The History Of Hot Air Balloons

The history of hot air balloons began over 200 years ago when a French scientist famously sent up a balloon carrying a rather confused duck, sheep, and cockerel.

Balloons have come a long way since then.

(You’ll be pleased to hear we don’t burn old boots or meat as fuel anymore, or expect you to share a basket with animals!)

And today ballooning is popular all over the world.

Pilots like Sir Richard Branson have achieved incredible feats in a quest to fly further, higher, and for longer.

1783 - First Hot Air Balloon Flight

French scientist Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier famously launched the first hot air balloon carrying a duck, a sheep, and a cockerel.
The balloon is given a lift by hot air but also has a compartment of ‘lighter-than-air’ gas – like helium or hydrogen – at the top of the balloon.
The flight lasts for 15 minutes.

1783 - FIRST MANNED HOT AIR BALLOON FLIGHT

Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d’Arlandes fly from Paris in a genuine ‘hot air’ balloon created out of paper-lined cloth by wealthy brothers and papermakers Jacques Étienne and Joseph Michel Montgolfier.

1784 - FIRST BALLOON FLIGHT IN THE UK

Scottish aviator James Tytler becomes the first Briton to fly a hot air balloon making a flight over Edinburgh.
However, he is overshadowed soon after by Italian diplomat and ‘daredevil’ Vincenzo Lunardi, who completes the first balloon flight in England.
Launching his hydrogen gas balloon in front of 200,000 spectators at London’s Artillery Ground, he flies with a dog, a cat, and a caged pigeon for 24 miles into Hertfordshire.
He becomes famous and helped build the romance of ballooning still present today.

1785 - FIRST ENGLISH CHANNEL BALLOON CROSSING

French aeronaut Jean-Pierre Blanchard and American John Jeffries successfully fly across the Channel.
They carry and deliver a letter – now that’s what you call ‘Air Mail’!

1793 - FIRST BALLOON FLIGHT IN AMERICA

Jean-Pierre Blanchard completes the first balloon flight in North America, flying from Philadelphia to Gloucester County, New Jersey.

1836 - FIRST LONG-DISTANCE BALLOON FLIGHT

The Great Balloon of Nassau (85,000 cubic ft in size) is flown by UK balloon enthusiast Charles Green 800 km (500 mi) from London to Weilburg in Germany in 18 hours.
More than 160 years later, Virgin Balloon Flights flew his great, great nephew in our big red balloon over the Cotswolds.

1870 - HOT AIR BALLOONS USED AT WAR

Another first in the history of hot air balloons was when they were used for military observation during the Franco-Prussian War and a French Minister made a dramatic James Bond-style escape from a besieged Paris by balloon.

1906 - BALLOONING GROWS AS A SPORT

Interest in ballooning as a sport grows thanks to the annual Gordon Bennett Balloon Trophy Races.
Founded by American journalist James Gordon Bennett when a group of hydrogen gas balloons fly from Paris, it first took place in 1906, pausing only for World War I I, and continues today.

1914 - LANDMARK DISTANCE RECORD

The Berliner hot air balloon flies 3,052 km (1,897) flies from Bitterfield in Germany to Perm in Russia.

1914 - BALLOONS IN WORLD WAR I

Both sides used balloons for military observation during the war from 1914 to 1918.

1931 - FIRST GAS BALLOON FLIGHT TO THE STRATOSPHERE

Swiss physicist Auguste Piccard flies to the Stratosphere at 15,781 m (51,793 ft) in a metal cabin carried by a hydrogen gas balloon.
The next year he reached 16,507 m (54,156 ft)

1960 - MODERN HOT AIR BALLOONING ERA TAKES OFF

Edward Yost invents a propane burner that changes ballooning from gas power to hot air.
A hot air balloon using the burner successfully flies in Nebraska, USA.

1961 - HIGHEST EVER GAS BALLOON FLIGHT

After several successful attempts to better Auguste Piccard’s record by others, Malcolm Ross and Victor Prather achieved an incredible 34,679m (113,775 ft).

1970 - NEXT GENERATION OF BALLOONING

The 1970s and 80s see the development of new synthetic materials and lighter burners, allowing ballooning to become a popular modern sport and marking another new age in the history of hot air balloons.

1973 - FIRST BALLOON WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

The first ballooning world championships were held in the United States.

