Falling Upwards summary

The sheer simplicity of a hot-air balloon’s design means that even the most enthusiastic amateur can build one. That’s especially true if your motivation for flight is driven by a need to escape.

In 1978, two families living in the East German countryside attempted to escape to the West using a balloon. Peter Strelzyk and Günter Wetzel, both handymen, decided to attempt to construct their very own balloon in a hidden attic.

In 1783, the first successful hot-air balloon flew over Paris. It was manned by Jean-Francois Pilatre de Rozier and Francois Laurent d’Arlandes. And soon enough, the French realized that their balloons might also be useful as strategic military weapons.

In June of 1794, at the Battle of Fleurus, the French faced down a coalition of armies drawn from across Europe. A French balloon, piloted by Captain Charles Coutelle, ascended above the battlefield.

In their heyday, the popularity of balloons wasn’t limited to military affairs. In nineteenth century France, air balloons were used in aerial shows. Acrobats, for instance, performed daring parachute jumps, throwing themselves from balloon baskets.

Of all these performers, the bravest and most celebrated of all was a woman named Sophie Blanchard. She was born in the French port of La Rochelle, in 1778, and later encountered the famous balloonist Jean-Pierre Blanchard, whom she went on to marry.

By 1830, balloons were no longer a novelty. And earlier hopes of global balloon navigation had been dashed.

At a stroke, the growth of railways put an end to that dream.

As the nineteenth century progressed, ballooning continued to capture the popular imagination.

Charles Green’s crossing of the English Channel, for instance, was an inspiration to many. Such feats of prowess even galvanized the creation of a new form of literature: science fiction.

We’ve already seen how balloons made escape from East Germany possible, but that wasn’t the first time such a daring escape had been made.

Over a century earlier, the French army in Paris found itself in a similar dilemma.

By the end of the nineteenth century, it was plain that the impact of the industrial revolution was monumental. Technology had advanced rapidly, and it was obvious that powered flight would be the next great step for air travel.

For generations prior, people had tried to take to the skies by imitating birds. They’d affixed wings to their arms and jumped to their deaths. But it was only after the structure of birds’ wings was understood that flight became a real possibility.