Ballooning

A HISTORY OF COURAGE

Balloon flight started in 1783. Two men, the Montgolfier Brothers, built a balloon which used straw to provide hot air. The system was very dangerous because they burned the straw in the balloon!

They made a test flight that covered 3 kilometers in 8 minutes. There were a sheep, a duck, and a cock on board. The animals were the first creatures that flew in a balloon.

The first men to fly a balloon were Pilatre de Rozier and the Marquis dÁrlandes, also in 1783, in France. Their balloon caught fire and they had to put the fire out with water they carried on board exactly for that situation.

Between 1870 and 1871, during the Franco-Prussian war, 66 balloons which carried people out of Paris were the only contact with the outside world.

In 1955, during Gordon-Bennett Balloon Race, which took place in Germany, pilots Alan Fraenckel and John Jervis were killed. A gunship shot them down over Belarus. Several other pilots who landed in authorities have now banned all competitions flying over Belarus.

Although balloonists face many dangerous situations, ballooning is a very safe and popular sport today.