French Airships / Dirigeable - Early Developments
The balloon was first used in war, and by the French, at the battle of Fleurus, June 26, 1794. This balloon, a captive one named the Entreprenant, was mounted by Charles Coutelle, and was of material benefit to the French General Jourdan by informing him as to the movements of the enemy. This same balloon was later used in the defense of Maubeuge, and in the sieges of Charleroi and Mayence, 1796. Since the development of the dirigible and the invention of the aeroplane spherical ballooning, whether free or captive, has diminished in interest and value. This is, however, not to say that it has become obsolete. For example, the French army in 1914 made use of auxiliary balloons (320 cubic meters) for colonial expeditions; of the so-called normal balloons (560 cubic meters), captive, for field service; of siege balloons (750 cubic meters) equipped with a ballonet; and of ballons de place (fortress balloons) 980 and 1600 cubic meters respectively, for free ascensions.
The development of the dirigible balloon dates from the year 1852, when Eugene Giffard appeared on the scene. In 1851 he succeeded in making a small steam engine of 5 h.p., which only weighed 100 lbs., and thought it might be useful in connection with balloon work. With the help of two of his friends, he built an airship, which was somewhat of the shape of a cigar with pointed ends. It was 144 ft. long, 40 ft. in diameter at the thickest part, and its capacity was 88,000 cubic feet. The envelope was covered with a net, and a heavy pole, 66 ft. long, was carried below, being suspended in a horizontal position by means of ropes which connected it to the net. Giffard himself saw this, but calculated that he would be able to attain a speed of 6 or 8 ft. a second. On one occasion this result was actually produced.
In 1855 Giffard produced a second balloon, which he had made narrower and longer with a view of diminishing the air-resistance. It was 33 ft. in diameter at the middle, and 230 ft. long, having a capacity of 113,000 cubic feet. Giffard planned a third balloon, which was to be 1,970 ft. long, and 98 ft. in diameter at the middle. Its capacity was to be 7,800,000 cubic feet; the motor was to weigh 30 tons, and the speed to be 66 ft. per second. The immense cost of this scheme prevented it from being carried into execution. In 1868 he made a captive balloon for the exhibition in London ; its capacity was 424,000 cubic feet, and its cost nearly £30,000. A similar one was made in Paris in 1878, having a capacity of 883,000 cubic feet. In addition to all this, a dirigible balloon was designed, holding 1,750,000 cubic feet, which was to be fitted with two boilers, and to cost £40,000. This scheme was thoroughly worked out in every detail, but was never carried into execution. Giffard subsequently became blind, and died in 1882.
Nothing further was done till the siege of Paris. The French Government then commissioned Dupuy de Lome to build a dirigible balloon, which, however, was only tested after the war in 1872. It is curious to find that this man, who was a marine engineer and therefore professionally acquainted with problems of this kind, proposed to employ a crew of eight men in driving the propeller. His method of construction was ingenious, and he succeeded in reaching a speed of 9 ft. a second, which was about the same as Giffard had done. His balloon had a cigarshaped body; its length was 118 ft., its greatest diameter was 49 ft., and its capacity 122,000 cubic feet.
The modern dirigible balloon owes its origin to the efforts of two French officers, Renard and Krebs, of the Engineer Corps. Charles Renard had been studying the problem since 1878 with the assistance of one of his friends, named La Haye, and had hoped with the help of Colonel Laussedat, who commanded the Engineers, to obtain the necessary funds from the Minister of War. It was then pointed out that large sums of money had been wasted on similar projects in 1870, and their request was consequently refused. They therefore had recourse to Gambetta, who was much interested, and promised a sum of £8,000. In the meantime, La Haye had been succeeded by Captain Krebs, and with the help of the latter Renard proceeded with the work.
In 1884 and 1885 they constructed an airship, La France, of the shape of a torpedo, and was slightly larger in diameter at the front than at the back. It was 165 ft. long, and rather more than 27 ft. in diameter at the biggest part, and had a capacity of 66,000 feet. Driven by a propeller actuated by an electric motor, it attained a speed of 6.5 meters per second, and under favorable conditions of wind and weather this balloon made trips, modest to be sure, but significant of greater progress.
