HISTORY OF BALLOONING

THE OLDEST FORM OF AVIATION, THE HISTORY OF HOT AIR BALLOONS BEGINS OVER 200 YEARS AGO WHEN A FRENCH SCIENTIST FAMOUSLY SENT UP A BALLOON CARRYING A RATHER CONFUSED DUCK, A SHEEP AND A COCKEREL. BALLOONS HAVE COME A LONG WAY SINCE THEN (YOU’LL BE PLEASED TO HEAR WE DON’T BURN OLD BOOTS OR MEAT AS FUEL ANYMORE, OR EXPECT YOU TO SHARE A BASKET WITH ANIMALS!) AND TODAY BALLOONING IS POPULAR ALL OVER THE WORLD. PILOTS LIKE SIR RICHARD BRANSON HAVE ACHIEVED INCREDIBLE FEATS IN A QUEST TO FLY FURTHER, HIGHER AND FOR LONGER.

1783

1783 - First Hot Air Balloon Flight

French scientist Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier famously launched the first hot air balloon carrying a duck, a sheep and a cocker el. The balloon is given lift by hot air but also has a compartment of ‘lighter- than-air’ gas – like helium or hydrogen – in the top of the balloon. The flight lasts for 15 minutes.

1783 - First Manned Hot Air Balloon Flight

Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d’Arlandes fly from Paris in a genuine ‘hot air’ balloon created out of paper-lined cloth by wealthy brothers and papermakers Jacques Étienne and Joseph Michel Montgolfier.
1784

1784 - First Balloon Flight in the UK

Scottish aviator James Tytler becomes the first Briton to fly a hot air balloon making a flight over Edinburgh. However, he is overshadowed soon after by Italian diplomat and ‘dare devil’ Vincenzo Lunardi who completes the first balloon flight in England. Launching his hydrogen gas balloon in front of 200,000 spectators at London’s Artillery Ground, he flies with a dog, a cat and a caged pigeon for 24 miles into Hertfordshire. He becomes famous and helps build the romance of ballooning still present today.
1785

1785 - First English Channel Balloon Crossing

French aeronaut Jean-Pierre Blanchard and American John Jeffries successfully fly across the Channel. They carry and deliver a letter – now that’s what you call ‘Air Mail’!
1793

1793 - First Balloon Flight in America

Jean-Pierre Blanchard completes the first balloon flight in North America, flying from Philadelphia to Gloucester County, New Jersey.
1836

1836 - First Long-Distance Balloon Flight

The Great Balloon of Nassau (85,000 cubic ft in size) is flown by UK balloon enthusiast Charles Green 800 km (500 mi) from London to Weilburg in Germany in 18 hours. His record is not broken for another years. More than 160 years later, Virgin Balloon Flights flew his great, great nephew in our big red balloon over the Cotswolds.
1870

1870 - Hot Air Balloons Used at War

Another first in the history of hot air balloons when they are used for military observation during Franco-Prussian War and a French Minister makes a dramatic James Bond-style escape from a besieged Paris by balloon.
1906

1906 - Ballooning Grows as a Sport

Interest in ballooning as a sport grows thanks to the annual Gordon Bennett Balloon Trophy Races, founded by American journalist James Gordon Bennett when a group of hydrogen gas balloons fly from Paris, which runs from 1906, pausing for World War I, and continues today
1914

1914 - Landmark Distance Record

The Berliner hot air balloon flies 3,052 km (1,897) flies from Bitterfield in Germany to Perm in Russia

1914 - Balloons in World War I

Both sides use balloons for military observation during the war from 1914 to 1918
1931

1931 - First Gas Balloon Flight to the Stratosphere

Swiss physicist Auguste Piccard flies to the Stratosphere at 15,781 m (51,793 ft) in a metal cabin carried by a hydrogen gas balloon. The next year, he reached 16,507 m (54,156 ft).
1960

1960 - Modern Hot Air Ballooning Era Takes Off

Edward Yost invents a propane burner that changes ballooning from gas power to hot air. A hot air balloon using the burner successfully flies in Nebraska, USA.
1961

1961 - Highest Ever Gas Balloon Flight

After several successful attempts to better Auguste Piccard’s record by others, Malcolm Ross and Victor Prather achieve an incredible 34,679m (113,775 ft).
1970

1970 - Next Generation for Ballooning

The 1970s and 80s see the development of new synthetic materials and lighter burners allowing ballooning to become a popular modern sport and marking another new age in the history of hot air balloons.
1973

1973 - First Balloon World Championships

The first ballooning world championships are held in the United States.
1978

1978 - First Transatlantic Flight in a Helium Gas Balloon

American businessmen Ben Abruzzo, Max L. Anderson and Larry Newman fly a record 5,000 km (3,108 mi) from Maine, USA, to Miserey, France, in 137 hours and 6 minutes.
1987

1987 - First Transatlantic Hot Air Balloon Flight

Sir Richard Branson and Per Linstrand successfully fly the Virgin Atlantic Flyer – the largest balloon ever at 2.3 million cubic feet – across the Atlantic. The balloon travels 2,900 miles in a record breaking time of 33 hours and reaches speeds in excess of 130 miles per hour (209 k/ph).
1991

1991 - First Transpacific Hot Air Balloon Flight

Sir Richard Branson and Per Lindstrand cross the Pacific Ocean from Japan to Arctic Canada at the furthest distance of 6,700 miles. Again, this breaks all existing records. The balloon measures 2.6 million cubic feet and hits speeds of up to 245 miles per hour
1999

1999 - First Round the World Balloon Flight

Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones fly a helium/hot air balloon, the Breitling Orbiter 3, around the globe setting the longest ever flight covering 46,759 km (29,055 mi) in 19 days, 21 hours, and 55 minutes.
2002

2002 - First Solo Round the World Flight

American millionaire Steve Fossett flies around the world in a helium/hot air balloon, Spirit of Freedom, on his sixth attempt. He flies for 13 days, 34,000 km (22,100 mi). It is the longest ever solo balloon flight.