3 A lot of hot air

Chapter 3 A lot of hot air Triplanes were only the start. Over the next forty years, all kinds of planes were built. Several were so ridiculous they didn't last long. But planes weren't the only way to fly.

Like the first plane, the first hot-air balloon was invented by brothers. The Montgolfiers, who were French, noticed that hot air rises. They had the idea of trapping it in a big bag, which would then float up. They filled their first balloon by holding it over a fire. Their second balloon even had passengers: a duck, a rooster and one very scared sheep.

Soon, the Montgolfiers had built a balloon large enough to carry people. They put a fire in the base to keep the air in the balloon hot.

Then, in 1804, a balloon-maker took the sea to the skies, building a balloon shaped like a giant fish. The captain kept it level by sliding a weight along a rope. I've heard of flying fish but that's ridiculous.

The first balloon to cross the Channel had wings. But they didn't really work and it was a much colder trip than Louis Blériot's. I'm f-f- f-freezing. The pilots worried they'd crash. "We have to make the balloon lighter!" shouted one in a panic, and he took off all his clothes and threw them into the sea.

In 1852, the Frenchman Henri Giffard tried something new. He built a balloon with a propeller, which was worked by a steam engine. It was so large, people called it an airship.