Free as a Bird: The First Manned Balloon Flights

Since ancient times, man has dreamed of flying through the air like a bird. It was during the 13-th century that the Franciscan monk, Roger Bacon, would make one of the first contributions to the history of aviation. In his book (ca 1250) Secrets of Art and Nature he visualizes something very similar to the 20th century airplane.  Bacon described “Engines for flying, a man sitting in the midst thereof, by turning only about an instrument, which moves artificial wings made to beat the air, much after fashion of a birds flight.” Other creative minds would follow the dream of man flying through the air such as the 15^th century Italian inventor, Leonardo da Vinci, who designed several “flying machines.” However, it would not be until the late eighteenth century in France when two inventive brothers would put a man aloft in a hot air balloon.

Figure - Joseph-Michel Montgolfier and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier.

The Montgolfier Brothers

The French paper maker, Joseph Montgolfier, sitting in front of his fireplace wondered why the smoke, sparks, and more solid matter were disappearing up the chimney. He questioned if it would be possible to capture this “gas” and lift a man-made object into the air. Joseph began to experiment while living in Avignon, France, in 1782 and made a bag of fine silk and lit a fire under it. To his delight, the bag rose to the ceiling.

Inspired, Joseph wasted no time and enlisted the help of his brother Etienne. They constructed a large envelope or bag to trap the hot air and built a fire underneath it which caused it to rise to about 70 feet in the air. The brothers continued to experiment and built even larger “aerostatic machines”, a name the brothers gave to their balloons. They were now able to construct balloons that could rise to 1000 feet and float for a mile before the gas cooled and the balloon crashed to the ground. To show the world their new invention, the two men built a balloon made of linen and lined with paper that was more than 100 feet in diameter.

To bolster their claim as the inventors of flight the brothers made a large balloon for a public demonstration. This balloon was globe-shaped and made of sackcloth tightened with three thin layers of paper inside. The balloon weighted around 500 pounds and was constructed in four pieces, the dome and three lateral bands, and held together by 1,800 buttons. A reinforcing fish net was used to contain and strengthen the outside of the envelope. On June 4, 1783, they demonstrated their balloon to a large crowd of spectators at the market place in Annonay. As the balloon filled with the hot air, it took eight men to hold it to the ground. Once released the large balloon rose to a height of about a mile.

Word spread through France of the Montgolfier’s flying machine and they were asked to perform a demonstration before the French Academy of Sciences. This very successful flight brought on a request for a demonstration before the king and queen, Louis XVI and Mary Antoinette. To make the event even more spectacular, the brothers put aloft a cage with a sheep, a rooster, and a duck. To everyone’s delight, the flight lasted eight minutes and brought the bewildered passengers safely to rest over a mile away. King Louis awarded the brothers the Order of Saint Michel and from then on, all hot-air balloons became known as montgolfieres.

Figure: The first manned hot-air balloon, designed by the Montgolfier brothers, takes tethered off at the garden of the Reveillon workshop, Paris, on October 19, 1783.

First Manned Balloon Flight

The obvious next step was to put a man aloft in a balloon. On the afternoon of November 21, 1783, in a courtyard on the outskirts of Paris, a balloon constructed by the brothers Montgolfier, made history as two men floated through the air as a bird. The historic flight was piloted by the young scientist Jean-Francois Pilatre de Rozier and an army officer, the Marquis d’Adlandes. The twenty-five-minute flight carried the two men over the city of Paris and they landed safely ten miles from where they started. The early balloon flights made a sensation with the public. To commemorate the event, numerous engravings were made, chairs were designed with balloon backs, mantel clocks were made with the dial that looked like a balloon, and much more.

Video:

Lighter Than Air: Man’s First Balloon Flight

Hydrogen Balloons

Twenty years before the Montgolfier brothers stated flying their balloons, the British chemist Henry Cavendish had isolated a new and extremely light gas, hydrogen. In December 1783, the French chemist, J.A.C. Charles mixed a large quantity of iron filings and sulfuric acid, which produced hydrogen gas. Charles used the gas to fill a large balloon which allowed him to make a two hour flight for a distance of 27 miles. If Mr. Charles would have fully understood the explosive nature of hydrogen, he may not have decided to make a balloon filled with such a highly combustible material. It quickly became apparent that the use of hydrogen was superior to filling a balloon with hot-air as a lifting agent. The hot-air filled balloons constantly needed a source of fuel, such as burning straw to stay aloft. Hydrogen became the gas of choice for balloons and their development spread rapidly all over Europe. The first balloon flight in America was made by the Frenchman, Francois Blanchard, in early 1793. President George Washington was present at this first balloon demonstration.

Hydrogen would remain the gas of choice for balloons until after World War I, when helium was substituted in the United States. Though helium was less efficient than hydrogen as a lifting agent, it would not burn or explode.

References

Taylor, John W.R. and KennethMunson. History of Aviation. Crown Publishers, Inc. 1977.

Challoner, Jack (editor) 1001 Inventions That Changed the World. Quintessence Books. 2009.