First Hot Air Balloon Flight

Time: 5 pm, August 27, 1783; Place: Paris

In the morning the Champ-de-Mars was lined with troops, every house to its very top, and every avenue, was crowded with anxious spectators. The discharge of a cannon at 5 P.M. was the signal for ascent, and the globe rose, to the great surprise of the spectators, to a height of three thousand one hundred twenty-three feet in two minutes, where it entered the clouds. 

For more information on Going up in the Hot Air Balloon First Time Ever here is an installment from First Balloon Ascension by Hatton Turner: http://dld.bz/eETg3

The series began today.

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