Hot Air Balloon History

Research on hot air balloon history takes us back to 1783 in a place called Annonay, France which is located approximately 4-450 km's SSE of Paris.

Two brothers, Joseph Michel Montgolfier and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier created the very first non passenger and passenger carrying balloons.

Joseph who was the imaginative one of the family caught on to the idea after seeing laundry billowing up and rising into the air from a fire that burned underneath it.

He then built a one meter cubed box, placed a piece of crumpled up paper underneath it and lit it. Naturally the box quickly rose to the ceiling.

Joseph quite excited and with the help of his brother Étienne built the very first hot air balloon. This balloon which could hold 790 cubic meters / 27000 cubic feet of air was launched before dignatories and flew approx 2 kms at an estimated height of 1.6 - 2 kms.

Later the Montgolfier brothers created an even larger hot air balloon with a capacity of 1700 cubic meters / 60,000 cubic feet to carry human passengers.

The two men flew approx 0.9 km /3000 feet high and for a distance of 9 kms / 5.6 miles.

This is where the history of successful human flight originated by hot air ballooning.

Hot air balloons have been used in war by the French to spy on the Austrian army. Also balloons were utilized throughout the American Civil war. There are several parts of a hot air balloon.

First of all there is the bag which is known as the envelope. The Envelope is filled with heated air thereby causing it to lift as it is less dense than the cool air outside the envelope.

Then there is the basket or the gondola. The Gondola is where the pilot and passengers are carried together with the heat source.

History of Hot Air Balloons -

Records Made

The furthest distance a hot air balloon has flown is 7,672 km or 4,767 miles on 15 January 1991 by Peter Linstrand and Richard Branson flying from Japan to Northern Canada. This distance also placed both these people in the hot air balloon history books.

Today hot air balloons are mostly used for recreational purposes.

Hot air ballooning takes place early in the morning and/or as the sun is setting. This is when the winds are quite calm and it is safe to inflate and fly ina hot air balloon.

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