Vincenzo Lunardi, George Biggin and Letitia Anne Sage
in a Balloon
Engraving by Francesco Bartolozzi, 1785
Bibliothèque nationale de France

Vincenzo Lunardi, the first person to make a manned, free-floating balloon flight in England, his assistant, George Biggin, and passenger, Letitia Anne Sage, are shown ascending in a balloon. Sage was the first woman to fly in a balloon in England. While these individuals were involved in the early history of ballooning, they did not fly together in the same balloon.