Francesco Zambeccari

Count Francesco Zambeccari (1756 - 21 September 1812) was an Italian aviation pioneer. He was killed in a ballooning accident.

Zambeccari was born in Bologna in 1756, son of Senator Giacomo Zambeccari. He studied at the Collegio dei nobili in Parma and then enlisted in the Guardia Real in Spain and served in the Spanish Navy. He fled from the Spanish Inquisition, and was in Paris in 1783 where he observed the first unmanned balloon flights by the Montgolfier brothers.

He then moved to London and launched the first unmanned balloon in Britain on 4 November 1783, a year before the first manned flight in England by Vincent Lunardi, releasing a 5 feet (1.5 m) hydrogen balloon from the house of Michael Biaggini, a maker of artificial flowers made from silk and other fabrics, at 33 Noble Street, on Cheapside. The balloon was later found by a farmer at Waltham Abbey. The experiment was repeated a few weeks later, as a commercial enterprise for which Zambeccari and Biaggini sold tickets, with a release of a 10 feet (3.0 m) balloon from the grounds of the Honourable Artillery Company on 25 November; this balloon was found nearly 40 miles (64 km) away at Petworth. Biaggini released an even larger 16 feet (4.9 m) balloon from Grosvenor Square in January 1784. Zambeccari was commissioned to launch a balloon in Venice in April 1784, an occasion that was painted by Francesco Guardi. He also collaborated with Vincent Lunardi before Lunardi's first manned flight in England on 15 September 1784. Zambeccari and Admiral Sir Edward Vernon ascended in a 34 feet (10 m) balloon from Tottenham Court Road on 23 March 1785 and landed later the same day near Horsham. The balloon was later displayed at the Lyceum. He also flew from Norwich later that year.

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