Vincenzo Lunardi's Second Balloon: 1785
This is an engraving from one of the finest balloon paintings of all time, the water-colour by J. Dighton which is part of the Norman Collection in the Patent Office Library, and at present on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum. It shows Lunardi in his second balloon in which he ascended, on May 13th, 1785, from the Artillery ground at Moorfields, London, the scene of his first take-off.
To show his appreciation of all things British, the balloon was decorated as if it were a giant spherical Union Jack, and on one side was also painted a large Royal Arms. The resplendent uniform he was wearing is that of the Honourable Artillery Company, which had granted him an honorary commission. To complete the picture, he even waves a Union Jack. The balloon seems to be equipped with a prodigious amount of weighty drapes-apart from the oars which could not easily be used for emergency ballast, and there is evidence that some of this decoration was actually in place during the flights Lunardi made: if so, it was no wonder he had to refuse, at the last moment, to take his friend George Biggin, who had been promised a place on this occasion.
It was in this balloon that the same George Biggin at last had a chance to fly.. although in rather hair-raising circumstances; for on June 19th of the same year, Lunardi offered to take up the plumply pretty actress Mrs. Sage, as well as Biggin, and again found the lift insufficient. So he packed off his two guests by themselves, with a brief word of instruction, and was presumably relieved to hear that they landed safely at Harrow.
C. H. Gibbs-SMITH
One of 13 prints from the Collection of the Royal Aeronautical Society reproduced by the Society to mark its Centenary in 1966 - No. 5. ( In this case, hand-coloured by the late Terry Adams, a good friend of the BBM&L)