Royalty Free Balloon Basket Of Post-Balloon In Paris France 1872 premium stock clip art

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Balloon basket of post-balloon build by M. Eugéne Godard and MM. Yon et d'Artois. Paris, France Original edition from my own archives - Source : Magasin Pittoresque 1872 The world's first regular airmail service was established in 1870 when manned balloons were used to carry sacks of letters from the besieged city of Paris to the outside world. On some of these pioneer flights the post had to be tossed overboard and entrusted to the tender mercy of whoever happened to pick it up, but for the most part this first air-mail service was a great success. Early experiments with unmanned balloons had produced uncertain results but in four months, 65 of these manned balloons, carrying two and a half million letters, were flown out of Paris. Only six were captured, although two were lost after having been blown out towards the Atlantic.