Historian Arthur Nicholls recounts the days when hot air balloons were a cause of entertainment in Kendal - and how the town nearly got an airport

FROM early times man has envied birds their ability to roam the air, and has aspired to emulate them.

Attempts to construct wings and to use human or mechanical power to do so have always ended in disaster.

Way back in the late 18th century the Montgolfier brothers in France devised a means of ascending and travelling through the air by the use of hot air balloons.

They lit a fire under a balloon and thought it was the smoke that caused it to rise but it was soon seen that it was the air, heated and made lighter by expansion, that was the driving force.

The first hot air balloon astronauts were a sheep, a chicken and a duck!

Others took on the challenge. Hydrogen was used instead of hot air and then coal gas was utilised, being more cheaper and available.

It was inevitable that intrepid balloonists would use their skill as a means of entertaining the public.

A certain George Green set himself up as professional balloonist and travelled around the country giving shows. Gas arrived in Kendal in 1825 and he came to the town to give a performance.

On Thursday, August 4 that year crowds assembled in the yard of Kendal Castle to witness the inflation of Green’s balloon with gas from the Kendal gasworks.

After some 16 hours it was still only half filled and doubts were raised whether enough gas could be provided, but those fears were dissipated by the manager of the gasworks.

Friday came and all was hustle and bustle. There were drinking booths in and outside the Castle yard. Spectators came from 20 miles around to witness the amazing spectacle of a man rising into the sky in the basket below the balloon.

The balloon rocked to and fro in the breeze but by midday there was great disappointment. Gas was let out of the balloon and it sank to the ground.

Mr Green had decided that the strength of the wind made an ascent too dangerous. The reporter from The Gazette considered it to be but a gentle breeze!

However, all was not lost as he made his ascent some ten days later from beside the gasworks and a few days later took off with a Miss Dawson, descending at the foot of Murton Pike, nearly 30 miles away.

He came to Kendal again in 1832, ascending from the gas works to the strains of a band but this time only got as far as Helsfell. Still, such exploits were a great public entertainment.

Demonstrations of heavier than air flight were made in the 1920s when Barnard’s Flying Circus gave public rides and in 1928 Alderman E.W. Wakefield said the town should have an aerodrome.

The town council declined the suggestion that Major Althrop should conduct a feasibility survey.

In 1930 Sir Alan Cobham’s company was permitted to make a survey of the district for the development of an airport but his services as a consultant were declined, as was the offer by National Aviation Day Ltd to advise on a site. Kendal never had its airport.