
9/5/196617:46 utc------No Data------ No Data ---
9/6/196621:14 utc------No Data---Balloon leaker. Recovered near Wabowden, Manitoba, Canada
9/7/19667:14 utc------No Data------ No Data ---
9/7/19664:36 utc------No Data---Winds picked up at launch and the gondola struck the ground and dragged 100 feet.
9/8/196618:57 utc------No Data------ No Data ---
9/8/19665:30 utc------No Data------ No Data ---
9/9/196623:23 utc------No Data------ No Data ---