Hello Aironauts today we are talking about
HOT AIR BALLOONS
Hot air balloons predate all other forms of manned aircraft by more than a hundred years. They were invented, tested and eventually operated by men (and sometimes women) of great courage and ingenuity, whose efforts helped, quite literally, to propel civilisation upward into the sky.
Everyone has an idea of what a balloon is and how it works. A balloon contains air which is heated so that it rises into the air, carrying with it whatever cargo might be attached. Usually, this comes in the form of a basket in which a pilot and some passengers can stand in.
Some people might even know a great deal about the history of this iconic piece of technology. But there are some elements of the balloon and its origins which might surprise even aficionados. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the stranger facts about hot-air balloons.
1. Hot air balloons were first tested on animals
One of the more widely-known (but no less bizarre for being so) facts about the hot-air balloons is that its first test-pilots were a trio of farm animals – a rooster, a duck and a sheep named Montauciel (which means, appropriately enough, “climb-to-the-sky” in French). It was thought that Montauciel, being a land animal, would be able to simulate the effects flight would have on a human. His two companions, meanwhile, would serve as controls.
The experiment was performed in the royal palace of Versailles, in front of an expectant crowd including King Louis XVI and Mary Antoinette – a decade before they were to lose their heads. The flight was a resounding success, with all three occupants ascending fifteen-hundred feet in the air for ten minutes before descending unharmed. The world of ballooning (and of manned flight in general) owes a great deal to these three animal pioneers – their success paved the way to those that followed.
2. Hot air balloons were going to be tested on criminals
Obviously, once animals had successfully gone up into the air, the next logical step was to move to human trials. But King Louis was not about to let just anyone go up in the air. He suggested that condemned criminals, being the most expendable sorts of people, should be the first to test the new contraption.
The balloon’s co-inventor, Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier, along with the Marquis François d’Arlandes, objected to this – though not for moral reasons. It was important that at least one of the balloon’s pilots knew how to operate the balloon and few qualified people were willing to voluntarily put themselves into a small, inescapable space with a hardened criminal. Move over, they wanted the honour for themselves. The king was eventually won over and the two men successfully performed the first manned hot-air balloon flight in 1783.
3. The first man up on the balloon was also the first man to die in one
Unfortunately for Francois, his tenure as a hot-air balloon pilot was short-lived. A couple of years after his successful test flight, he decided to move onto more ambitious projects. He designed a balloon which, he claimed, would be able to cross the English Channel. His claim proved unsuccessful and fatally so unfortunately.
The new balloon stayed afloat by using a mixture of hydrogen and heated air. Francois’ mistake was to underestimate the explosive potential of the former of these two gasses – particularly when heated by the latter. Thus, midway across his voyage, his craft exploded, killing everyone on board.
4. The first balloonists to successfully cross the English Channel did so without any trousers.
The world of ballooning was undeterred by the tragedy and the next attempt to cross the channel in a balloon proved a successful one. It did, however, come at a cost – midway across the channel, the two pilots realised that they were losing height. They needed to discard everything aboard – the anchors they were carrying, the oars with which they hoped to steer the craft through the air, a propeller and even their trousers. When they arrived at the other end, to the amusement of onlookers, they emerged wearing only their underwear – but the trip was a success, all the same.
5. A duel has taken place between balloonists
By 1808, duelling was still a widely-practiced means of resolving disputes between men who, for whatever reason, had besmirched one another’s reputation. But one particular duel of that year was a little different than the others – mainly due to the height at which it took place.
And as always have a chilled day from the Viking
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