The term "dirigeable" soon replaced "ballon dirigeable" more or less completely in French. In English the first instances of dirigible after one isolated instance 1885 are in writings on or by Santos-Dumont. In 1901, M. Alberto Santos-Dumont, a Brazilian gentleman resident in Paris, excited widespread interest through his experiments with a dirigible balloon. This aeronaut built his first balloon in 1898. It was in the form of a cylinder, terminated at each end by a cone, and was 82 feet long and nearly 6 feet in diameter, with a capacity of C400 cubic feet. A basket suspended from the balloon .carried a \y2 horse-power gasoline motor, which operated a screw propeller. To provide the necessary fore and aft trim for ascent and descent when under way, the inventor made use of bags of ballast which could be attached or removed at will from ropes suspended from the forward and after part of the balloon and accessible from the basket or car. With this balloon M. SantosDumont made an ascent in the autumn of 1898 which nearly resulted fatally to himself; the failure of an air-pump to work resulted in a partial collapse of the balloon, which foil 1300 feet to the ground. Aside from the air-pump accident, the success of this trip was unusually encouraging; the balloon proved perfectly dirigible in the light wrinds prevailing at the time of t.ie trip. A second balloon, built exactly like the first, but larger, was never used by M. SantosDumont, owing to the fact that in some experiments made with his first balloon when captive the conclusion had been forced upon him that the model was incorrect. A third balloon, shorter and very much thicker, was completed in the summer of 1899. This balloon was 66 feet long, 11% feet greatest diameter, and 17,600 cubic feet capacity, and into the construction was introduced the novelty of what the inventor termed a keel. This keel was nothing more or less than a bamboo pole, 30 feet long, fixed lengthwise to suspender cords just beneath the balloon, which supported the basket and other apparatus. M. Santos-Dumont was able to circle around the Eiffel Tower in this balloon but found that it was too clumsy and the motor too weak, and he built a fourth, 95 feet long and 9 feet in diameter, elliptical in shape, with a capacity of 14,800 cubic feet. In this balloon the keel was a long framework of bamboo and wire, which carried directly-there being no suspended car- a 7 horse-power motor with its propeller and other mechanism. The operator managed his machine seated on a bicycle saddle attached to the keel. With this balloon M. Santos-Dumont made numerous short trips during the Paris Exposition of 1900. Balloon No. 5 was made by cutting balloon No. 4 in half and inserting a cylindrical piece sufficient to increase its length to 109 feet. A 16 horse-power motor was adopted. The keel was a 00 foot framework of pine and piano wire, and into it, 20 feet from the stern, was fixed the motor, while the operator occupied a hasket 23 feet from the front end or stem. On August 18, 1901, 11. Santos-Dumont navigated this balloon from St. Cloud to and around the Eiffel Tower, and was approaching the starting point when the balloon collapsed, and the whole structure, with its operator, was precipitated upon the roof of the Trocadero Hotel, where it hung, the keel spanning the space between the two roofs. The sixth balloon of M. Santos-Dumont was like the previous one, except that it was longer, thicker, and more nearly ellipsoidal in shape. In October 1901, this balloon succeeded in making a trip from St. Cloud to and around the Eiffel Tower, and then back to the starting point, in 30 minutes. 40Vt seconds. The trip was undertaken as the result of" a prize of 100.000 francs oll'ered to the inventor should he succeed in making the journey ill 30 minutes. In rapid succession the Brazilian aeronaut constructed balloons, each embodying sonic new feature, and in the main marking an advance over its predecessors. In some instances, notably in his No. !), there was a return to the egg-shaped balloon of Krebs and Renard of 1885, with the larger end first, to give greater resistance to the air. In some cases speed was aimed at. in others, carrying capacity, while the control in each instance was made more complete. In 1005 the Santos-Dumont XIV was finished, a balloon designed for speed. It was 41 metres (l:!4.5 feet) in length and was inflated with pure hydrogen. Its motor consisted of a 14 horse-power Pengot motor, weighing 27 kilograms (59.5 Ibs.) and connected with a propeller placed well forward near the motor, so that the airship is drawn rather than propelled. This dirigible balloon was tested at Trowville over the sea and was found to be readily guided and controlled. The rigid dirigible, which owes its development chiefly to Count von Zeppelin, realised important progress in France. The framework of the Zeppelins is constituted by aluminium girder work. In the Schutte-Lanz dirigible, and in the French dirigible built to the designs of M. Spiess, the skeleton is built up of wood.
French Airships / Dirigeable - Before the Great War
The French [and German] military authorities began to consider airships as an arm of the Service in the closing years of the nineteenth century, and devoted both time and considerable sums of money in the attempt to bring them to perfection. Their appearance in the British Army was delayed for many years on account of the expense that would be incurred in carrying out experiments.
At the start of the Great War, France used a fleet of semi-rigid airships for offensive military purposes. However, they were vulnerable to airplane attack, and the French discarded them from their offensive arsenal. They did use nonrigid airships effectively for aerial observation, coastal patrol, convoying, and locating enemy submarines and mines. These airships could hover over a location and stay aloft for longer periods of time than conventional aircraft.
Classification, according to French authorities, from the military point of view, would seem to rest on volume as the determining factor.
- Vedettes: 2000-4000 cubic meters and taking up three aeronauts. Limited radius of action; to accompany field armies and remain as close as possible to the enemy; easy to handle and to transport; rapidly inflated; no special hangars needed.
- Scouts: 6000-7000 cubic meters. Capable of remaining up a considerable time and of going far; of special value when hostile armies are making their approach marches; special hangars needed.
