Cold Open

It’s June 4th, 1783 in a town square in Annonay, France.

38-year-old Etienne Montgolfier strikes a flint and steel together in search of a spark. After a few tries, a small pile of straw on the ground sets alight.

A meager crowd watches as Etienne adds more fuel to the fire. He moves quickly because time is of the essence. Etienne is here with his older brother Joseph to demonstrate a new invention. A large, circular sheet lies on the ground, and if the Montgolfier Brothers are right, it’ll soon ascend into the sky like a bird.

Etienne signals to Joseph, and the two inventors lift the cotton-and-paper sheet above the fire. As smoke and heated air enters an opening in the sheet, it gradually expands - into a balloon. Eventually, the sheet is fully inflated, but the Montgolfier Brothers’ balloon remains on the ground.

One or two spectators hackle and laugh, but Etienne ignores them. He knows it’s just a matter of time before the balloon’s ready to go. And after a few more seconds, Etienne feels balloon tugging at his hands. He and Joseph exchange a nod, let go at the same time, and the balloon rises into the air.

The small crowd bursts into applause as the balloon soars up toward the clouds. It climbs and climbs, rising higher even than Etienne expected until it’s little more than a small speck in the blue sky.

This experiment in Annonay, France doesn’t just launch a balloon into the air. It also launches Etienne and Joseph Montgolfier to fame. Over the next few years, the Montgolfier Brothers will become famous pioneers in the new industry of aeronautics, helping humans take to the sky for the first time. But tragedy as well as triumph will follow for Etienne and Joseph, long after they gave the first public demonstration of a hot-air balloon on June 4th, 1783.

Introduction

From Noiser and Airship, I’m Lindsay Graham and this is History Daily.

History is made every day. On this podcast—every day—we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world.

Today is June 4th, 1783: The Hot-Air Balloon’s First Flight.

Act One

It’s November 1782 in Avignon, France, two-and-a-half years before the first public demonstration of a hot-air balloon.

42-year-old Joseph Montgolfier carries a box-shaped, cloth-covered contraption through his house and carefully places it on the stone floor of his kitchen. Joseph smooths the cloth, checks the lightweight wooden frame is intact, and then nods with satisfaction. His experiment is ready.

Joseph has always been a tinkerer and deeply curious about the ways of the world. A few days ago, while watching clothes dry over a fire, Joseph noticed a shirt’s sleeves billowing and lifting up in the air. That gave him the seed of an idea. He wondered whether smoke might contain a special substance that’s more buoyant than regular air. So, he set to work building a device to test his hypothesis: a lightweight box to capture smoke. And if Joseph’s theory is correct, the box should rise into the air when there’s enough smoke inside.

So now, Joseph crumples up some paper on the floor and sets it to light. Then, he carefully places the only side of the box that’s not covered by cloth over the top of the small flame. At first, all Joseph sees is a flicker behind the cloth. But after a moment, the box slowly floats up into the air. Joseph claps his hands in delight as the box rises up all the way up to the ceiling. And then when the fire burns out, the box drops back to the floor. Joseph repeats this experiment several times, noting that the box rises only when smoke is trapped inside the chamber. If Joseph blows the smoke away from the box, it remains on the floor.

Excited by this discovery, Joseph writes to his younger brother Etienne to tell him about his findings. Joseph explains that smoke must contain something that’s lighter than air, a mysterious substance he dubs “Montgolfier gas.” He’s already invented a special gadget that captures this gas and uses it to rise into the air. But for the next stage of his experiments, Joseph needs Etienne's help.

Etienne runs a paper-making business and Joseph wants to make use of his brother’s expertise. He asks Etienne whether paper would be a better material to cover his floating box. It’s lighter than cloth after all, so in theory, less “Montgolfier gas” should be needed to make it fly. But of course, paper is flammable. So what Joseph needs is a paper mix that is both lightweight and fire-resistant.

Over the next few weeks, the two brothers collaborate and build several more experimental contraptions together. Using Etienne's knowledge of paper manufacturing, they find a blend of cotton and paper that’s less prone to tearing or catching on fire. They also discover it’s possible to remove the device’s square wooden frame because the smoke itself seems to support the material. That considerably lowers their gadget’s weight, allowing them to build a bigger test model. When they release this new, unframed balloon outside, the result is spectacular. It floats high into the air until the wind catches it and the balloon threatens to disappear into the distance. The brothers race after it, trying to keep their precious invention in sight. The balloon travels for over a mile, but when Joseph and Etienne finally reach its landing site, their hearts sink. Someone else has gotten to the balloon first - and hacked it to pieces, perhaps thinking it was a bomb sent by France’s old enemy, the British.

