Talk:Balloon mail

Manned vs. unmanned balloons in the siege of Paris section

I deleted this section:

During the siege of Paris from 23 September 1870 to 22 January 1871, 65 unguided mail balloons were released in besieged Paris to communicate with the world beyond the besieging forces, of which only two went missing. The special balloon postcards were 10 x 7 cm, and were manufactured of thin green paper, subject to a maximum weight of 4 g. The postcards carried an address, and it was hoped that the finder of a balloon would forward the mail by conventional means. Twenty cents were charged for postage (more if the destination lay outside France).

The balloons in the siege of Paris carried "mailmen" too. Thus, that sort of balloon mail is different than the balloon mail described in the rest of the article. Also, there would be no "finder of a balloon." (unless it crash landed and the passenger died...) 67.167.12.112 (talk) 06:43, 17 June 2009 (UTC)

I deleted these three sentences because they have nothing to do with balloon mail, as such:

Balloons filled with helium can travel great distances. On November 22, 2008 Austrian Oskar Haberlandt released a balloon in Wildon, Austria which subsequently landed in Mirenki, Russia, a distance of 2,321 km. Beginning in 2003, balloons released in Austria by Mr. Haberlandt have reached 38 European countries.

I also restored a fragment of what was previously deleted regarding the Franco-Prussian War, and then added to it, because this is an important part of balloon mail history. Bobdatty (talk) 17:22, 24 March 2011 (UTC)

Article needs rewriting for stylistic reasons

The second paragraph reads more like an epic than a Wikipedia article. Here are some excerpts:

The world’s first balloon airmail service was begun out of pure necessity and carried out by the brave acts and audacity of some of France’s greatest scientists, inventors and artists.

"An invisible iron circle"

However, as an invincible iron circle closed in around the city, cleverly buried lines were cut and messengers captured

It is unclear what this quote means. Either it is far too stylistic and figurative or it refers to some tool the Prussians used. Ambiguous 149.125.162.193 (talk) 14:53, 12 September 2013 (UTC)

89.190.197.130 (talk) 15:56, 19 October 2012 (UTC)