What happened in 1783?

People fly for the first time, in a hot-air balloon

On 21 November 1783, Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and the Marquis d'Arlandes rose over Paris in a hot-air balloon built by the Montgolfier brothers. They flew about nine kilometres in some 25 minutes, the first free flight carrying people. Ten days later, a hydrogen balloon also flew, and the age of flight had begun.

The Montgolfier brothers fly a hot-air balloon in public

On 4 June 1783, the French paper makers Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier sent up an unmanned hot-air balloon made of cloth and paper in Annonay, France. It rose about 2,000 m. Later that year, people made the first balloon flights.

A sheep, a duck and a rooster fly in a balloon

On 19 September 1783, the Montgolfier brothers sent a sheep, a duck and a rooster aloft in a hot-air balloon at Versailles, in front of King Louis XVI. They flew for about eight minutes and landed safely, showing living creatures could survive in the air. People flew two months later.

First public Montgolfier balloon

Animals fly at Versailles

First crewed flight

First crewed hydrogen balloon

First crewed balloon flight

Treaty of Paris recognises independence