After their test model is destroyed, the brothers build another balloon—and this one is even bigger. Keen to avoid another misunderstanding, they make their next launch a public event. And on June 4th, 1783, local dignitaries are invited to a town square in Annonay to watch the balloon go up. Upon release, it reaches 6,000 feet into the air and drifts for a mile before falling back to earth. The reaction of the invited guests is so positive that word of the Montgolfier Brothers’ invention quickly spreads, even reaching the ears of the king.

Three months after unveiling their balloon in its first public test flight, the Montgolfiers are asked to repeat the demonstration for King Louis XVI. Joseph and Etienne make the most of the occasion. They decorate the balloon with royal symbols and attach a basket underneath. After they fill the balloon with smoke from a fire, it ascends above the Palace of Versailles with a duck, a chicken, and a sheep aboard. The animals become the first live test subjects to travel by hot-air balloon, and King Louis gleefully tracks their progress on horseback.

The three animals survive their adventure through the air, and King Louis realizes that these balloons may give France an advantage in battle. He requests another flight using condemned criminals as test pilots. But Joseph and Etienne persuade the king that the honor of being the first human to fly should go to French noblemen, not criminals. So, with royal backing, the Montgolfier Brothers will embark on the next stage of their research with a new goal: to send a balloon into the sky with a human on board.

Act Two

It’s November 21st, 1783, at a chateau in Paris, France, two months after the Montgolfier Brothers demonstrated their balloon to King Louis XVI.

29-year-old science tutor Jean-Francois Pilatre de Rozier walks around the Montgolfier Brothers’ latest balloon, carefully inspecting the cotton-and-paper envelope for rips or tears. After he’s done a full circuit of the balloon, he signals to the brothers that the equipment is good to go. Jean-Francois wants to ensure that today’s flight goes without a hitch—and not just because it’s the latest demonstration of the Montgolfiers' invention, but because for this flight, Jean-Francois will be aboard.

Five months ago, Jean-Francois witnessed the first demonstration of the Montgolfiers' balloon at Annonay. Since then, he’s followed the brothers’ experiments with interest. He’s assisted in several test flights, including the royal demonstration at Versailles. And last month, Jean-Francois helped Etienne Montgolfier make the first manned balloon flight—although Etienne only rose 80 feet into the air since the balloon was tied to the ground. Now, Jean-Francois has been selected to go up in the first untethered balloon flight with fellow nobleman Francois Laurent d'Arlandes.

So, after his inspection is complete, Jean-Francois climbs into the basket and d'Arlandes joins him. They watch as the Montgolfiers light a fire and haul on ropes to pull the balloon over the smoke. The balloon slowly inflates until the basket lifts off the ground. Jean-Francois is thrilled by the sensation of rising into the air, although he notices that d'Arlandes is finding it less enjoyable - his knuckles are white from gripping the side of the basket.

The balloon then ascends to 3,000 feet above Paris, giving Jean-Francois a view of the French capital that up until now has been reserved for birds. The balloon drifts in the breeze, floating over the River Seine and far above the towers of Notre Dame Cathedral—the tallest building in France. Jean-Francois removes his hat and waves enthusiastically to the tiny figures on the ground.

And since this is the first untethered balloon with a human pilot, the Montgolfier Brothers have added a new element to their balloon—an iron brazier slung underneath. Jean-Francois has been carefully tending the fire within to keep them in the air, but after 25 minutes, he thinks they’ve been up there long enough. He lets the fire die down and the balloon descends slowly until it lands in a field, five miles from where it took off. After they land, Jean-Francois opens a bottle of champagne and toasts the successful flight with d'Arlandes, whose color returns now his feet are back on solid ground.

Over the next year, Jean-Francois becomes the Montgolfiers' most experienced pilot. During his pioneering flights, Jean-Francois accompanies the first paying passengers to travel by balloon, and he ascends through the clouds on another trip, going higher than anyone has before. On that occasion, Jean-Francois travels more than 30 miles before the freezing winds at 10,000 feet force him back down to Earth.

