Élisabeth Thible, or Elizabeth Tible (, 8 March 1757 – 13 February 1785), was the first woman to make a flight in an untethered

hot air balloon A hot air balloon is a lighter-than-air aircraft consisting of a bag, called an envelope, which contains heated air. Suspended beneath is a gondola or wicker basket (in some long-distance or high-altitude balloons, a capsule), which carri ...

. She was born in

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

, France, on 8 March 1757. On 4 June 1784, eight months after the first crewed balloon flight, Thible flew with a Monsieur Fleurant on board a hot air balloon christened ''La Gustave'' in honour of King

Gustav III of Sweden Gustav III (29 March 1792), also called ''Gustavus III'', was King of Sweden from 1771 until his assassination in 1792. He was the eldest son of King Adolf Frederick and Queen Louisa Ulrika of Sweden. Gustav was a vocal opponent of what he s ...

's visit to Lyon.

Ballooning

Monsieur Fleurant originally planned to fly the hot air balloon with Count Jean-Baptiste de Laurencin, but the count gave his position on ''The Gustave'' to Élisabeth Thible.Count Jean-Baptiste de Laurencin (1740–1812) was one of the six passengers on the traumatic flight of the

Montgolfier The Montgolfier brothers – Joseph-Michel Montgolfier (; 26 August 1740 – 26 June 1810) and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier (; 6 January 1745 – 2 August 1799) – were aviation pioneers, balloonists and paper manufacturers from the Communes o ...

balloon ''Flesselles'' on 19 January 1784. The flight was about 720 seconds, and was piloted by

Joseph Montgolfier The Montgolfier brothers – Joseph-Michel Montgolfier (; 26 August 1740 – 26 June 1810) and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier (; 6 January 1745 – 2 August 1799) – were aviation pioneers, balloonists and paper manufacturers from the commune A ...

, had ended dramatically when the balloon started to tear and smoulder. Although all passengers were unhurt, some attributed the accident as the reason the Count de Laurencin gave Élisabeth Thible his spot. When the balloon left the ground Thible, dressed as the Roman goddess

Minerva Minerva (; ; ) is the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. She is also a goddess of warfare, though with a focus on strategic warfare, rather than the violence of gods such as Mars. Be ...

, and Fleurant sang two duets from Monsigny's '' La Belle Arsène'', a celebrated opera of the time. The flight lasted 45 minutes, covered , and achieved an estimated altitude of . It was witnessed by King

in whose honour the balloon was named. During the bumpy landing Thible turned an ankle as the basket hit the ground. She was credited by Fleurant with the success of the flight both because she fed the balloon's fire box en route and by exhibiting her remarkable courage.Gazette d'Amsterdam, 25 June 1784 and Journal des savants, November 1784, pp. 760–762.

Private life

Little is known of Madame Thible; she is described as the abandoned spouse (''épouse délaissée'') of a Lyon merchant. No record of her survives as a professional opera singer. She died in Paris on 13 February 1785.

Film

* '' Venus im Wolkenschiff'' (Venus in the Cloud-ship) –

WDR Fernsehen WDR Fernsehen is a German free-to-air television network owned and operated by Westdeutscher Rundfunk and serving North Rhine-Westphalia. It is one of the seven regional "third programmes" television stations that are offered within the federal ...

film by A. Reeker with Anouk Plany as Élisabeth Thible

Notes

References

Other sources