How old is the hot air balloon

The invention of relatively light burners fueled by bottled propane made it possible for the balloonist to re-heat the air inside the balloon for a longer flight. Yost took the first modern hot air balloon flight on October 22, in Bruning, Nebraska flying for one hour and 35 minutes.

They flew a distance of 2, miles in a record breaking time of 33 hours. At the time, the envelope they used was the largest ever flown, at 2.

A year later, Per Lindstand set yet another record, this time for highest solo flight ever recorded in a hot air balloon - 65, feet! The great team of Richard Branson and Per Lindstrand paired up again in and became the first to cross the Pacific in a hot air balloon. They travelled 6, miles in 47 hours, from Japan to Canada breaking the world distance record, traveling at speeds of up to mph. It's interesting to see how the development of the hot air balloon has gone full circle on itself.

At the very start, the first balloonists burnt materials onboard the balloon to generate heat to propel the envelope into the air. This theory then became obsolete as gas and helium designs were introduced as it was considered safer and more reliable than flying with an open flame. The first flight of the brothers in hot air balloon was experienced the June 4th, on the Place des Cordeliers in Annonay. In the same year, the very first passengers of a hot air balloon were a duck, a rooster and a sheep taking off from Versailles, in front of the King Louis XVI and his court.

The three animals have made a climb up to meters. These lanterns were used for military signaling. Today, we recognize them as traditional Chinese lanterns, but they were, technically, the first hot air balloons. This was to be an air vessel for strategic communication. John V of Portugal funded the creation and demonstration of such a device. This unmanned demo brought European attention to the project. After various unmanned flights and flights with animals, Jean-Francois Pilatre de Rozier became the first man to fly a hot air balloon.

A few weeks later, the first free flight with passengers occurred. In , during the battle of Fleurus, the French used the hot air balloon for observation during war. Napa Valley hot air balloon rides were still a few years away as there was still much to develop.