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
Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta ultra-light flying formation and flour bomb dropping, kite-making and choreographed kite-flying, hi-start launch gliding, control-line aircraft flying, pylon racing, banner towing, aero-modeling symposium and races between ultra lights and motorcycles. An estimated 100,000 visitors locally and from around the world come in to see this event. In 1994, three years after the devastating effects of the Mount Pinatubo eruption, Tourism Secretary Mina Gabor, together with Korean businessman and hot-air balloon pilot, Mr. Sung Kee Paik, and British Airways General Manager, Mr. John Emery, and the German aviation enthusiast Max Motschmann engineered the first ever Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta