The image above shows the hydrogen-filled* balloon that was featured in the 1956 blockbuster film, Around the World in 80 Days. It was in Vancouver as part of the B.C. International Trade Fair which was held at the PNE grounds in Hastings Park. There wasn’t a balloon used in the original book by Jules Verne of the same title. Verne’s book has been made into various films, the most recent being a TV PBS (2021) version and a Jackie Chan (2017) slapstick version.
The balloon flew on three occasions in Vancouver. The second and third flights were not big successes, as the prevailing winds took the balloon far off course. The first flight, however, was a relative success. Pilot, Francis Shields and passenger, Vancouver Sun reporter Audrey Down, lifted off from Hastings Park at 2.50 p.m. on May 3, 1958. They landed 40 minutes later in a North Vancouver back yard.
To launch the balloon pilot Shields dumped out sandbags while six strong men held it down.
Our first start was a bad one. The basket bumped along the ground and the balloon was heading into a mass of wires and poles at the north end of the ring.
Our human “anchors” caught us on the brink of disaster and dragged us back to the 1,000 onlookers. The pilot wasn’t worried. . . .
I didn’t realize we were moving until a cheer rose from the crowd. It was as if gravity had suddenly let go. The PNE grounds shrunk away. We were rising at the rate of 700 feet per minute but the smoothness and the silence made it seem like a dream. . . .
At 1,500 feet up we were free of the 10-mile-an-hour ground wind and ascent had slowed to 30 feet per minute. . . . We reached a height of 3,200 feet. . . .
Then it was time to come down. . . . Instructions for the landing were to brace myself against the side of the basket and hang onto the ropes.
“Don’t fall out,” warned Mr. Shields. He told of an experience of three of his friends riding in one balloon. “It was a rough landing and the two men fell out. With that weight out of the balloon, the woman in it went right back up to 2,000 feet. Luckily, she was an experienced pilot. . . .”
Below us a woman was industriously digging in her garden. We called to her and she looked up at us, about 500 feet above. “Don’t land that thing on my fruit trees,” she snapped. . . .
The pilot uncoiled a heavy rope and dropped it to the ground, calling to onlookers to grab it and tow us to a clear backyard. First to grab it were two boys. . . . Three men helped them and we were gently set down in the 50-foot backyard. . . .
Vancouver Sun, 5 May 1958
Notes
*Hydrogen is, today, still most commonly used in balloons of this sort for reasons of economy. Hydrogen is far less expensive than helium, although helium is the safer of the gases.
Vancouver As It Was: A Photo-Historical Journey 