Timeline: History of Hot Air Balloons

1782

Beginning to experiment

Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier began to experiment in 1782 by using a piece of fabric aloft by a fire of wool and damp straw.

Sep 19, 1783

First hot air balloon flight

Before subjecting humans to the balloon they ran a trial run, sending a sheep, a duck, and a rooster up in the air. The flight lasted for 15 minutes.

Nov 19, 1783

First maned hot air balloon ride

Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d’Arlandes fly from Paris in a ‘hot air balloon created out of paper-lined cloth by wealthy brothers and papermakers Jacques and Joseph Montgolifer

Dec 1, 1783

First gas flight

Just 10 day after the first hot air balloon ride, physicists Jacques Alexander Charles and Nicholas Louis Robert launched the first gas balloon. This flight was in Paris, France, lasted 2.5 hours and covered 25 miles.

Jun 4, 1784

First female to ride in a hot air balloon

Elizabeth Tible was 19 years old, the first female to go on an untethered balloon flight. Her flight lasted 45 minutes, traveled about 3 miles, and reached a height of around 8,500. The reason she travel was because a old man backed out and Elizabeth took his spot.

1793

First hot air balloon to take off in North America

Jean-Pierre Blanchard completes the first balloon flight in North America, flying from Philadelphia to New Jersey.

1870

Hot air balloons first used at war

Hot air balloons were very helpful at war. They are used for military observations during the Franco-Prussian war.

Period: 1914 to 1918

Balloons in World War 1

Both sides used balloons for military observations during the war from 1914 to 1918.

1960

Modern Hot air ballooning era takes off

Edward Yost invents a propane burner that changes ballooning from gas power to hot air. A hot air balloon using the burning successfully flies in Nebraska, USA