History Preamble Pages

LTA’s 8.0

Lighter Than Air - 8th generation

1st January 1785, 1.05 pm, Dover. First attempt to cross the channel in Aerostat from England to France

The Montgolfier brothers invented hot air balloons(1780), demonstrating them in public for the first time in 1783. A few months later, the first piloted hot air balloon flight was undertaken by the pilot Pilâtre de Rozier, with an army officer, the marquis d’Arlandes. The same year, Jacques Charles, a physicist, and the Robert brothers created a hydrogen-filled balloon. The achievement was a breakthrough for this nascent invention. Then came the risk-taker – Jean-Pierre Blanchard, an inventor who was also a physicist. The young buck developed a pedal car and hydraulic devices, as well as performing a jump... in an umbrella! Hydrogen, discovered by Henry Cavendish, will be crucial to the success of the French flying craze. The idea of giving the nacelle wings and rudders came from Blanchard, who had been working on the construction of a flying vessel since 1781 and was identified with the goal to build a dirigible and undertake free flight.

Blanchard persisted and, on March 2, 1784, he accomplished a remarkable achievement by taking off from the Champ-de-Mars, flying across the Seine, and landing safely on the left bank in the Rue de Sèvres. In September 1784, he arrived in England with the crazy intention of flying back. The fantasy became a reality four months later.

Pilot Pilatre de Rozier first ascend on Champ de Mars ,Paris in 1784

On January 7, 1785, the sky was clear: it was a very chilly morning. Jean-Pierre Blanchard and Doctor Jeffries chose to fly to the French shore against sailors' recommendations to the contrary. The balloon, whose impermeability was questionable, was carrying 43 tiny kilos of articles and ballast as it rotated on its axis above the castle of Dover and, at 1:05 p.m., it started from England, heading to the French shore. The balloon, which had wings, a rudder, and a propeller, moves slowly and occasionally loses height, requiring the two men to part with supplies, wings, a rudder, a reel, nacelle decorations, and finally the bottle that they had brought with them to open in the event of a celebration. The pair are compelled to perform an unlikely “striptease” over the English Channel by the aerostat, which is still losing height. They are down to their cork waistcoats alone. None of it works.

Jeffries offers to sacrifice himself but fortunately the balloon began to ascend once more. The balloon crossed the shore between Capes Gris-Nez and Blanc-Nez at three o'clock with its final and highest leap of the trip. With a gust of wind, the two pilots manage to land in the “Guînes” woodland without crashing. The first airborne crossing of the English Channel had just been accomplished by JeanPierre Blanchard and John Jeffries. On the basis of this achievement, the Frenchman received numerous requests for demonstrations abroad in Germany and Belgium. However, Blanchard passed away at the start of his seventieth climb after experiencing apoplexy while in flight. Illustration: Blanchard and Jeffries’ balloon with its first navigation-aid improvement crossing the channel, 7th January 1785