The history of airships began in 1709 when Bartolomeu de Gusmao floated a ball to the ceiling of a building in Lisbon. The first legitimate flying machine was built by the Montgolfier brothers in 1783, which led to the first manned airship flight in 1783. The “Age of Airships” began in 1900 and ended in 1937 with the Hindenburg disaster.
The history of airships begins on August 8, 1709, when the Portuguese Jesuit priest Bartolomeu de Gusmao successfully floated a ball to the ceiling of the Casa da India in Lisbon, by combustion. Surprisingly, this is the earliest verified historical reference to any type of powered (non-gliding) airship. The earliest references to powered flight or airships are purely mythological, such as the Greek legend of Icarus. Bartolomeu de Gusmao’s demonstration took place in the presence of the royal court of Portugal and King John V, who had originally provided the funds for the venture. He had plans to produce manned airships, but died before they could be made.
Little else of major airship history occurred until nearly a century later, in June 1783, when the Montgolfier brothers, French inventors who started out as paper makers, built the first legitimate flying machine in human history. It was a globe-shaped balloon with a volume of over 28,000 cubic feet (about 793 cubic meters) and an internal fire to generate hot air for lift. They performed this feat in front of a crowd of dignitaries and the news reached most of the French elite. The flight was unmanned, covered 1.2 miles (2 km), lasted ten minutes, and reached an estimated altitude of 5,200 to 6,600 feet (1,600 to 2,000 m). A few months later, in September, they built a similar balloon and flew it with the first living beings to engage in powered flight: a sheep, a duck and a rooster. This demonstration took place in front of the French royal court and impressed a huge crowd.
Just a few weeks later, in October, the Montgolfier brothers were ready to launch a historic milestone: the first humans in powered flight. They prepared by engaging in experiments with tethered flight, using 26-year-old physician Pilatre de Rozier. The first experimental flight was on October 15, followed by another flight in front of scientists two days later and a third experiment on October 19 with Andre Geroud de Villette, a wallpaper manufacturer from Madrid. The flight with Rozier and de Villette reached 324 feet (99 m) in 15 seconds, along the restraint lines.
The historic moment – the first manned airship flight in history – occurred on November 21, in the park of the Chateau da la Muette in the western suburbs of Paris. Pilatre de Rozier was joined by the Marquis d’Arlandes, an army officer, and flew in an elegantly decorated blue balloon approximately 5.6 miles (9 km) through Paris, at an altitude of 3,000 feet (910 m). After a 25-minute flight, the balloon landed between a pair of windmills in the Butte-aux-Cailles area, outside the ramparts of Paris at the time. Several additional balloons were built after this first success, and a balloon craze swept the country of France.
The subsequent “Age of Airships” did not begin until the year 1900 and ended in 1937 with the Hindenburg disaster.
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