Seventy years ago, Donald Piccard, barely 21, modified the envelope of a Japanese balloon bomb for a balloon flight over Minneapolis and earned the nation’s first Free Balloon Pilot Certificate. The student pilot flew solo for two hours and 10 minutes in a paper and hydrogen balloon for the first time, creating history and reactivating the sport of ballooning in the United States. But the balloon that he flew also brought to light another interesting story–this one from its prior service as a Japanese balloon bomb!

On 30th July 2016, Saturday, a hot-air balloon carrying 16 people struck power lines and crashed in a pasture near Lockhart, in central Texas, around 7:40 a.m. local time (8:40 a.m. ET), according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). A witness who lives near the site said she heard a loud pop and noticed a fireball.