The oldest successful human-carrying flight technology is the hot air balloon and the first Norwegian to fly a balloon was Ole Hegre in 1879. However on November 21, 1783, in Paris, France, the first undeterred manned flight was made by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d’Arlandes in a balloon created on December 14, 1782 by the Montgolfier brothers. Hot air balloons that can be propelled through the air rather than just being pushed along by the wind are known as airships or, more specifically, thermal airships.
Some may wonder why I am posting about hot air balloons now: Well, after all, this blog is about my daily life and while we were at my parent’s to celebrate their diamond wedding anniversary last weekend we had a surprising sight right outside of the window:
Balloon in my hometown Porsgrunn:
I thought it was cool and ran out with my mobile phone to capture the moment to share with you:
From an article in the local newspaper: Friends from a neighboring town took this southward bound air trip when the wind came a few extra knots from the east – the balloon was heading for a landfill – however the experienced balloon operator re-navigated to make a landing in more secure surroundings. Although it looks like the big balloon loses air, everything went as it should. “It was a soft landing and we have no holes in the balloon, just lots of fresh air in the lungs, they said” : -)
Timeline of civil aviation Norway:
November 1870: The two French balloon aviators Paul Valery Roliér and Leonard Jules François Bezier arrived after a 15-hour flight from Paris at a mountain in Telemark. They had departed from Paris the day before for what was to be a simple flight out of the besieged city. Their trip would fly them 1,300 km away from Paris. They bailed out at Telemark , while the balloon was taken by the wind all the way to Oslo where they were given a hero’s welcome. The basket of the balloon now hangs in the Norwegian Technical Museum in Oslo.
1879: The Norwegian Ole Hegre made a flight with Montegolfier hot air balloon during the World Exhibition in Paris. Like I mentioned earlier: he thus became the first registered Norwegian to have made a flight.
I have of course seen hot air balloons before, but I admit I have never seen one landing at breakfast time in our neighborhood before. Thankfully the people of Porsgrunn are friendly and always happy to help a neighbor out of a pinch, even when they come in a basket *LoL*