
aeronauts
Vincent Lunardi made the first balloon ascents in Great Britain.
His first flight, on September 15th 1784 at the Honorable Artillery Company’s Moorfields training grounds, was rather hurried. He had hoped to ascend with his companion, George Biggin, but decided to ascend alone with his balloon not fully filled with hydrogen. It was feared that the impatient 100,000 crowd would turn volatile (a mob had earlier destroyed a balloon - and surrounding property - that failed to leave the ground at the Royal Chelsea Hospital)
His second ascent was in the above balloon. Lunardi was Italian by birth but based in Britain, and very much part of the London “scene”. For this flight, he ‘wished to express his respects and devotion to everything which the word “British” stands for’.
His ascents made him the hero of the hour - items of clothing were even named after him - but left Great Britain for good in 1786 after one of his young assistants, Ralph Heron, fell to his death after being entangled during a premature take-off..
October 23, 2009, 7:21pm