History of Airships and Balloons

By Mary Bellis, About.com Guide

Jean Blanchard (1753-1809) designed a hydrogen balloon with flapping devices to control its flight.

First Balloon Flight Across the English Channel

Jean Blanchard soon moved to England, where he gathered a small group of enthusiasts, including Boston physician, John Jeffries. John Jeffries offered to pay for what became the first flight across the English Channel in 1785.

John Jeffries later wrote that they sank so low crossing the English Channel that they threw everything overboard including most of their clothing, arriving safely on land "almost naked as the trees."

Balloon Flight in the United States

The first real balloon flight in the United States did not occur until the Jean Blanchard ascended from the yard of the Washington Prison in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on January 9, 1793. That day, President George Washington, the French ambassador, and a crowd of onlookers watched Jean Blanchard ascend to about 5,800 feet.

First Airmail

Blanchard carried the first piece of airmail with him, a passport presented by President Washington that directed all citizens of the United States, and others, that they oppose no hindrance to the said Mr. Blanchard and help in his efforts to establish and advance an art, in order to make it useful to mankind in general.