Now secure in the knowledge that balloons can cover long distances, Jean-Francois' next challenge is to make the first crossing of the English Channel. But he knows that flying over the sea means that he’ll need a bigger balloon with a larger supply of fuel. Jean-Francois decides that the Montgolfiers' latest balloon isn’t up to the task, so he builds his own - with a radical new design. Jean-Francois' balloon has two chambers. One captures hot, smoky air like the Montgolfier balloons. But the second chamber contains a newly discovered gas that’s known to be lighter than air—hydrogen.

Jean-Francois' new balloon sets off from Calais on the north coast of France on June 15th, 1785. Jean-Francois and his companion hope for a smooth and historic journey, but their trip hits problems almost immediately. They’re at the mercy of the elements because Jean-Francois has no way to steer the balloon. And partway across the channel, the wind changes direction and pushes them back toward France. When the balloon crosses back over the French coast just three miles from the launch point, Jean-Francois decides to abandon his attempt. But as he starts the descent, a spark from the brazier ignites the hydrogen in the balloon's second chamber. A fireball quickly consumes the balloon as Jean-Francois watches on helplessly. From 1500 feet above the ground, the basket plummets back down to earth.

This accident gives Jean-Francois another ballooning first—but this one is an unwanted accolade. He and his companion become the victims of the first fatal balloon accident in history. But they won’t be the last. Over the next two centuries, balloons will send many more people to their deaths—but the majority won’t be passengers. Because less than ten years after Jean-Francois’ last flight, the hot-air balloon will become a weapon of war.

Act Three

It’s the morning of June 26th, 1794, outside Fleurus, a town in the Netherlands, nine years after the death of Jean-Francois Pilatre de Rozier.

The 28-year-old French General, Antoine Morlot, holds a telescope to his eye and examines the position of enemy fortifications around the town. It’s a familiar task for General Morlot, who’s commanded troops in several battles. But he’s never had such an impressive view of a battlefield before—because right now, General Morlot is 100 feet in the air in the wicker basket of a hot-air balloon.

Five years ago, in 1789, King Louis XVI was overthrown in the French Revolution and a republican government was set up in his place. Two years later, a coalition of European powers declared war on the new regime with the intention of reestablishing the French monarchy. The outnumbered French Army needed every advantage it could get and turned to the country’s brightest minds for help. So, the Montgolfier Brothers were asked to turn their balloon into a weapon of war. Today, the French Army is facing an Austrian force occupying the town of Fleurus —and for the first time, they have a hot-air balloon in their arsenal.

After examining the enemy positions, General Morlot thinks he’s seen enough from his high vantage point. The balloon then descends and the general passes on instructions to his subordinates. Knowing exactly where the Austrian troops are coming from and in what numbers allows General Morlot to shuffle his troops to better defend against the threat. And over the next few hours, the Austrians launch multiple assaults on the French lines. But General Morlot’s men hold firm, and when the Austrian advance stalls, the French rally to push the Austrians back. By the end of the day, the French are in command of the battlefield.

After this success at the Battle of Fleurus, balloons gradually become an important part of 19th-century armies. Over the years that follow, more advanced balloons and then airships rise higher and go further than ever before. During World War One, hundreds take to the air, deployed either to scout out the enemy or to protect ground targets against an even more deadly weapon of the skies: the airplane.

And in many ways, it’s the airplane that makes Montgolfier Brothers’ invention obsolete. But hot-air balloons remain in use today for pleasure flights, and some even predict the golden age of ballooning is yet to come. Gigantic, helium-filled hybrid airships may soon be a familiar sight in the skies, an environmentally friendly form of transportation that can trace its lineage back more than two centuries to the Montgolfier Brothers’ experimental hot-air balloon, which was first unveiled to the French public on June 4th, 1783.

Outro

Next on History Daily. June 5th, 1981. The Centers for Disease Control identifies five cases of a rare lung infection striking gay men in California—a disease that will later become known as AIDS.

From Noiser and Airship, this is History Daily, hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham.

Audio editing by Muhammad Shahzaib.

Sound design by Matthew Filler.

Music by Thrumm.

This episode is written and researched by Scott Reeves.

Edited by William Simpson.

Managing producer, Emily Burke.

Executive Producers are William Simpson for Airship, and Pascal Hughes for Noiser.