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How the first men were lifted Into the air by fire

The chief terror of the flying man is fire, but the first man-carrying balloons were raised by fire! Experiments having been made with paper-lined linen balloons of varying dimensions filled with smoke,

Pilatre de Rozier went up in a Montgolfier balloon in November, 1783, accompanied by the Marquis d’Arlandes. A wicker basket was fixed to the balloon, and a little furnace to supply smoke and heat was attached to the basket. They rose from Paris armed with bundles of wood to feed their fire, and with wet sponges to apply to any flames which might break out in the fabric of the balloon.

There have been few mpre adventurous voyages than that. The balloon lobbed up and down in the air, threatening to drop into the Seine. The only remedy was to fire up, and that endangered the balloon, which actually was alight in several places. But the journey across Paris was accomplished safely.