Up in the air …

We have already established sufficiently that Ferdinand Porsche never missed an opportunity for an adventure. And what greater adventure could there be than to rise in the air with a hot gas balloon. Although the first balloonist rose to the skies as early as 1783, even 126 years later the balloon ride hadn’t lost anything of its charm or its dangers.

In 1909 Porsche went on trips with the Excelsior gas balloon a couple of times when one time the balloon suddenly started to climb very quickly and threatened to burst because a drain valve was stuck somewhere. Porsche had to climb up into the balloon dishes in an adventurous maneuver to try and pry loose the valve. He succeeded at the last minute and the story took a happy ending. But it seems like he rarely got to enjoy a snack during his journeys. One time he had mistakenly brought his wife’s newly purchased bodice instead of his sandwich and the other time he and his colleagues had to loose weight on the balloon pretty quickly so as not to get stuck on a tower, which also included their food packages. Nevertheless, Porsche seemed to have had lots of fun at these outings.