Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Nspired me real onatics
Ale of Victorian daredevils
freezing conditions. Keith says: “We don’t know why the balloon valve stuck – whether it froze or got tangled in a rope.”
But the academic says that we should embrace the mysteries rather than try to solve them.
“It keeps historians interested as they love arguing about points like this.”
The true story of the record-breaking flight begins in 1862 when Glaisher and Coxwell set off on their adventure from Wolverhampton, which in the movie has been replaced by London. Keith explains: “Glaisher was very interested in making ascents to make meteorological observations.
“He was attached to the Greenwich Observatory and they were doing routine tests to understand the weather and see how conditions changed as you rose.”
But things didn’t go to plan. Keith continues: “They were pretty much as high as you’d want to get when things started going wrong.
“It was an uncontrolled ascent and they were at the point where they’d be thinking about levelling off, making an observation and coming down again.
“But they just kept going. It was not a happy situation.”
The temperature fell to -20 and Glaisher developed balloon sickness, becoming temporarily blind and passing out.
Keith explains: “The technology wasn’t there to provide anything to prevent or prepare them for the sickness. The idea was that if you got into trouble then you could open the valve of the balloon and descend as quickly as you wanted.” But the valve got stuck.
Recalling when he passed out, Glaisher recounted: “In an instance darkness overcame me. I believed I’d experience nothing more as death would come unless we speedily descended.”
While his co-pilot lay semiconscious, Coxwell clambered into the shrouds of the balloon where the valve was located to try to release it manually.
Keith says: “His hands were frozen. He managed to do it with his teeth. He managed to pull the rope and clear the valve, so they were able to let out the gas and descend. They landed safely, but they could easily have died.”
Without Coxwell’s heroics, the balloon would have continued into the atmosphere. Amazingly, the near-death experience did not put the men off ballooning.
Keith says: “Glaisher continued to fly. I might well have had second thoughts. He did another ascent with Coxwell. You can’t keep a good scientist down.”
It was reported that the following year Glaisher nearly crashed into the sea.
Keith adds: “They didn’t really have lots of control – they were just blown where the wind took them.”
But while The Aeronauts has airbrushed a real-life hero from history, Keith believes it is still worth a watch.
He says: “It’s about pulling out these hidden stories and bringing them to wider audiences. More power to filmmakers if they can get them out there.”