Helium Balloons History

The first gas balloon made its flight in August 1783. Designed by professor Jacques Charles and Les Frères Robert, it carried no passengers or cargo. On 1 December 1783 their second hydrogen-filled balloon made a manned flight piloted by Jacques Charles and Nicolas-Louis Robert, 10 days after the first manned flight in a Montgolfier hot air balloon.^[1][2][3][4]

The next project of Jacques Charles and the Robert brothers was La Caroline, an elongated steerable craft that followedJean Baptiste Meusnier's proposals for a dirigible balloon, incorporating internal ballonnets (air cells), a rudder and a method of propulsion.^[5] On September 19, 1784 the brothers and M. Collin-Hullin flew for 6 hours 40 minutes, covering 186 km from Paris to Beuvry near Béthune. This was the first flight over 100 km.^[1][6]

Gas balloons remained popular throughout the age before powered flight. They could fly higher and further than hot-air balloons, but were more dangerous as they were filled with hydrogen or coal gas. Tehered gas balloons were used for observation purposes in the Napoleonic Wars (to very limited extent) and in the American Civil War, flown by Thaddeus Lowe and throughout the 19th century by hobbyists and show performers such as the Blanchards.

Gas ballooning has been popular in Europe, most notably in Germany, using hydrogen as a lifting gas. Several gas balloon clubs exist throughout the country with well organized launch sites and well defined infrastructure making flights relatively easy to do. Rough estimates show 150 active gas pilots in Europe. In stark contrast, gas ballooning in the USA might have at most 30 active pilots who typically fly only once a year at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta in October. This is primarily due to the prohibitively high cost of helium (~$8,000 for a single flight as of 2008), the lifting gas that most American pilots must use because of the design of their balloons. This is starting to change with the introduction of hydrogen as a lifting gas, but there are still only a handful of hydrogen-rated balloons in the country. The German gas community has been a valuable resource in helping the US pilots gain skills in flying gas balloons and working with hydrogen as a lifting gas. Many US gas pilots have been and are currently participating in training flights in Germany.

A gas balloon can also be tethered. Aerophile is the world's largest lighter-than-air carrier, flying 300,000 passengers every year through its four operations in Paris, Disneyland Resort Paris, Walt Disney World and Orange County Great Park.

Source - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_balloon