Balloon mail is the transport of mail (usually for weight reasons in the form of a postcard) carrying the name of the sender by means of an unguided

hydrogen Hydrogen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol H and atomic number 1. It is the lightest and abundance of the chemical elements, most abundant chemical element in the universe, constituting about 75% of all baryon, normal matter ...

helium Helium (from ) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol He and atomic number 2. It is a colorless, odorless, non-toxic, inert gas, inert, monatomic gas and the first in the noble gas group in the periodic table. Its boiling point is ...

filled

balloon A balloon is a flexible membrane bag that can be inflated with a gas, such as helium, hydrogen, nitrous oxide, oxygen, or air. For special purposes, balloons can be filled with smoke, liquid water, granular media (e.g. sand, flour or rice), ...

. Since the balloon is not controllable, the delivery of a balloon mail is left to good fortune; often the balloon and postcard are lost. A found balloon should be returned to the sender (by conventional post) with an indication of the discovery site, so the sender can determine how far their balloon flew. Balloon mail is often sent as part of a balloon competition. Historically, balloons were used to transport mail from

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

during the Siege of Paris of 1870–1871. About 66 unguided mail balloons were released from Paris to communicate with the outside world; the great majority succeeded in delivering their cargo. As Prussian forces surrounded the city, telegraph lines were cut and messengers were captured, shot or turned back. Two services were proposed: (manned balloon) and ' (unmanned). In practice only manned flights were used. After the siege, Anglo-French scientist Dr Pierre Wesby travelled to Burton-on-Trent, where in 1873 he started a business to transport mail from England across the Irish Sea to Dublin. It is not known how this venture turned out; the records of Wesby's company were lost in 1916 when a bomb from the Zeppelin L 19 destroyed them. In 1877, a 5-cent stamp for balloon postage was privately printed in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

, to carry mail on a June 18 flight of the "Buffalo Balloon" from that city to

Gallatin, Tennessee Gallatin is a city in and the county seat of Sumner County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 30,278 at the 2010 United States census, 2010 census and 44,431 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Named for United States Secre ...

. Of the 300 stamps produced, only 23 were used.''The William Fekete Collection'', Sale 1082, Siegel Auction Galleries, October 21–22, 2015, "New York, New York" p. 115. Balloon mail was sent from

Przemyśl Przemyśl () is a city in southeastern Poland with 56,466 inhabitants, as of December 2023. Data for territorial unit 1862000. In 1999, it became part of the Podkarpackie Voivodeship, Subcarpathian Voivodeship. It was previously the capital of Prz ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

(near the Ukrainian border), during World War I.Bennett, Russell and Watson, James; ''Philatelic Terms Illustrated'', Stanley Gibbons Publications, London (1978). Balloon mail has been used for spreading information and

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded l ...

materials, in particular for spreading propaganda to the population in countries with

dictator A dictator is a political leader who possesses absolute Power (social and political), power. A dictatorship is a state ruled by one dictator or by a polity. The word originated as the title of a Roman dictator elected by the Roman Senate to r ...

ial governments. A balloon can be released from outside the sphere of influence of these governments and, wind permitting, can travel several hundred kilometers. This method of balloon mail has been used by private

activist Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...

s to distribute leaflets to

Warsaw Pact The Warsaw Pact (WP), formally the Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Assistance (TFCMA), was a Collective security#Collective defense, collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Polish People's Republic, Poland, between the Sovi ...

countries from

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

in the mid-1950s, and by South Koreans to North Korea discussing the health of their leader,

Kim Jong-il Kim Jong Il (born Yuri Kim; 16 February 1941 or 1942 – 17 December 2011) was a North Korean politician who was the second supreme leader of North Korea from the death of his father Kim Il Sung in 1994 until his death in 2011, when he was ...

References

{{Authority control Airmail French inventions Hydrogen technologies Philatelic terminology Postal vehicles

Mail The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letter (message), letters, and parcel (package), parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid ...