Dimensions
224 x 287 x 10mm
In the year and a half since the flight of the first manned balloon in 1783, an Italian had flown, a Scot had flown, a woman had flown, even a sheep had flown. But no one had flown from one country to another. John Jeffries, an Englishman, and his pilot, Jean-Pierre Blanchard, a Frenchman, want to be the first and set out on January 7, 1785 to cross the English Channel to France. All seems to be going fine until Blanchard takes a nap and Jeffries decides the balloon looks too fat and adjusts the air valve-how hard could it be? Too bad he drops the wrench over the side of the aerial car and with no way to adjust the valve the balloon begins to sink. Jeffries and Blanchard throw as much as they can overboard-until there is nothing left, not even their clothes. Luckily they come up with a clever (and surprising) solution that saves the day.
