June 4
UP, UP AND AWAY DAY
Although the first flight of any significant length, in any object, was achieved by a man on November 21, 1783; a woman did it higher, and longer on this day in 1784. Élisabeth Thible of Lyon, France was the first woman to fly in a hot-air balloon. Her flight lasted 45 minutes, that’s 20 minutes longer than the flying trip her male counterparts (Dr. Pilâtre de Rozier and his faithful courtier, the Marquis d’Arlandes) took some 6 months earlier.
Mme. Thible’s balloon, named Le Gustave (after Sweden’s King Gustav III, who viewed the ascent), rose 8,500 feet (2,591 meters). The guys only made it to 2,953 feet (900 meters).
Élisabeth (in France) -- or Elizabeth (in England and the U.S.) or Marie (in those places where she has been confused with a man named Marie) -- was guided in her quest by pilot (and artist) Monsieur Fleurant, who told reporters that the opera singer “sang like a bird” while she drifted across Lyon. We suppose she sang, “Up, up and away in my beautiful balloon...”
Those Were the Days, the Today in History service from 440 International
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