Editing History of aviation (section)

=== Balloons ===
{{Main|History of ballooning}}
 {{multiple image | direction = vertical | width = 340 | footer = Lithographic depiction of pioneering events (1783 to 1846) | image1 = Early flight 02562u.jpg | image2 = Early flight 02561u.jpg }}

In France, five aviation firsts were accomplished between 4 June and 1 December 1783:
* On 4 June, a crowd gathered in [[Annonay]], France, to witness the unmanned hot air balloon display by the [[Montgolfier brothers]]. Their 500-pound balloon ascended to nearly 3,000 feet and traveled over a mile and a half. It stayed in the air for ten minutes before tipping over and catching fire.'''<ref>{{Cite web |last=texte |first=Compagnie générale maritime Auteur du |date=1930-12-23 |title=L'Atlantique : journal quotidien paraissant à bord des paquebots de la Compagnie générale transatlantique : dernières nouvelles reçues par télégraphie sans fil |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5042330w/f11.image.r=Montgolfier%20Brothers?rk=21459;2# |access-date=2024-11-21 |website=Gallica |language=EN}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Gillispie |first=Charles Coulston |title=The Montgolfier brothers and the invention of aviation, 1783-1784: with a word on the importance of ballooning for the science of heat and the art of building railroads |date=1983 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-08321-6 |location=Princeton, N.J}}</ref>'''
* On 27 August, [[Jacques Charles]] and the [[Robert brothers]] unveiled the first unmanned hydrogen balloon from Paris' [[Champ de Mars]]. It landed almost an hour later in [[Gonesse]], where terrified farmers mistook it for a monster and destroyed it.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2008-06-02 |title=Early Balloon Flight in Europe |url=http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Lighter_than_air/Early_Balloon_Flight_in_Europe/LTA1.htm |access-date=2024-11-21 |archive-date=2 June 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080602012700/http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Lighter_than_air/Early_Balloon_Flight_in_Europe/LTA1.htm |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref>
* On 19 October, in front of 2,000 spectators, [[Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier]] and the [[Marquis d'Arlandes]] boarded the Montgolfier aircraft as the first people. Later that day, [[Giroud de Villette]], another pilot, took to the skies much higher.'''<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gillispie |first=Charles Coulston |title=The Montgolfier brothers and the invention of aviation, 1783-1784: with a word on the importance of ballooning for the science of heat and the art of building railroads |date=1983 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-08321-6 |location=Princeton, N.J |pages=}}</ref>'''
* On 21 November, the Montgolfiers launched the first free flight with human passengers. King Louis XVI had originally decreed that condemned criminals would be the first pilots, but Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier, along with the [[François Laurent d'Arlandes|Marquis François d'Arlandes]], successfully petitioned for the honour. They drifted {{convert|8|km|mi|abbr=on}} in a balloon powered by a wood fire.<ref name=":3" />
* On 1 December, Jacques Charles and the [[Robert brothers|Nicolas-Louis Robert]] launched their manned hydrogen balloon from the [[Jardin des Tuileries]] in Paris, as a crowd of 400,000 witnessed. They ascended to a height of about {{convert|1,800|ft|m}}[15] and landed at sunset in [[Nesles-la-Vallée]] after a flight of 2 hours and 5 minutes, covering 36&nbsp;km. After Robert alighted Charles decided to ascend alone. This time he ascended rapidly to an altitude of about {{convert|9,800|ft|m}}, where he saw the sun again, suffered extreme pain in his ears, and never flew again.

Ballooning became a major interest in Europe in the late 18th century, providing the first detailed understanding of the relationship between altitude and the atmosphere.

Non-steerable balloons were employed during the [[American Civil War]] by the [[Union Army Balloon Corps]]. The young [[Ferdinand von Zeppelin#Army career|Ferdinand von Zeppelin]] first flew as a balloon passenger with the Union [[Army of the Potomac]] in 1863.

In the early 1900s, ballooning was a popular sport in Britain. These privately owned balloons usually used [[coal gas]] as the lifting gas. This has half the lifting power of hydrogen so the balloons had to be larger, however, coal gas was far more readily available and the local gas works sometimes provided a special lightweight formula for ballooning events.<ref>Walker (1971) Volume I, Page 195.</ref>