Ballooning > Interests > History

• History of Cloudhoppers - History of the development of the cloudhopper concept over the last 25 years. Includes SkyChariot, Airchair, and Duo-chariots. Focuses on the changes in design over time, and why they were made.
  
   
• History of the Small Balloon - Article by Glen Moyer on the development and use of one man balloons.
  
   
• Isle of Man Airport history - First balloon flight from the Isle of Man in 1902.
  
   
• Nott's Favorite Flights - Julian Nott's favorite balloon flights are also the ones he considers the most important ever made. Collection of groundbreaking balloon flights.
  
   
• On a Wind and a Prayer - Historical Documentary over the Japanese Balloon Bomb Offensive on North America in 1944/5. Website has viewable clips from the film, plus images and insight.
  
   
• Professor Jean F. Piccard's Contribution - Biography of one of the two brothers who designed the balloons and their gondolas for the first stratosphere flights ever attempted.
  
   
• Raven Industries' Final Report to the U.S. Navy - This is the exact report Ed Yost presented to the Office of Naval Research in 1963, at the conclusion of a program that resulted in the invention of the modern hot-air balloon. Describes early research on fabrics, temperature distribution, details of early flights, much more.
  
   
• StratoCat - Stratospheric balloons, history and present - Historical compilation on the use of stratospheric balloons for scientific research, military projects, and aerospace. Includes current launches, analysis of past high altitude balloon projects, and links to many related resources. In English and Spanish.
  
   
• The Dominion Of The Air - The story of aerial navigation by John Mackenzie Bacon. Complete online book, indexed by chapter covers lots of ballooning history up to about 1902. Detailed e-Book.
  
  
   
• Highlights of Aviation History - Chronology of aviation firsts.