The ''La France'' was a
French Army
History
Early history
The first permanent army, paid with regular wages, instead of feudal levies, was established under Charles VII of France, Charles VII in the 1420 to 1430s. The Kings of France needed reliable troops during and after the ...
non-rigid
airship
An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air.
In early ...
launched by
Charles Renard
Charles Renard (1847–1905) born in Damblain, Vosges, was a French military engineer.
Airships
After the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871 he started work on the design of airships at the French army aeronautical department. Together with A ...
and
Arthur Constantin Krebs
Arthur Constantin Krebs (16 November 1850 in Vesoul, France – 22 March 1935 in Quimperlé, France) was a French officer and pioneer in automotive engineering.
Life
Collaborating with Charles Renard, he piloted the first fully controll ...
on August 9, 1884. Collaborating with Charles Renard, Arthur Constantin Krebs piloted
the first fully controlled free-flight with the ''La France''. The long, airship, electric-powered with a zinc-chlorine
flow battery
A flow battery, or redox flow battery (after reduction–oxidation), is a type of electrochemical cell where chemical energy is provided by two chemical components dissolved in liquids that are pumped through the system on separate sides of a ...
completed a flight that covered in 23 minutes. It was the first full round trip flight with a landing on the starting point. On its seven flights in 1884 and 1885 the ''La France'' dirigible returned five times to its starting point.
Hangar
The ''La France'' was constructed in Hangar "Y" at
Chalais-Meudon
Chalais-Meudon is an aeronautical research and development centre in Meudon, to the south-west of Paris. It was originally founded in 1793 in the nearby Château de Meudon and has played an important role in the development of French aviation.
...
near Paris in 1879. Hangar "Y" is one of the few remaining
airship hangars
Airship hangars (also known as airship sheds) are large specialized buildings that are used for sheltering airships during construction, maintenance and storage. Rigid airships always needed to be based in airship hangars because weathering was a s ...
in Europe.
Specifications
See also
*
Timeline of hydrogen technologies
References
External links
*
*
*
* {{cite web, title=9 August 1884 , url=https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/9-august-1884/ , date=9 August 2020 , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210326234227/https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/9-august-1884/ , archivedate=March 26, 2021 , url-status=live
19th-century French experimental aircraft
Airships of France
Aviation history of France
Electric aircraft
Hydrogen airships