2-489-494 - © Fine Art Images/Heritage Images

Crossing of the English Channel by Blanchard and Jeffries, 1785 (1890s). Frenchman Jean Pierre Blanchard and American Dr John Jeffries made the first aerial crossing of the English Channel in a hydrogen balloon on 7 January 1785. Taking off from Dover, Kent, they landed in the Foret de Felmores, France, approximately four and a half hours later. Famed throughout Europe for his ballooning, on 9 January 1793 Blanchard became the first person to fly a balloon in the USA. From the series The Dream of Flight. From a private collection.