The Montgolfier brothers staged the first public hot-air balloon flight on 4 June 1783.
Joseph and Étienne Montgolfier launched their unmanned balloon at Annonay, in the French region of Vivarais. The envelope was made from paper and linen, and its ascent demonstrated that heated air could lift a large fabric vessel.
The event was a public demonstration rather than a crewed flight. The balloon rose to an estimated height of about 2,000 metres and remained airborne for roughly ten minutes, according to contemporary accounts.
This date is often confused with the first animal flight at Versailles on 19 September 1783 or the first free crewed flight in Paris on 21 November 1783. Those were later milestones in the same pioneering sequence.