The History of Hot Air Ballooning
History Pages
- Brief History
- 1783 - Birth of Flight
- 1784 - English Aeronaut
- 1785 - Conquering the Channel
- 1793 - America Takes Off
- 1800 - Death of the Hot Air Balloon
- 1812 - The Irish Question
- 1898 - Balloons to Airplanes
- 1931 - A Stratospheric Achievement
- 1935 - Highest Men in the World
- 1960 - Balloons and Parachutes
- 1960s - Renaissance of Hot Air
- 1978 - Transatlantic Challenge
- 1981 - Transpacific Challenge
- 1987 - Richard Branson
- 1999 - The Last Frontier
- 2005 - Altitude Record Broken Again
1783 – The Birth of Flight
In September, Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier launched the first hot air balloon with 3 passengers on board: a sheep, a duck and a rooster. The balloon stayed in the air for a grand total of 15 minutes over Paris before coming back down to earth with a bump! King Louis XVI is reported to have enjoyed the spectacle.
The two brothers worked for their family’s prestigious paper company, and as a side project they had begun to experiment with paper vessels elevated by heating air. Over the course of a couple of years they had developed a hot air balloon powered by burning straw, manure, and other material in an attached fire pit.
The first manned attempt came in November of the same year, when a French scientist, Pilatre de Rozier, became the first man ever to fly. The balloon was launched from the centre of Paris and flew for a period of 20 minutes.
Ten days later Jacques Charles launched the first manned hydrogen balloon, also in Paris. News of the manned balloon flights travelled fast, and astounded the world.