1978 - FIRST TRANSATLANTIC FLIGHT IN A HELIUM GAS BALLOON

American businessmen Ben Abruzzo, Max L. Anderson, and Larry Newman fly a record 5,000 km (3,108 mi) from Maine, USA, to Miserey, France, in 137 hours and 6 minutes.

1987 - FIRST TRANSATLANTIC HOT AIR BALLOON FLIGHT

Sir Richard Branson and Per Linstrand successfully flew the Virgin Atlantic Flyer – the largest balloon ever at 2.3 million cubic feet – across the Atlantic.
The balloon travels 2,900 miles in a record-breaking time of 33 hours and reaches speeds over 130 miles per hour (209 k/ph).

1991 - FIRST TRANSPACIFIC HOT AIR BALLOON FLIGHT

Sir Richard Branson and Per Lindstrand cross the Pacific Ocean from Japan to Arctic Canada at the furthest distance of 6,700 miles.
Again, this breaks all existing records.
The balloon measures 2.6 million cubic feet and hits speeds of up to 245 miles per hour

1999 - FIRST ROUND OF THE WORLD BALLOON FLIGHT

Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones fly a helium/hot air balloon, the Breitling Orbiter 3, around the globe, setting the longest-ever flight covering 46,759 km (29,055 mi) in 19 days, 21 hours, and 55 minutes.

2002 - FIRST SOLO ROUND THE WORLD FLIGHT

American millionaire Steve Fossett flies around the world in a helium/hot air balloon, Spirit of Freedom, on his sixth attempt.
He flies for 13 days, 34,000 km (22,100 mi).
It is the longest-ever solo balloon flight.

2005 - WORLD FEMALE ALTITUDE ATTEMPT

Virgin Balloon Flights pilot Lindsay Muir – the UK's top female flyer – attempts to take her balloon to 34,000 ft, in Cuneo, Italy, to beat the record of 33,669 ft.
High winds and turbulence caused the attempt to fail but it receives major national coverage for Virgin and ballooning in general.

2005 - HIGHEST EVER HOT AIR BALLOON FLIGHT

Vijaypat Singhania, an Indian businessman, and Aviator, set the record by flying up to 21,290 m (69,852 ft) in a massive 160ft tall balloon with a pressurized cabin

2006 - HIGHEST CONCERT AND HIGHEST RECORDED SING IN A HOT AIR BALLOON

Virgin Balloon Flights teamed up with rock band The Girls (including special guests such as Andrew ‘Mushroom’ Vowles from Massive Attack) and Future Music magazine to set the new Guinness World Records in a Virgin balloon piloted by Mark Simmons.
The song ‘What I Did Today’ was performed and recorded 1,848 m (6,063 ft) above Wiltshire.

2008 - UNPLUGGED & AIRBORNE

Virgin Balloon Flights teamed up with Virgin Radio and Sony BMG to host a gig by singer-songwriter Newton Faulkner in a balloon above the Swiss Alps.
The event is believed to be the first ever show by a hit artist to be recorded in a hot air balloon for national radio and it receives widespread coverage

2009 - LONGEST DURATION FLIGHT IN AN AX-02 BALLOON

Virgin Balloon Flights pilot Mark Shemilt breaks a world record for endurance flying by keeping a special lightweight hopper balloon (AX-02 category) above the French Alps for seven hours and 32 minutes, beating the previous best by more than half an hour.

2010 - LONGEST DISTANCE FLIGHT IN AN AX-02 BALLOON

Pilot Mark Shemilt did it again in February 2010 breaking the distance record in the same AX-02 category balloon flying 120 miles from Leicestershire to the Suffolk coast

2011 - LARGEST MASS BALLOON ASCENT

A total of 329 balloons line up to launch at the Lorraine Mondial balloon fiesta in France setting the world record for the largest mass ascent of hot air balloons.
Meanwhile, Virgin Balloon Flights’ Chief Pilot and Director Kenneth Karlstrom beat 120 other top pilots to win the prestigious event’s target flying competition.

2016 - FASTEST SOLO ROUND THE WORLD BALLOON FLIGHT

Russain adventurer (and priest!) Fedor Konyukhov broke the record for solo balloon flight around the world, completing his 33,000km journey in just under 11 days.