THE HISTORY OF BALLOONING

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31167, 17 September 1966, Page 4

THE HISTORY OF BALLOONING

The Aeronaut*. A History of Ballooning 1783-19113. By L. T. C. Bolt. Longman*. 243 pp„ appendice*, bibliography, index. November 21, 1783. is not a dat" that is specially noticed, but it is memorable nonetheless. An event of tremendous historic significance took place when a great blue and gold balloon carrying two men rose from the gardens of the Chateau La Muette in the Bois de Boulogne. For the first time man had achieved free flight and won access to the limitless plain of air. In an age of superstition and awe of the unknown, prejudice against a manned balloon ascent had not been easily overcome. There had been experiments with unmanned balloons in free flight, with manned tethered balloons ascending a few hundred feet, and the monkeys and dogs which pioneered space for the astronauts of later years were preceded by animal experimenters for the balloon aeronauts.

When King Louis XVI firmly vetoed a proposed manned flight, a wicker cage containing a sheep, a cock and a duck were attached to a balloon. There was a dramatic “count-down” of three cannon shots, and on the third explosion the balloon sailed into the air “followed by a great shout of wonder and applause” from a large assembly. After achieving a height of 1700 feet the balloon gently descended to the forest of Vaucresson two miles distant. The wicker cage had been broken open as the balloon sank through the trees, and the first man to arrive found the sheep placidly grazing. However, the crowd which soon arrived looked askance at the safety of aerial flight when the cock was found to have damaged one of its wings. Confidence was restored and the stage set for the first aeronauts when ten witnesses solemnly testified that they had seen the sheep kick the cock before the balloon took off. Incidents such as this both enliven the narrative Mr Rolt tells so well and establish the attitudes and superstitions of the times when balloons were objects of bold experiment. Awe of the air matched the feeling held by later generations towards outer space before man penetrated it. These 18th century attitudes are skilfully re-created by Mr Rolt, and put into perspective the bold adventure of what in the light of later achievements seems commonplace. Mr Rolfs book is an excellent general account of ballooning in its significant 120 years from 1783 to 1903. He gives us discerning accounts

of the pioneers—most remark-, able of them the Montgolfier brothers who filled their balloons with hot air and kept; them inflated in flight by! feeding an airborne furnace. A different apptoach was ventured by a young French physicist. Jacques Charles, who favoured hydrogen as his buoyant element. In association with the brothers Robert, two ingenious practical craftsmen who claimed to be able to make fine silk cloth impermeable to hydrogen by coating it with rubber. Charles radically transformed ballooning. Infinitely laborious and , tedious processes of general- | ing hydrogen seemed at first to be leaving Charles and his i associates far behind the i Montgolfiers, but soon the! position was reversed. Mr i Rolt says that to call the ; hydrogen balloon Charles and i his collaborators built an • advance would be an understatement; at one inspired I stroke they gave the hydrogen |i

its definite form. * form which would subsequently be improved upon only in detail. It was quite early in the history of ballooning—as in the history of fixed-wing flight ‘—that the showman and the barnstormer appeared, and these people provide Mr Roll's narrative with diverting and sometimes tragic incidents Chapters deal with the way [scientists were able to use balloons to advance knowledge of the air; balloons at war and at play are discussed The illustrations, most of them originals and from period prints, are first rate. Scholarly research and a skilled pen have produced a lucid exposition of the development of mannid flight from its inception until the airship and the aeroplane introduced a new era. The reader’s satisfaction with Mr Roll’s work Is enhanced by the quality of the book the publishers have proI duced.