excellent atmospheric conditions. The second flight took place on 28 July 1856. Local newspapers reported that the wind was strong the day the flight was scheduled, causing Pérez to delay his ascent. He finally decided to ascend at sunset around 7:00 p.m. and was never seen again. His disappearance earned him a place in Cuban history and popular culture. In popular culture His disappearance coined the popular century-old phrase "Voló como Matías Pérez" (Flew like Matías Pérez) used in occasions when a person wants make emphasis about some other missing person or object. Coprefil, the Cuban official agency responsible for design, production and sales of stamps, celebrated Matías Pérez 100th anniversary flight with a First Day Edition, on 29 June 1956, and honored him again as one of Cuba's first pilots with two stamps, valued at three and 13 cents respectively, showing Plaza de Marte, the location from where he departed, and the Chorrera Fort, where he landed after his first successful trip in 1856. In 1969, the story of Matías Pérez was translated into a recurring comic series by artist Luis Lorenzo Sosa. This science fiction adventure claims the pilot was abducted by an alien race and taken to the far-away planet of Strakon. It was released by Abril Publishing House on a weekly basis, in the Pionero Magazine. See also Cluster ballooning List of missing aircraft List of people who disappeared mysteriously at sea Other intrepid balloonists: Adelir Antônio de Carli (a.k.a. Padre Baloneiro), Brazilian priest, human-rights defender, lost in the Atlantic Ocean in Brazilian offshore water during his second cluster balloon attempt on 20 April 2008. Bartolomeu de Gusmão, a priest and naturalist born in the Portuguese colony of Brazil, recalled for his first balloon flight in Lisbon in 1720 (the balloon burned). Danny Deckchair, a 2004 Australian comedy film inspired by the story of the Lawnchair Larry flight. Larry Walters, an American truck driver who took flight in California on 2 July 1982 in a homemade aircraft consisting of an ordinary patio chair with 45 helium-filled weather balloons attached to it. Thomas Leigh Gatch Jr., an American balloonist who disappeared while attempting to cross the Atlantic in a self-made balloon in 1974 and was never found. References 1850s missing person cases Balloonists Missing aviators Missing person cases in Cuba People lost at sea Portuguese emigrants to Cuba Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1856 Year