A Brief History of Balloon Riding
Last year, I talked about the romantic idea of balloon riding and picked my favourite hot air balloon ride movie moments . Having experienced my own balloon ride recently, I now return to you with a growing obsession for the ballooned miracle of fire and air that continues to inspire me. I have begun to delve deeper into the story behind them and wanted to bring you my findings with a brief history on hot air balloons. The First Recorded Flight The very first flight is in dispute with some documented use of lighter than air technology by the Chinese. They invented small unmanned hot air balloons, known as Kongming Lanterns or sky lanterns, which were developed around the 3rd century. They are said to have been used as military signalling before they became traditions as part of Chinese festivals. The Nazca Indians of Peru are also thought to have used hot air balloons as a drawing aid in 700 B.C. to 200 A.D. And in 1667, an 18th century issue of a Mexican newspaper reported t...