Flight above Warsaw

It was the memorable Sunday, 10th of May at 13'o clock when the air ballon took off for a flight. It was piloted by Frenchman Jean-Pierre Blanchard, the inventor and pioneer in the ballon industry. The extraordinary event occurred at Foksal garden with the accompany of king Stanisław Poniatowski.
The ballon landed in the aera of 'podwarszawska Białołęka'. Flight went on for forty nine minutes. Blanchard lifted the craft to a astonishing altitude of two kilometers and covered the distance of seven kilometers. Four days later on the 14th of may 1789 the flight was carried out anew, though this time with accompany of Jan Potocki - a traveller and writer, who brought over his turkish servant Ibrahim and a white dog along with him. All on board raised to an altitude of 2500 meters and after 30 minutes landed in 'Wola'. This event resulted in Jan Potocki becoming the first Pole to fly an aircraft. In order to commemorate the flights the king Stanisław August Poniatowski ordered to forge a medal with the appereance of french aeronaut embedded into it. This incredible occurrence later became the main inspiration behind the book "Balon" written by one of the most prominent polish writers - Adam Naruszewicz.

Wiktor Dykas