ADDINGHAM Scouts reached new heights with the launch of a near space balloon.

Lift off was from the Scout Hut in Addingham, following written permission from the Civil Aviation Authority and a call to air traffic control at Leeds Bradford Airport. The 2m wide helium filled balloon was released with a cargo of three cameras, a GPS tracking device, 'blackbox' flight recorder to record altitude, speed and temperature and most importantly, an Addingham Scout necker!

"The adventure took quite some planning," said Paul Jennings, the village Scout Leader. "We had to complete lots of paperwork and make many calls to confirm launch dates, cancel launch dates as well as gaining various permissions to make the flight, but after three months of planning we finally did it, and all thanks to Crystalmark Aerial Photography for sponsoring the cost of the balloon kit."

Tim Squires, MD of Crystalmark, and assistant Scout leader in Addingham said: "It was an amazing day, the launch went really well after weeks of watching the weather forecast for the perfect wind conditions.Tim added: "The balloon took approximately 45 minutes to reach it's maximum altitude of 35,911 meters - 22.3 miles, three times the altitude of a jumbo jet - before the balloon shatters after expanding to some 22 meters wide and reaching a temperature of minus 52c.

"We were particularly looking forward to seeing the footage from the cameras once we located the balloon which took almost three hours to find after it landed in a field in Doncaster."

The amazing adventure has spurred the Scouts on to look into how they could top this 'mission'. Paul, Tim and the rest of the leaders are now looking at the possibility of going for a world record. "We are looking at what to do next and an opportunity for some funding has been made available to attempt to set the record for the 'Highest Linear Flight for an Unmanned Commercial Ariel Vehicle' which currently stands at 30,000 meters which we are hoping to do next year, so watch this space..!" added Tim.