We all fly by the seat of our pants now and then, but how about flying with no pants at all? That was the plight of Jean-Pierre Blanchard and John Jeffries, who on January 7, 1785, made history over these chalk cliffs with the first aerial crossing of the English Channel. When their hydrogen-filled balloon dropped altitude due to overloading, the two tossed all the cargo they could into the drink below, britches included. Reaching France in their underpants, the undoubtedly chilly pilots still received a warm welcome.
Of balloons and lost pantaloons
Today in History
More Desktop Wallpapers:
-
Birds of a feather
-
New Year s Eve in Sydney, Australia
-
Honoring the rangers on World Ranger Day
-
Cetacean Saturday
-
A visit to Limerick on Limerick Day
-
Vacuum Chamber 5 at Glenn Research Center
-
A peak in the clouds
-
Wild and beautiful Alaska
-
Happy Pi Day!
-
J.R.R. Tolkien Day
-
Polar bears
-
Humming along
-
Christmas market at Belvedere Palace in Vienna
-
National Bison Month
-
Ready, set, read
-
Into the woods
-
Azaleas blooming on Hwangmaesan Mountain, South Korea
-
Paleontology meets art
-
A cutting-edge art gallery opens in Paris
-
Penguin Awareness Day
-
National Trails Day
-
Shenandoah National Park, Virginia
-
Carnival comes to Olinda
-
Male kori bustard, Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya
-
Whatever floats your boat
-
The smoke before the bonfire
-
Fibonacci Day
-
Frost on autumn leaves
-
Central Highlands of Vietnam
-
A throng of ice and spires