Wikipedia: first balloon boys...(in a new history of flight from Smithsonian, it begins here)

[Kevin Dunn]

I should be clear: John Adams was serving as minister plenipotentiary  
at the time, that is, obviously it was before he was president, during  
the time he was living with Franklin outside of Paris.

Kevin

Sent from my iPhone

On Mar 16, 2009, at 12:13 PM, Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com> wrote:

>
> Today's featured picture
> A 1786 depiction of the first hot air balloon to carry humans, built  
> by the Montgolfier brothers of Annonay, France. The flight occurred  
> on 21 November 1783 from the grounds of the Château de la Muette in  
> the western outskirts of Paris. Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier, a p 
> hysician, and François Laurent d'Arlandes, an army officer, flew alo 
> ft about 3,000 feet (910 m) above the city for a distance of 9 kilom 
> etres (5.6 mi), with a total flying time of 25 minutes.Artist: Unknown
> Recently featured: Wrecked German ammunition train, 1918 – American  
> Tree Sparrow – The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp
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