Barron Hilton Cup

The Barron Hilton Cup (BHC) was a worldwide soaring contest, founded by the late ex-chairman, president and chief executive officer of Hilton Hotels Corporation, Barron Hilton, and the late Prof. Dr. Helmut Reichmann. The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) was a partner in the event. The competition ran for 30 years, from 1980 through 2009. The winners of each two-year competition period were invited to a weeklong soaring camp at Barron Hilton's Flying-M Ranch in Nevada USA.

From 1986, the BHC was recognized by the International Gliding Commission as a Fédération Aéronautique Internationale first-category event. The purpose of the competition was to promote long-distance gliding and to strengthen gliding contacts between the participating nations.

The competition area was divided into five geographic regions of the world.


 * 1. All of Europe and all of Asia except Japan
 * 2. Eastern USA and Canada
 * 3. Western USA, Central and South America
 * 4. Australia and Africa
 * 5. Japan and New Zealand