January 7, 1785 - 1st Manned Balloon Flight Across the English Channel
On this day in 1785, a gas-powered (helium-filled) balloon became thefirst aircraft to cross the English Channel. A monumental feat in light of the first successful manned flight in a balloon had happened just a little more than a year earlier. The flight narrowlyescaped disaster as the balloon was weighed down with unnecessaryequipment by pilots Jean-Pierre Blanchard and John Jeffries.
As they neared their historic destination, the duo began frantically tossing items overboard from the overburdened aircraft. A panicked Blanchard even stripped off and tossed his trousers out of the basket in hopes of lightening the load and averting catastrophe!
"Up, up and away in my beautiful, beautiful balloon!"
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