John Jeffries a letter he dropped from the balloon during his historic flight, considered the oldest piece of airmail in existence. He fled to Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1776 and later to England 1779, and was employed by the Crown during this time. In 1785, Jeffries and Jean-Pierre Blanchard crossed the English Channel in a balloon, becoming the first human beings to cross the Channel by air. Jeffries lived in England from 1779 to 1790. Despite being named in the Massachusetts Banishment Act, he returned to private practice in Boston, staying there until his death in 1819. His son John Jeffries II
Hot air ballooning Lewis. The song "Get It Up" from the 1983 New England release Walking Wild is about hot air ballooning. The song "Let Everything Go" by Phil Keaggy (1981) is about hot air ballooning. In "The Wizard of Oz" (1939), the wizard leaves the Emerald City in a gas balloon, not a hot air balloon. In "Around the World in Eighty Days" a gas balloon, not a hot air balloon, (featured on the movie poster) is used to cross the Pyrenees. In "Enduring Love" (2004), a hot air balloon is involved in a tragic accident during the opening scene. In "The