By Tim Lambert
Early Balloons
The hot air balloon was invented by two brothers, Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier. On June 4, 1783, the Montgolfiers publicly demonstrated an unmanned hot-air balloon. On 19 September 1783, a duck, a sheep, and a cockerel became the first living creatures carried by a hot air balloon.
On 27 August 1783, Jacques Charles and Nicolas Robert launched the first unmanned hydrogen balloon. On 1 December 1783, they made the first manned flight in a hydrogen balloon.
On 21 November 1783, two men, Jean-François de Rozier and the Marquis d’Arlandes, made the first untethered balloon flight in a hot air balloon.
On 4 June 1784, Elisabeth Thible became the first woman to fly in an untethered balloon. On 27 August 1784, James Tytler became the first man in Britain to fly in a balloon.
On 7 January 1785, John Jeffries and Jean-Pierre Blanchard made the first flight across the English Channel in a balloon. On 19 January 1785, Richard Crosbie became the first man in Ireland to fly in a balloon. (He flew for a short distance across Dublin).
On 23 June 1784, a 13-year-old boy named Edward Warren became the first person in the USA to ascend in a balloon. (The balloon was tethered). On 9 January 1793, Jean Pierre Blanchard made the first hot air balloon flight in the USA.
On 26 June 1794, the French used a balloon to spy on the Austrian army at the Battle of Fleurus. It was the first use of an aircraft in war. Balloons were also used for reconnaissance during the American Civil War (1861-1865).
In 1797, Andre-Jacques Gernerin became the first man to parachute. He parachuted from a balloon 3,280 feet high.
The first airship was launched in 1852. Henri Giffard made it, and a 3-horsepower steam engine powered it. It flew 17 miles. Unfortunately, its engine was not strong enough to overcome strong headwinds.
In 1860, James Wallace Black took the first aerial photo, from a balloon in the USA.
Modern Balloons
The invention of the internal combustion engine made airships feasible. The first zeppelin airship was launched on 2 July 1900. The first commercial airship flights began in 1910.
Airships also had a military use. On 19 January 1915, two German Zeppelin airships bombed two British towns, King’s Lynn and Great Yarmouth. Five people were killed. It was the first time the Germans bombed Britain.
In 1923, the first US airship, USS Shenandoah, made its maiden flight. It was the first airship to use non-flammable helium instead of hydrogen. Unfortunately, it was wrecked in a storm in 1925, killing the crew.
Unfortunately, the famous German airship Hindenburg was filled with hydrogen. On 6 May 1937, it caught fire and burned when it attempted to moor in New Jersey, USA. 36 people were killed.
In 1931, two men, Auguste Piccard and Paul Kipfer, became the first people to enter the stratosphere. In an aluminium capsule attached to a hydrogen balloon, they rose to 51,770 feet (15,781 metres).
During World War II, barrage balloons were used to protect against enemy bombers.
In 1987, Richard Branson and Per Lindstrand became the first men to cross the Atlantic in a hot air balloon.
On 21 February 1995, Steve Fossett became the first man to fly across the Pacific single-handed in a balloon. In 2002, Steve Fossett became the first man to fly around the world in a balloon alone.
Meanwhile, in 1999, Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones became the first men to circumnavigate the world non-stop by balloon.
Lastly, 9 January is National Balloon Ascension Day.
Last revised 2026