Hot Air Balloon History
The First Documented Hot Air Balloons
The Chinese are recorded as being the very first to make use of lighter than air technology with small unmanned hot air ballooons which are know as Kongming Lanterns or sky lanterns. These had been developed around the 3rd century by originally applied as military signalling devices but later became a tradition at Chinese festivals.Kongming Lanterns have been created from oiled rice paper on a bamboo frame, the heat source utilized was a little candle produced from a waxy, flammable material.
Hot Air Balloon History in Dispute
The claim for the initial use of hot air balloons is hotly disputed. The Nazca Indians of Peru are thought to possess employed hot air balloons as an aid to creating the renowned Nazca Line Drawings which were developed inside the period 700 B.C. to 200 A.D.
An 18th century issue of the newspaper ‘La Gaceta de Mexico’ noted that in 1667, a citizen of Las Mendarios del Perro, Veracrus broke his leg inside a fall following ascent inside a strange device with fire.
The Portugese claim that a priest, Batholomeu Laurenco de Gasmao demonstrated a little working balloon model on the 3rd August 1709. He was subsequently awarded a Professor of Mathemetics by King John V of Portugal for his efforts.
There are also reports of pre-montgolfier balloons from Russia in 1731. A young military officer Kria Kutnoi is reported to have launched a primitive balloon from Ryazan, about 120 miles south of Moscow. It reputedly flew over a grove of birch trees crashing into the tower of a church inside the neighbouring town. The ballon is said to possess been produced from hides and filled with evil smelling smoke.
The Montgolfier Brothers
French brothers, Jacques and Joseph Montgolfier were the local paper manufacturers within the town of Alchemy in Southern France. The brothers noticed that when they burnt paper the ashes floated up in to the air. They thought that the heat and smoke from the flame had a unique lifting power and they set their minds to inventing a craft that could capture the heat and smoke and lift them off the ground. It can be recorded that on the 4th June 1973 the very first big scale balloon flight was launched by the Montgolfier Brothers from Annonay, France.It was reported in a Paris newspaper on the 10th of July as having been witnessed by a lot of men and women.The report says that the balloon was ‘about 36 feet long and 16 feet high and about as high’, on landing about 7 – 8 minutes following takeoff the ‘globe’ was destroyed by peasant workers who believed it was the moon was falling in the sky
A Sheep, a Duck and a Rooster
On the 19th Sept, 1783 the Montgolfier brothers successfully launched their 1st load carrying hot air balloon balloon manufactured of paper and cloth. To inflate the craft they burned a combination of straw, chopped wool and dried horse manure underneath the balloon. As the straw burned it released heat that assisted the balloon float. The wool and manure produced lots of smoke and aided maintain the burning flame low, which lessened the risk of setting the balloon alight. The brothers were too nervous to try out their invention themselves so they sent a sheep, a duck and a rooster to see what would take place. The balloon floated up into the sky and landed safely eight minutes later.
As soon as the Montgolfier brothers realised what they had achieved they approached the King of France to determine if he would view their invention, with two individuals on board instead of farm yard animals. King Louis XVI agreed.
The First Manned Flight
On the 21st November 1783, a hot air balloon was launched in Paris for all to see. On board were two close frinds from the Montgolfier brothers, Pilatre de Rozier and Francious Laurent. The balloon was successfully launched and rose about 500 feet / 150 metres above the rooftops of Paris, after a flight lasting about 25 minutes the flight eventually landing several miles away in some vineyards.
Benjamin Franklin is noted to have been present at the launch and met with the Montgolfier Brothers later inside the day to sign a witness report that was submitted for the Academy of Science.
The Birth of a Tradition
As the hot air balloon landed inside vineyard, local farmers raced towards it with pitchforks, ready to attack this strange object from the skies. To prevent the balloon being destroyed by the farmers Pilatre and Francious offered them a bottle of fine french champagne, as thanks for allowing them to land from the field. Today, in memory of that initial flight it can be typical to drink champagne following a balloon ride.
The Origin of a Word
The word ‘pilot’ is derived from ‘Pilatre’, the name of the first person to command an aerial vehicle.
Development of the modern hot air balloon
Ed Yost is credited with developing the modern, propane burning warm air balloon. His development work was conducted under a US military contract. In October 1955, Ed flew his first prototype of a kerosene powered tethered balloon. This balloon which was made of plastic film had several complications which he worked on until 22nd October when he made his initial free of charge flight inside a propane powered warm air balloon from Bruning Nebraska USA. This 1st flight is reported to have lasted for 1 hour 35 minutes. Ed continued to refine his style and in manufactured the very first crossing of the English Channel in the hot air balloon.
The First Balloon Flights in Australia
Joseph Dean, a british wire maker by profession created the first balloon ascent in Australia on the 1st February 1858 from Melbourne’s Cremorne Gardens. The flight lasted 44 minutes and landed gently in Collingwood. This flight was followed up two weeks later for the 15th February with a flight by the balloons maker, Charles Brown. It was intended that Brown make the initial flight but by a quirk of fine luck for Dean the ground staff who have been restraining the balloon through inflation allowed the balloon to rise whilst Dean was aboard. These initial flights have been produced inside a gas (hydrogen) balloon.
The initial manned hot air balloon flight was produced quite a few years later about the 4th July 1962 from Parkes NSW. The pilot was Terry McCormack, a student from St John’s College from the University of Sydney. McCormack was the founder and 1st president of Australia’s initial balloon Club, the Aerostat Society of Australia. The balloon he flew was built through the society members from Mylar film held together using a fibreglass re-inforced adhesive tape. It was referred to as Archimedes and had a volume of around 18,000 ft3 / 800 m3.
Sadly McCormack was also a single from the very first people to be killed inside a hot air balloon in Australia when in November 1975, the ‘New Endeavour’ was caught in turbulence in the course of an afternoon flight and deflated at low level crashing to the ground killing both McCormack and his passenger.