It was the balloon, and not the wing, however, that made the first sustained, manned flight possible. Henry Cavendish, an English chemist, discovered hydrogen and the fact that hydrogen is more than fourteen times lighter than the components of our atmosphere. Joseph Black theorized that because hydrogen is so light it could be enclosed in a type of bladder that would rise.

Two French papermakers, however, made the practical discovery that hot air rises. While watching a fire, Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier made a small silk bag, caught some of the hot air, and watched the bag rise to the ceiling. They continued making larger balloons, and finally in 1783 they created a balloon large enough to carry a sheep, a rooster, and a duck.

The Montgolfier hot air balloon carried barn animals in flight before it ever carried people.
The elaborate design on the envelope was used on French balloons for many years.

The first manned, lighter-than-air balloon flight took place on November 21, 1783. Since wood and straw were carried as fuel sources, the flight was very dangerous and the range of travel was limited. The Montgolfiers had no control over direction of their flight, and they had to estimate when to stop feeding their heat source for a proper descent.

The Montgolfiers hired J. A. C. Charles to refine their ideas. He realized that hydrogen would prove a better lifting agent than burning wood and straw. In December 1783, he made the first successful hydrogen balloon flight. Hydrogen didn’t require a heat source, but it was very dangerous, as any exposure to flame would cause it to explode!