| Hot air balloons are the oldest | | | | the Marquis Francois d'Arlandes |
| successful human flight technology, | | | | successfully petitioned for the honor. |
| dating back to the Montgolfier brothers' | | | | The first hot air balloons were |
| invention in Annonay, France in 1783. | | | | basically cloth bags (sometimes lined |
| The first flight carrying humans was | | | | with paper) with a smoky fire built on a |
| made on November 21, 1783, in Paris by | | | | grill attached to the bottom. They had a |
| Pilâtre de Rozier and | | | | tendency to catch fire and be destroyed |
| the Marquis d'Arlandes. Hot air balloons | | | | upon landing. |
| that can be propelled through the air | | | | The first military use of aircraft took |
| rather than just being carried along by | | | | place during the French Revolutionary |
| the wind are known as airships or, more | | | | Wars, when the French used a tethered |
| specifically, thermal airships. | | | | Hydrogen balloon to observe the |
| Attractive aspects of ballooning include | | | | movements of the Austrian army during |
| the exceptional quiet (except when the | | | | the Battle of Fleurus (1794). Hot air |
| propane burners are firing), the lack of | | | | balloons were employed during the |
| any perceptible feeling of movement and | | | | American Civil War. Though the military |
| the birds-eye view. Since the balloon | | | | balloons used by the Union Army Balloon |
| moves with the wind, the passengers feel | | | | Corps under the command of Prof. |
| absolutely no wind, except for brief | | | | Thaddeus S. C. Lowe were limp silk |
| periods during the flight when the | | | | envelopes inflated with coke gas or |
| balloon climbs or descends into air | | | | hydrogen, the Confederate Army did |
| currents of different direction or | | | | attempt to counter with a rigid |
| speed. | | | | Montgolfier style hot air, or "hot smoke |
| A hot air balloon consists of a bag | | | | balloon." Captain John R. Bryant |
| called the envelope that is capable of | | | | inflated his rigid cotton balloon with a |
| containing hot air. Suspended beneath is | | | | fire of oil-soaked pine cones. The |
| the gondola or wicker basket (in | | | | balloon was soon captured by Union |
| certain, long distance or high altitude | | | | forces as the Confederate's techniques |
| balloons, a capsule) which carries a | | | | of balloon handling were not competent. |
| source of heat capable of producing a | | | | Revival |
| sufficient temperature gradient between | | | | The first modern hot air balloon was |
| the air inside the envelope and the | | | | designed and built in 1960 by Ed Yost. |
| surrounding air mass to give enough lift | | | | He made the first free flight of such an |
| to keep the balloon and its passengers | | | | aircraft in Bruning, Nebraska on 22 |
| aloft. Unlike gas balloons, the envelope | | | | October 1960. Initially equipped with a |
| does not have to be sealed at the bottom | | | | plastic envelope and kerosene fuel, |
| since the rising hot air only exerts | | | | Yost's designs rapidly moved onto using |
| pressure on the upper hemisphere of the | | | | a modified propane powered "weed burner" |
| balloon to provide lift. In today's | | | | to heat the air and lightweight nylon |
| sports balloons the envelope is | | | | fabric for the envelope material. |
| generally made from nylon fabric and the | | | | Today, hot air balloons are used |
| mouth of the balloon (closest to the | | | | primarily for recreation. There are some |
| burner flame) is made from fire | | | | 7,000 hot air balloons operating in the |
| resistant material. | | | | United States. |
| Recently, balloon envelopes have been | | | | Hot air balloons are able to fly to |
| made in fantastic shapes, such as hot | | | | extremely high altitudes. On November |
| dogs, rocket ships, and the shapes of | | | | 26, 2005, Vijaypat Singhania set the |
| commercial products. | | | | world altitude record for highest hot |
| History | | | | air balloon flight, reaching 21,290 |
| Unmanned hot air balloons are mentioned | | | | meters (69,852 feet). He took off from |
| in Chinese history. Zhuge Liang in the | | | | downtown Bombay, India and landed 240 km |
| Three Kingdoms era, Shu Kingdom, used | | | | (150 miles) south in Panchale. The |
| airborne lanterns for military | | | | previous record of 19,811 meters (64,980 |
| signaling. These lanterns are known as | | | | ft) had been set by Per Lindstrand on |
| Kongming lanterns (???). | | | | June 6, 1988 in Plano, Texas. |
| There is also some speculation that hot | | | | The furthest that a hot air balloon has |
| air balloons were used by the Nazca | | | | ever been flown is 7,671.91 km. On |
| Indians of Peru some 1500 years ago as a | | | | January 15, 1991, the Virgin Pacific |
| tool for designing vast drawings on the | | | | Flyer balloon completed the longest |
| Nazca plain. | | | | flight in a hot air balloon when Per |
| The first clearly recorded instances of | | | | Lindstrand (born in Sweden, but resident |
| balloons capable of carrying passengers | | | | in the UK) and Richard Branson of the UK |
| used hot air to obtain buoyancy and were | | | | flew from Japan to Northern Canada. |
| built by the brothers Josef and Etienne | | | | With a volume of 74,000 m3 (2,600,000 |
| Montgolfier in Annonay, France. They | | | | ft3), the balloon envelope was the |
| were from a family of paper | | | | largest ever built for a hot air craft. |
| manufacturers who had noticed the ash | | | | Designed to fly in the trans-oceanic |
| rising in fires. After experimenting | | | | jetstreams the Pacific Flyer recorded |
| with unmanned balloons and flights with | | | | the highest ground speed for a manned |
| animals, the first balloon flight with | | | | balloon at 245 mph (394 km/h). |
| humans on board took place on 21 | | | | The longest duration hot air balloon |
| November 1783. King Louis XVI had | | | | flight ever made is 50 hours and 38 |
| originally decreed that condemned | | | | minutes made by Michio Kanda and |
| criminals would be the first pilots, but | | | | Hirosuke Tekezawa of Japan on January 2, |
| a young physicist named | | | | 1997. |
| Pilâtre de Rozier and | | | | |