On the 19th September 1783 scientist Pilatre
De Rozier launched the first hot air balloon called 'Aerostat
Reveillon'. The onboard were a sheep, a duck and a rooster
and the balloon stayed in the air for a grand total of 15
minutes before crashing back to the ground.
The first manned attempt came 2 months later, on the 21st
November, with a balloon made by 2 French brothers, Joseph
and Etienne Montgolfier. They launched the balloon
from the centre of Paris and flew for a period of 20 minutes.
This was the birth of hot air ballooning!!!
Two years later in 1785 French balloonist, Jean Pierre Blanchard,
and his American co pilot, John Jefferies, were the first
to fly across the English Channel. In these early days of
ballooning, the English Channel was considered the first step
to long distance ballooning so this was a notable benchmark
in ballooning history.
This same year
Pilatre
de Rozier (the world's first balloonist) was tragically
killed in his attempt at crossing the channel. Sadly, his
hot air balloon exploded half an hour after takeoff due to
the experimental design of using a hydrogen balloon and hot
air balloon tied together.
The
next major pivotal point in balloon history came on January
7th 1793. Jean Pierre Blanchard became the first to fly a
hot air balloon in North America. President George Washington
was present to see the balloon launch.
Now a large jump in time, of over 100 years: In August of
1932 Swiss scientist named Auguste Piccard was the first to
achieve a manned flight to the Stratosphere. He reached a
height of 52,498 feet, setting a new altitude record. In the
next couple of years, altitude records continued to be set
and broken every couple of months - the race was on to see
who get reach the highest point in a hot air balloon.
In 1935 a new altitude record was set and it remained at this level for the next 20 years. The balloon Explorer 2, a gas helium model
reached an altitude of 72,395 feet (13.7 miles)! For the first time in history, it was proven that humans could survive in a pressurized
chamber at extremely high altitudes. This flight set a milestone for aviation and helped pave the way for future space travel.
The Altitude record was broken again in 1960 when Captain
Joe Kittinger made a parachute jump from a balloon that was
at a height of 102,000 feet. The balloon broke the existing
altitude record and Captain Kittinger, the high altitude parachute
jump record. He even broke the sound barrier with his body!
The Atlantic Challenge
In 1978, the Double Eagle II was the first balloon to cross the Atlantic,
another major benchmark in the History of Ballooning. After
many unsuccessful attempts this mighty Ocean had finally been
crossed. It was a helium filled model,and it carried 3 passengers,
Ben Abruzzo, Maxie Anderson and Larry Newman. They set a new
flight duration time at 137 hours.
The Pacific Challenge
The first Pacific crossing was achieved just 3 years later in 1981. The
Double Eagle V launched from Japan on November 10th and landed
84 hours later in Mendocino National Forest, California. The
4 pilots set a new distance record at 5,678 miles. 3 years
after this, Captain Joe Kittinger flew 3,535 miles on the
first solo transatlantic balloon flight, setting yet another
record.
Double Eagle II Flying the Atlantic |
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In 1987 Sir Richard
Branson and Per Lindstrand were the first to cross the
Atlantic in a hot air balloon, rather than a
helium/gas filled balloon. They flew a distance of 2,900
miles in a record breaking time of 33 hours. At the
time, the envelope they used was the largest ever flown,
at 2.3 million cubic feet of capacity. A year later,
Per Lindstand set yet another record, this time for
highest solo flight ever recorded in a hot air balloon
- 65,000 feet!
The great team of Richard Branson and Per Lindstrand paired up again in 1991 and became the first to cross the Pacific in a hot air
balloon. They travelled 6,700 miles in 47 hours, from Japan to Canada breaking the world distance record, travelling at speeds of up
to 245 mph. 4 years later, Steve Fossett became the first to complete the Transpacific balloon route by himself, travelling from Korea
and landing in Canada 4 days later.
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Finally, in 1999 the first around the world flight was completed by Bertrand
Piccard and Brian Jones. Leaving from Switzerland and landing
in Africa, they smashed all previous distance records, flying
for 19 days, 21 hours and 55 minutes.
It's interesting to see how the development of the the hot
air balloon has gone full circle on itself. At the very start,
the first balloonists burnt materials onboard the balloon
to generate heat to propel the envelope into the air. This
theory then became obsolete as hydrogen and laterly helium
designs were introduced as it was considered safer and more
reliable than flying with an open flame. It is only within
the last 50 or so years that hot air balloons have come back
into interest.
