OTD in 1785 the first airmail letter was delivered – by gas balloon. Frenchman Jean-Pierre Blanchard and American Dr. John Jeffries climbed aboard the gondola of their balloon and ascended from Dover Castle before heading out over the English Channel. Unlike hot air balloons, this balloon was filled with lighter than air hydrogen as the method for providing lift.
First hydrogen balloon flight in Paris December 1783
The balloon was weighted down with what proved to be useless items like a hand-operated propeller and even silk-covered oars for rowing the balloon forward. Losing altitude over the water, they were forced to throw all of it overboard – including Blanchard’s trousers – to stay aloft. They managed to cross the beach at Calais to mark the first air crossing of the Channel.
And when over French soil Jeffries dropped a letter to the ground below, marking the first delivery of mail by an airborne vehicle. Air mail! A monument to Blanchard & Jeffries’ achievement was put up at Guines where they safely landed.
Column at Guines put up by order of Louis XVI to commemorate the first Channel crossing via balloon.