Wednesday, June 4, 2008

First Hot Air Balloon Ride



While there were a few hot air balloon rides before June 4, 1783, when the Montgolfier Brothers did their first public demonstration - most ended in disaster with very short flight times. And so, the Montgolfier Brothers are usually credited with the first successful hot air balloon ride. (for more background info, try wikipedia).

So to celebrate the event, let us recommend some choice videos. First, watch Conquest of the Air, a very dry humored British film on the history of flight, starring Sir Laurence Olivier, as Vincent Lunardi one of the early pioneers of hot air balloon flight.

Another highly recommended title is Buster Keaton in Balloonatic.

Our final hot air balloon related video is of The Double Eagle, piloted by Ben Abruzzo, Max Anderson and Larry Newman. On August 19, 1978 - they were the first to take a hot air balloon ride across the Atlantic Ocean.