Staff Reports
The history of ballooning is a fascinating one. It includes a couple of French paper makers and some barnyard animals.
After many repeated experiments during more than 20 centuries, the secret of aerial navigation was discovered toward the end of the 18th century in 1782 when Stephen (Jacques-Etienne Montgolfier) and Joseph Montgolfier made their ingenious aerostatic experiment.
Stephen realized that if a light paper bag were to be made and filled with smoke or ash from their fire, then it would naturally rise up toward the sky. In November 1782, in Avignon, the Montgolfier brothers built a light paper bag in an oblong shape with approximately 40 cubic feet of capacity and used it to test their experiment.
The paper bag had an opening at the bottom, and when they applied fire beneath it, the internal temperature increased, causing it to rise. Their first balloon experiment rose to a height of 75 feet.
Encouraged by their success, the Montgolfier brothers made their next experiment on a much larger scale. Their new envelope was 600 cubic feet in capacity and in a spherical shape. The shape of the envelope was designed after a large short-necked glass bottle used in chemistry called a “Balloon.” When the heat was applied to the opening of the paper balloon, its strings broke and ascended to 600 feet above the ground.
The success of larger hot air balloons gave Motgolflier brothers the confidence to build a very larger balloon. This time the hot air balloon was 35 feet in diameter. On April 3, 1783, the balloon, after being filled and released, reached a height of 1,000 feet and covered a distance of three-fourths of a mile.
It was time for the Montgolfiers to show off their invention to the public. They built a spherical paper balloon with nearly 23k cubic feet and had a lifting capacity of 500 pounds. The hot air balloon was released from its tether ropes and ascended to an astonishing 6,000 feet above France.
THE FIRST HOT AIR BALLOON RIDE
On Sept. 12, 1783, a hot air balloon with a load of about 500 pounds ascended before he members of the Royal Academy.
Unfortunately, high winds damaged the balloon.
A new hot air balloon was ordered to be built in the same dimensions. The new balloon included a basket of wicker-work and was inflated in the presence of King Louis XVI and the royal family in the Palace of Versailles.
The French king suggested a sheep, a duck, and a rooster be placed in the basket as the first hot air ballooning passengers. With these three living animal passengers, the balloon was launched into the upper air and reached an altitude of 1,500 feet. The animals landed safely at a distance of 10,000 feet from the place of the ascent. The first official balloon flight was a success.
THE FIRST MANNED FLIGHT
Another balloon was constructed which was 74 feet high and 48 feet in diameter. With this large balloon, M. Pllatre de Rozier volunteered to make an aerial voyage. The hot air balloon had an opening at the bottom end 15 feet in diameter. Around the opening was arranged and fastened a gallery of wicker work three feet broad, and around the outer edge of this was a balustrade of the same material three feet high, and around the lower circumference of the balloon, and immediately above the gallery platform, port-holes were worked in it for the purpose of introducing fuel to the burner unit.
The lower aperture of the balloon was suspended by chains to an iron brasier intended for the onboard heat source (fireplace). This meant the aeronaut could easily introduce fuel from the portholes as necessity required it. With this balloon, Rozier made several ascents to the height of about 300 feet with M. Girond de Vilette., while it was fastened with ropes of that length.
On Nov. 21, 1783, Roizer, in company with the marquis d’Arlandes. concluded that they would make an aerial voyage. Accordingly, the balloon was inflated, and the gallery was supplied with fuel. Rozier and the marquis d’Arlandes stationed themselves on opposite sides of the basket.
At a given signal, the balloon was released from its moorings and left free in the air. It rose majestically amidst the shouts and applause of a delighted multitude until it reached a height of 3,000 feet.
The men remained in the air for 25 minutes and encountered various currents of wind and changes in air temperature. During the hot air ballooning experience, there were several times in imminent danger of the balloon catching fire.
The marquis became greatly agitated by this and desired to make a sudden descent. Luckily, Rozier was prepared and had brought along a sponge and bucket of water for an emergency. They raised and lowered their altitude multiple times in the atmosphere by regulating the fire in the brasier. They finally landed safely five miles from where they started after having sailed over a great portion of Paris.
