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 1783. King Louis XVI had originally decreed that condemned criminals would be the first pilots, but de Rozier, along with Marquis Francois d'Arlandes, successfully petitioned for the honor. Modern hot air ballooning was born in 1960, when Ed Yost launched a balloon with a new nylon envelope and propane burner system of his own invention. Yost's first balloon was basketless, with nothing but a seat for him to ride on, but in a few years he and other balloon enthusiasts would develop balloons much like the ones used today. Today, hot air balloons are used primarily for recreation. According to