On September 16, 1979, two families, the Strelzyks and the Wetzels, made a daring escape from East Germany in a homemade hot air balloon. The Strelzyks and Wetzels had been working on the balloon for a year, using scraps of cloth and a gas-powered engine from an old sewing machine. The balloon was 82 feet tall and 65 feet wide and took 10 months to build.
On the night of their escape, the families took off from a field in East Germany and flew for almost an hour, landing in a field just inside West Germany. They were spotted by a farmer who called the police, but by the time the police arrived, the families had already made it to safety.