Aeronautical History

If we ignore the attempts to get airborne by those daredevils who emulated the birds using winged contraptions and jumped off the nearest cliff or high building only to experience the gravity of the situation, then the first genuine free flight was in a hot-air balloon. 

It was the Montgolfier Brothers who invented the gentle art of ballooning. They were paper manufacturers from Annonay in France and they observed that smoke rising from an open fire might be the solution. They carried out some experiments using paper and fabric balloons which they filled with warm air by burning charcoal and damp straw.

Eventually they managed to send some animals aloft in a cage attached to a balloon and following this successful flight they constructed a much larger balloon which carried Pilatre de Rozier and the Marquis d'Arlandes aloft from Versailles near Paris on 21st November 1783. They landed safely 25 minutes later achieving the first successful manned flight and the honour of being the worlds first aeronauts while fulfilling the dream of free flight for Jacques and Joseph Montgolfier.

That first free balloon flight was a potentially dangerous adventure. To keep the balloon aloft a brazier was used to generate heat and this required constant stoking with wool and straw to maintain a constant flow of hot air into the huge linen-paper balloon. The balloon fabric often caught fire and had to be extinguished with water.

It's not surprising therefore that fame for the hot-air balloon was to be short-lived . Only 11 days after that historic first flight Professor J.A.C. Charles, a French physicist ascended in a rubberised silk balloon filled with hydrogen. This was a much simpler device and for two centuries the hot-air balloon drifted into obscurity.

Richard Crosbie - Ireland's First Aeronaut

On 19th January 1785, Richard Crosbie made the first successful manned flight in Ireland. He was just 30 years of age at the time and ascended from Ranelagh Gardens in Dublin and landed safely near Clontarf a short time later. This was a remarkable achievement occurring just fourteen months after the Montgolfier flight.Richard Crosbie was born at Crosbie Park, near Baltinglass in Co. Wicklow.

From an early age he was mechanically minded, a trait he inherited from his father, Sir Paul Crosbie. However his father tried to suppress his son's interest in mechanical experiments lest they interfere with his studies and often destroyed his creations and deprived young Richard of his tools. Unfortunately Sir Paul Crosbie died in 1773 and did not witness the success of his son's endeavours.

Richard Crosbie was seen as a mechanical genius by his fellow students at Trinity College where his room looked more like an artisans workshop than a study. He had a practical knowledge of many trades and sciences and with his inventive genius often considered the practicability of flight and discussed the idea with his friends and colleagues.

When Crosbie read newspaper reports about the early Montgolfier discoveries he decided to carry out some experiments of his own. He wisely chose to use hydrogen rather than hot air to create lift in his balloons. This was a safer option and eliminated the risks involved in constantly stoking a furnace with straw, sheep's wool or other combustible materials which could cause sparks that would ignite the balloon fabric.

It was in a hydrogen balloon that the French physicist Professor J.A.C. Charles achieved the second manned flight just days after the Montgolfier brothers, confirming the suitability of hydrogen as the balloon stayed aloft for more than 2½ hours and travelled a distance of 27 miles.

Crosbie's intention was to cross the Irish sea and become the first aeronaut to make a sea crossing. This would have been possible with a hydrogen balloon which had greater lifting capacity and was capable of making a much longer flight than a hot air balloon of the same size. Crosbie also invented what he called an Aeronautic Chariot to carry his equipment, scientific instruments and ballast which he exhibited to the public charging a moderate price in order to raise much needed funds to complete his project.

To raise additional money and to prove the practicability of his voyage he floated a balloon 12 feet in diameter successively for several days at Ranelagh Gardens in Dublin, each day sending up some animal or another, and eventually launched the balloon with a tame cat on board. The balloon travelled north west and was seen passing over the coast of Scotland that same day. The following day, with a change in the wind direction, it was seen descending near the Isle of Man and fortunately for the experiment was recovered by a passing ship.

Crosbie continued with preparations for his great aerial voyage and according to newspaper reports at the time he had plenty to occupy his mind. With huge crowds expected to witness the historic event, a traffic plan was announced.

Although in 1785 Ranelagh was virtually in the countryside, the ladies and gentlemen attending the event were requested to park their carriages in an orderly manner at the rear of Ranelagh House and avoid blocking the drive. Carriages were not permitted to stand on the road between Northumberland Street and Cold Blow Lane and their drivers were advised to carry on towards Milltown.

It was also discovered that forged tickets and passes were in circulation. This caused great inconvenience and resulted in genuine tickets being recalled and replaced with new tickets. With all the stress and fatigue of the project, Crosbie suffered a severe bilious complaint and his colleagues who were regulating all matters relating to his aerial excursion prevailed on him to defer his voyage.

Bad weather prevented an attempt on the 4th January and Richard Crosbie eventually succeeded in making his historic flight on 19th January 1785.

On the morning of the flight he intended to treat his friends to breakfast at Ranelagh House but the owner, Mr. Hollister informed him that it would be utterly impractical because his house had been unoccupied for a long period and that he was not prepared for such entertainment.

Crosbie initially intended to ascend at 10.00 am but for the benefit of students at Trinity College who were sitting exams that morning the time was put back until 11.00 am. 

It was such a novel event that huge crowds gathered to witness the launch. At 2.30 in the afternoon, the flamboyant Richard Crosbie stepped into his Aeronautical Chariot. He was a real showman and was dressed in a long robe of oiled silk which was lined with white fur and he wore a waistcoat and breeches of white quilted satin, Morocco boots and a Mantero cap of leopard skin. The balloon now standing fully inflated and anchored to the ground between two tall poles was beautifully embellished with paintings of Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom, and Mercury, the messenger of the Gods, carrying the Arms of Ireland. At seventeen minutes to three he ordered the ropes to be cut and he ascended majestically into the Dublin sky.

Mr. Crosbie's experiment yesterday proves his genius as great as his intrepidity; a trial was made in between 8 and 9 o'clock in the morning with filings of iron to fill the balloon, but from its bad quality and consequent slowness of solution, was the cause of considerable delay; from the time Mr. Crosbie ordered to charge with zinc, the process went on with desired success, and about half past two o'clock he took his aerial flight, amidst the concourse of at least 20,000 spectators - idea cannot form anything more aweful and magnificent than his rise; he ascended almost perpendicular and when at a great height seemed stationary, he was but three and a half minutes in view when he was obscured by a cloud. It was agreed upon by his particular friends as the wind was to the SE and being late in the day that when he cleared the city he should descend as soon as possible, accordingly, by means of his valve he let himself down near Clontarf, and fulfilled every engagement and expectation that the public, his friends, and those who have the honour of his acquaintance, always formed of him.

No man ever undertook such a perilous voyage with so much cheerfulness, and we are doubly happy that no accident has happened this enterprising youth, nor can we doubt a moment of his original plan to cross the Channel succeeding and thereby prove to the World that Ireland in scientific knowledge is not inferior to any part of it.

Faulkner's Dublin Journal. 1785

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