The hot air balloon is the oldest form of aviation, first taking flight in 1783. Brothers Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier pioneered the technology in France, demonstrating their breakthrough with a 10 minute flight on which only animals were aboard. A few months after that initial unmanned flight, Jean François Pilatre de Rozie made history as the first person to fly in a hot air balloon.
June 5 is Hot Air Balloon Day, so it’s only right that we honor this rich history of flight in the way Playboy knows best: with beautiful ladies. Enjoy these photos of ballooning beauty Fran Clayton from our February 1983 pictorial, “The Women of Aspen.”








