In 1967 Francis attempted to be the first to cross the Atlantic in a balloon. Finally, some cine film clips related to this have been put on video. Although the film is damaged we can see Francis’ first practice attempts to fly the balloon. Unfortunately, the material for the balloon was poorly made and the film sequence ends with Francis showing the damaged material in an attempt to gain a refund from the manufacturer.
Eventually, Francis made another balloon and sailed it first in his catamaran (made from a dug out canoe!) from Chicago to the coast of Senegal. Then in Senegal he attempted to fly his balloon, but it broke from its mooring (without Franicis aboard) and had to be shot down by the Senagalese Air Force.
I have just had this unfortunately water damaged cine film digitalised and it is the first time I have seen Francis on Film. It is all rather exciting! Paul Morris, Västerås, Sweden 7 Nov 2021,
Francis Brenton 