The Balloon Museum
This is a display of the first flight of Pilâtre de Rozier in 1783
In 1969, Malcolm Forbes fell in love with the Château de Balleroy situated in Normandy, France, and acquired it in 1970. In 1975, a converted stable became the world’s first museum dedicated to ballooning. In his lifetime, Malcolm Forbes collected paintings, miniatures, artifacts and documents related to the history of ballooning from the time of the Montgolfiers to the present.
Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier, paper-makers from Annonay, France, believed that a thin envelope containing smoke and steam could fly. Their idea was a direct application of Archimede’s principle, that air heated to a temperature of 100°C is lighter than unheated air.
On June 4, 1783 the Montgolfiers sent up a large smoked-filled balloon proving their theory. However they came to realize that it was the heated air, not smoke, which caused the envelope to rise. As soon as the Academy of Science was informed of their work, Jacques Alexandre Charles, a chemist, suggested using hydrogen (which was discovered in 1776) as an aerostatic gas instead of hot air.
On 27 August 1783, three hundred thousand Parisians gathered at the Champs de Mars to witness the unmanned flight organized by Charles. His balloon, a rubberized silk envelope, rose 910 meters and traveled 24 kilometers.
Less than a month later, on September 19, Etienne de Montgolfier launched a balloon from the court of the Château de Versailles. One hundred twenty thousand spectators, including Louis the XVI, witnessed the historic occasion. A wicker basket suspended from the balloon contained three passengers : a sheep, a rooster and a duck. The flight intended to test whether or not sudden changes in altitulde would be harmful. The balloon flew over Versailles and landed at Vaucresson, a forest outside of Paris. Despite a rough landing, the animals were safe and sound
On 21 November 1783, Pilâtre de Rozier, an audacious young physician and the Marquis d’Arlandes, a faithful courtier, took off from the gardens of the Château de la Muette in a Montgolfier balloon. Kept aloft by burning straw, the balloon rose 900 meters and traveled a distance of 10 kilometers in 25 minutes. They landed safely on the on the Butte aux Cailles. The first woman to fly in history was Elizabeth Thible. She took off on June 4, 1783 in the compagny of the artist, Fleurant.
On August 17, 1978, Maxie Anderson, Ben Abruzzo and Larry Newman made the first successful attempt crossing the Atlantic Ocean from Albuquerque in the Double Eagle II, a gas balloon. Previous attempts had ended in failure.