First Successful Balloon Flight in the United States

First Successful Balloon Flight in the United States

Through the ages people have dreamed of flying. In legends, the ancients recounted tales of intrepid individuals who dared to ascend into the sky, and throughout the course of history many persons such as Leonardo da Vinci tried to design machines that would allow human beings to defy the force of gravity. Efforts to imitate the birds of the air progressed slowly, but finally, in 1783, the first successful manned balloon flight took place in France. Ten years later, on January 9, 1793, a hydrogen-filled balloon carried a man above the territory of the United States.

A French citizen, Jean Pierre Blanchard, also known as François Blanchard, was the man responsible for the first balloon flight in the United States. The idea of flying had fascinated Blanchard from an early age. He studied birds in flight and even constructed an ingenious, albeit unsuccessful, flying machine before his fellow countrymen Joseph and Jacques Etienne Montgolfier in 1783 produced the first hot-air balloon capable of carrying a man. The Montgolfier invention turned Blanchard's attention to lighter-than-air craft. Between 1783 and 1792 he used Montgolfier balloons to make more than 40 flights that delighted and thrilled audiences in such European cities as Berlin, Warsaw, and Vienna. He also accompanied Dr. John Jeffries of Boston, by balloon, on the first air flight across the English Channel in 1785, an achievement that at the time was hailed as the eighth wonder of the world.

Like the Europeans, Americans were enthusiastic about air travel by balloon. As early as 1784, Peter Carnes tried to duplicate the European achievement. In Baltimore, Maryland, in June 1784, Carnes was able to raise a captive balloon carrying a 13-year-old boy, but when Carnes attempted a second ascension at Philadelphia one month later, his balloon burst into flames. In the years that followed other Americans made efforts to ascend into the sky, but none were successful.

Believing that many Americans were eager to see a balloon ascension and would pay for the privilege, 39-year-old Blanchard set sail from Hamburg on September 30, 1792. He landed in Philadelphia on December 9 and immediately made arrangements for his historic flight. Local newspapers carried advertisements inviting interested persons to pay five dollars so they might see the spectacle. A general feeling of excitement swept through Philadelphia as January 9, 1793, the day of the ascent, approached.

Blanchard chose the courtyard of Philadelphia's Walnut Street Prison as the starting point of his flight. The brick walls of the jail yard protected Blanchard's balloon from the curious who might be tempted to tamper with it, and also prevented people who had not paid the necessary five dollars from observing the event. At 9:00 A.M., inflation of the massive balloon started. A band provided musical background as the huge yellow silk balloon was filled with hydrogen.

Promptly at 10:00 A.M., Blanchard came before the throng of spectators, who included President George Washington and the minister plenipotentiary of France. Washington presented Blanchard, who spoke no English, with a letter explaining the Frenchman's mission to any person he might encounter after his descent. This first presidential message to be airborne read:

The bearer hereof, Mr. Blanchard, a citizen of France, proposing to ascend in a balloon from the city of Philadelphia, at 10 o'clock, A.M. this day, to pass in such direction and to descend in such places as circumstances may render most convenient, these are therefore to recommend to all citizens of the United States, and others, that in his passage, descent, return or journeying elsewhere, they oppose no hindrance or molestation to the said Mr. Blanchard; and, that on the contrary, they receive and aid him with that humanity and good will, which may render honor to their country, and justice to an individual so distinguished by his efforts to establish and advance an art, in order to make it useful to mankind in general.

After Blanchard accepted the “passport” from Washington, the artillery fired one last time. Then Blanchard entered the blue, spangled boat under the massive balloon, tossed out some of the ballast, and slowly the balloon carried him skyward. As Blanchard ascended, he waved a flag, which bore the colors of the United States on one side and those of France on the other, and he doffed his feathered hat to the delighted crowd below. Reflecting on his reactions as he rose above the walls of the jail yard, the Frenchman reported:

I could not help being surprised and astonished, when, elevated at a certain height over the city, I turned my eyes towards the immense number of people, which covered the open places, the roofs of the houses, the steeples, the streets and the roads, over which my flight carried me in the free space of air. What a sight! How delicious for me to enjoy it.

Blanchard soared over Philadelphia, until air currents caught his craft and propelled it east toward Delaware. During his journey eastward, Blanchard performed a number of experiments that American scientists had requested. When he reached maximum altitude, he took his pulse, determined that the balloon had risen to a height of 5,812 feet, and discovered that a magnet that could lift five and one half ounces on the ground could raise only four ounces at that altitude. After completing his scientific observations, Blanchard began his descent by alternately letting air escape from the balloon and throwing out ballast. His first two efforts to land were frustrated when he encountered a dense forest and then a swamp, but on his third try he found a suitable area situated in a thick wood. The descent was easily accomplished, and at 10:56 A.M., 46 minutes after leaving the Walnut Street Prison yard, Blanchard set foot on the ground just outside Woodbury in Gloucester County, New Jersey.

As Blanchard began to consult his compass so that he could calculate his exact location, a local townsman approached the balloon. The sight of the Frenchman's strange craft astonished and frightened the man, but Blanchard reassured him by offering him some of his wine. Within minutes a second townsman appeared, and then others. They read Washington's missive, and proceeded to help Blanchard pack up his equipment and load it on a cart for the return journey to Philadelphia. Arriving in Philadelphia at 7:00 P.M., he paid his respects to Washington and presented the president with the flag that he had waved during his balloon ascent that morning.

Blanchard's flight thrilled the city, but unfortunately most people chose to watch the spectacle from outside the Walnut Street Prison walls, so that Blanchard did not raise enough money to meet his expenses. Thus, in the months following, he undertook a number of projects to earn additional funds. He wrote an account of his flight, which was sold at five and a half cents per copy, and he gave a number of aeronautical exhibitions. These ventures were only moderately successful, and Blanchard returned to France at the end of the year.