First balloon flight on the UK

1784

The first person in Britain to ascend in a balloon was a Scot, James Tytler, an apothecary and the editor of the second edition of Encyclopædia Britannica.

The first manned balloon flight in Britain was by Tytler on August 27, 1784. Tytler flew his balloon from Abbeyhill to Restalrig, then suburbs of Edinburgh. He flew for ten minutes at a height of 350 feet

Notwithstanding Tytler’s achievement, “Balloonomania” swept Britain due largely to the exploits of an Italian, Vincenzo (“Vincent”) Lunardi, who, quite the showman, styled himself as “the Daredevil Aeronaut”.

On the morning of September 15, 1784, nearly 200,000 people watched as Lunardi launched a hydrogen balloon into the air from the Artillery Ground on the northern outskirts of London. The envelope of the balloon was made of oiled silk, and had a diameter of 33 feet.

For the flight, Lunardi was accompanied by three companions: a dog, a cat and a pigeon. A special stand had been erected for George, the Prince of Wales, who tipped his silk hat in deference as the balloon began to rise. The balloon drifted north for 24 miles before landing safely in Hertfordshire.

Lunardi’s balloon was later exhibited at the Pantheon on Oxford Street. Lunardi made five sensational flights in Scotland in 1785, creating a ballooning fad and inspiring ladies’ fashions in skirts and hats. (The “Lunardi bonnet” is mentioned in the poem To a Louse by Robert Burns.)

The first goal of long-distance balloon flight was to cross the English Channel.

Pilatre De Rozier,local chemistry teacher, planned to cross in a hybrid balloon design, a combination of a hot-air balloon with a small hydrogen balloon attached. But he wasn’t ready in time.

Jean-Pierre Blanchard was inspired by the Montgolfier brothers’ early demonstrations and took his first flight in a balloon in March 1784. In England Blanchard met American doctor and fellow balloon enthusiast John Jeffries, who offered to fund a flight across the Channel in return for a place in the basket.

On 7 January 1785 the pair made their ascent in a hydrogen balloon over Dover and headed for the coast. The flight almost ended early when the pair realised their basket, loaded with equipment, was much too heavy.

They dumped everything, even Blanchard’s trousers, but kept hold of a letter, the first airmail. They completed the flight in two-and-a-half hours, landing in the Felmores Forest.

Blanchard and Jeffries became international sensations. Blanchard subsequently became the first person to make a balloon flight in North America, conducted in front of President George Washington on 9 January 1793.