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Hints of the hot air balloon appear in many cultures. A fourteenth-century monk's manuscript from England speaks of goatskins flying in the air when placed near steam from soup. As far back as the Egyptians, there have been recorded experiments on the subject of hot air rising. However, the creation of this beautiful flying machine took an age of invention and two competitive Frenchmen.
The birth of air ballon flight came in the year 1782, with a discovery of two brothers Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier. Their discovery that hot air was lighter than cold air led to the making of a small silk ballon, which they subsequently elevated thirty-two meters in the air. Upon discovering that the hotter the air, the more a balloon rose, the two decided to give a public demonstration of their work in their home town of Annonay, France. They created a globe of 900 cubic meters of cotton spread of a carboard fitting. Then they rigged up a boat of burning straw under the balloon to fill it with hot air. When it was hot enough, they cut the string attaching the balloon to the ground. It rose ten thousand meters into the air, before descending and exploding. News of their discovery was sent to the Science Academy of France.
The Mongolfier made a promise to their father never to fly their machine. So the priviledge of trying out the balloon went to a duck, a sheep and a chicken. After eight minutes of flying, witnessed by the entire Science Academy and Louis XVI himself, the animals were still alive. Louis XVI was quite skeptical about the success of a flying mission, but he nonetheless allowed Pilatre Rosier, a native of Lourdes, to attempt a flight with a passenger. Their flight over Paris laster 28 minutes, during which both men fed a fire placed in the middle of their partitioned basket.
This discovery won the brothers nobility, and a legacy of flying balloons. A competition rose up between Pilatre and the brothers as to who could fly the highest. Balloons became bigger. There was a recorded twelve cats sent into the air over Paris at one point for a hydrogen-fueled balloon experiment. The idea of crossing the English Channel, an inevitable goal, rose up as the ultimate challenge. A man named Blanchard flew from England to France and completed the challenge from the English side. The challenge of the longer route, from France to England, still remained. In 1785, Pilatre attempted this flight and died, his balloon burning under him into the Channel. The reason for his flammable end was a small bag of hydrogen that he attached to his basket, near the flames for the larger hot air balloon. This event marked a downfall of popularity for the hot air balloon, and an increase in popularity, ironically, in hydrogen.
Hydrogen means of transportation became popular after this. It was possible to travel farther and build more durable balloons with hydrogen fueling. Terrifying pictures of dirgibles dropping bombs haunt films of World Wars One and Two. The dirgible made way for the blimp, still in existence. Because of these alternate modes of air travel, the hot air balloon largely disappeared until it re-surfaced strongly in fifties America as an instrument of leisure. The difference between now and then is a more durable canvas balloon material, new lightening materials and the propane burner, an easily controllable source of heat. It is now truly efficient way of travel, for the unhurried and curious of today.
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