Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier were both sons of a successful paper manufacturer, Pierre Montgolfier. Joseph was a dreamer and inventor. Etienne was practical, with a talent for business. As was the custom at the time, however, their father arranged to leave his factory to the oldest son, Raymond. Both Joseph and Etienne were sent away to learn other crafts.



Shortly after taking control of the factory, however, Raymond died unexpectedly. Etienne was called back to take over the family business. He became very successful, incorporating the latest cutting-edge technology to his paper mill and winning government grants and recognition for his achievements.

Joseph, however, continued to dream. According to popular myth, he conceived of the idea for a hot air balloon while idly watching some laundry dry over a fire. He noticed that billowing pockets of air were forming in the cloth as it warmed. As he noticed this, he thought about the fortress of Gibraltar, which had never been taken by land or sea. He started to consider whether it could be taken by air, with troops carried high over its walls in craft powered by the same force that was causing the cloth to billow.

Soon after, Joseph started his first experiment with flight. He built a box-like frame of lightweight wood, about a metre long on all sides, and covered it with delicate taffeta. He then lit a piece of paper on fire beneath this impromptu balloon. To Joseph's surprise, it shot up and crashed into the ceiling. He immediately wrote a letter asking his brother Etienne to come with a large supply of taffeta and rope.

Together, the brothers built a larger balloon-this one about three metres by three. This one was a bit too successful. In its first test flight, in December of 1782, it shot so quickly into the air that the brothers lost control. It floated over two kilometers before crash-landing in a field.

After a few more experiments, the brothers decided to give a public demonstration to establish their claim on their invention. In June 1783, they sent up an unmanned balloon in front of a crowd of French dignitaries. It rose to an estimated height of 2,000 metres, and news of their invention quickly spread throughout France. The inventors made several more demonstrations in Paris.

So far, all demonstrations had been unmanned. But the inventors were eager to see whether living beings could withstand such a flight. At the time, nobody knew how the upper atmosphere would affect living creatures. The king suggested using criminals in an experiment, but the inventors ultimately chose to use animals for the first attempt.

In September of 1783, the Montgolfier brothers launched a balloon with a basket attached. The basket contained a sheep, a duck, and a rooster. Within eight minutes, the balloon rose to a height of over 450 metres and traveled more than 3 kilometers. The extra weight made it unstable, however; it tipped crazily and eventually crashed. All of the animals escaped unscathed.

Experiments with human passengers began later that year. At first, the balloons were tethered to the ground. The first untethered flight was made in November. The two passengers were a young doctor and an army officer, both of whom had volunteered. Their flight lasted about 25 minutes, reached a height of 100 metres, and covered about 9 kilometres. They could have gone longer, but the fire keeping the balloon aloft had started to scorch the cloth. The two aviators had to apply wet sponges to the cloth while aloft to keep it from incinerating, and they landed as soon as they came to an open field.

During the time the Montgolfiers were developing their hot air balloon, they were under pressure from competing inventors using hydrogen. Hydrogen gas was discovered in 1768, and hydrogen balloons were being developed at the same time. Eventually, hydrogen balloons became the dominant flight technology, and hot air balloons were relegated to novelty status.

The modern hot air balloon is a fairly recent development. In 1960, inventor and engineer Ed Yost revived the Montgolfiers' old design, updating it with plastic lining and a kerosene burner. Yost was an engineer involved in the development of high-altitude weather balloons. He attempted several record-breaking feats in his modern hot air balloon, including a successful crossing of the English channel and an unsuccessful attempt to cross the Atlantic. Even though his Atlantic attempt failed, it set several records for flight time and distance covered. Later, another pilot successfully crossed the Atlantic using Yost's balloon design.

Today's hot air balloons use propane burners and rip-stop nylon, and they've never been safer to ride. The next time you're floating above the earth in a hot air balloon, remember: you're seeing the world as the first inventors of flight saw it, over two hundred years ago.