Gas balloon Florence Nightingale crash, Aug 15, 1859 (1 killed)
Gas balloon Florence Nightingale accident on August 15, 1859 near West Boldon, County Durham (ascent from the Cricket Ground, Newcastle upon Tyne),...
- Date: August 15, 1859
- Aircraft: Gas balloon Florence Nightingale
- Location: West Boldon, County Durham (ascent from the Cricket Ground, Newcastle upon Tyne), United Kingdom
- Fatalities: 1
- Phase of flight: Approach and landing
- Cause: Sources differ. One contemporary report says the grappling irons failed to hold; another says his feet became entangled in the ropes.
Aeronaut William Henry Hall, aged 39, was fatally injured when the gas balloon Florence Nightingale came down near West Boldon, County Durham. He fell from the car during the descent and died in Newcastle Infirmary a few days later. Accounts of the mechanism differ.