Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier the autumn of 1784, but the attempt was not launched until after another Frenchman, Jean-Pierre Blanchard, and American companion, Dr John Jeffries, flew across the English Channel in a hydrogen gas balloon on 7 January 1785, from England to France. Despite several attempts, De Rozier and his companion, Pierre Romain, were not able to set off from Boulogne-sur-Mer until 15 June 1785. After making some progress, a change of wind direction pushed them back to land some 5 km from their starting point. The balloon suddenly deflated (without the envelope catching fire) and crashed near Wimereux in the Pas-de-Calais, from
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