First balloon crossing of the English Channel

Background. The crossing followed an earlier joint flight by Blanchard and Jeffries on 30 November 1784, when the pair took off from the Rhedarium behind Green Street Mayfair, London, and landed at Ingress in Kent. That flight established their working partnership before the Channel attempt.

Flight. A third flight, again with Jeffries, was the first flight over the English Channel, taking about 2½ hours to travel from England to France on 7 January 1785, flying from Dover Castle to Guînes. The King ordered the balloon and boat be hung up in the church of Église Notre-Dame de Calais.

Legacy. Blanchard is best known as a pioneer of gas balloon flight, who distinguished himself in the conquest of the air in a balloon, in particular the first aerial crossing of the English Channel. Jeffries is best known for accompanying French inventor Jean-Pierre Blanchard on his 1785 balloon flight across the English Channel.