- Cruisers: "aerial dreadnoughts," exceeding 10,000 cubic meters; able to go far and remain up a long time, and thus available for strategic reconnaissance; to be concentrated near frontier and ready to start at the first signal; special hangars needed.
The next year the "Lebaudy 1904" appeared. This was 190 feet long and had a capacity of 94,000 cubic feet of gas. The air bag was divided into three parts and contained 17,600 cubic feet of air. It was supplied with air from a fan driven by the engine, and an auxiliary electric motor and storage battery were carried to drive the fan when the gas engine was not working. The storage battery was also used to furnish electric lights for the airship. A horizontal sail of silk was stretched between the car and the gas bag. This had an area of something over 1,000 square feet, and a sort of keel of silk was stretched below it. A horizontal rudder, shaped like a pigeon's tail, was used at the rear, and immediately behind it were two V-shaped vertical rudders. A small vertical sail was carried, which could be used to assist in guiding the airship. The car was 16 feet long, and was rigidly hung 10 feet below the bag. It was provided with an inverted pyramid of steel tubes meeting at an apex below the car to prevent injury in alighting. Sixtythree ascents were made in 1904 with this balloon, all of them comparatively successful, the longest being a journey of 60 miles in two hours and forty-five minutes. It was then turned over to the War Department as a school ship.
The next year a new and larger balloon, equipped with a more powerful motor was used. Many flights were made in tests for the French War Department. In some of these, the Lebaudy Brothers were accompanied by the minister of war. La Patrie was then built for the French government by the Lebaudy Brothers, and was of the same design as their earlier airships. In speed it was nearly equal to Zeppelin's, and its dirigibility was nearly perfect. It was 200 feet long, and the 70-horse-power engine drove two propellers. It could carry seven people and one-half ton of ballast. It carried four people at a speed of 30 miles per hour. On its last trip it covered 175 miles in seven hours. A few days afterward, a heavy wind tore it away from its moorings, and it was blown out to sea and lost.
Two more airships of the same type, La Republique and Le Jaune, followed this. These were tried by the French government in 1908, and both proved successful. During a flight in the fall of 1909, a propeller blade broke and was thrown clear through the balloon envelope, causing the balloon to fall from a height of 500 feet. The four officers who formed the crew of the dirigible were instantly killed.
The advanced type of dirigible, the Clement-Bayard II, of French design, was the most successful of the French military air fleet. In fact, the design of this airship incorporated all those features which the experience of aeronauts in other countries, notably Germany and Italy, has proved to be best adapted to aerial navigation, and it was said that future additions to the French aerial navy will be patterned after this type. Its predecessor, the Clement-Bayard I, made thirty voyages, some of them of considerable distances, without suffering any damage, but a study of its shortcomings led to their elimination in the following model.
The pisciform shape of the first Clement-Bayard has been retained, but it has been given more taper and more grace, the dimensions being 248.6 feet overall by 42.9 greatest diameter, this being but a short distance back of the bow. This gives it a ratio of length to diameter of 5.7. The gas balloonet stabilizers have been eliminated altogether. The total gas capacity is approximately 80,000 cubic feet. Like all French dirigibles it is of the true flexible type, the only rigid construction being that of the framework of the car itself.
The Clement-Bayard II made itself famous by its rapid and successful flight from the suburbs of Paris across the Channel to London, in October, 1910. This quick descent of one of the representatives of the French "fourth military arm" over the erstwhile sacred dividing line-the Channel-stirred the British mind, ever on the lookout for possibilities of foreign invasion, to an almost frenzied activity in aeronautical affairs. England at once entered the field and built one of the largest dirigibles ever constructed, "The Mayfly," a huge airship of the Zeppelin rigid type, which answered the query implied by its name, by not flying at all, as it was wrecked the first time an attempt was made to take it out of the shed.
After the disaster to La Republique in 1909, so little activity was shown in this field by France that the land which had given birth to the dirigible balloon seemed ready to discard what had been a source of considerable pride before it was equaled and then surpassed by Germany. From that time until the middle of 1911, only three very small units were added to the depleted French fleet, the Zodiac, Le Temps and Astratorres, and while these were very efficient for their size and were much used for training purposes, they made a sorry showing compared to what France had been doing previously.
A general reorganization was planned to build a new fleet of French military dirigibles capable of making altitudes of 6,000 to 7,000 feet, where they would be immune from any attack save that of aeroplanes which could be fought off. The scale on which this reorganization was planned is apparent in the amount of equipment used. To the only two airship sheds or "harbors" exceeding 400 feet in length previously to be found in the entire country, no less than nine were been added. All of these were 400 feet long and so built as to be readily enlarged to 600 feet. Each of these is designed to accommodate two of the big dirigibles at once. There were no less than six large hydrogen generating plants in France, one of them having a capacity of 360,000 cubic feet per day, and others of similar size are to be added.
The plans also included the building of a large fleet of big airships. The first squadron of the new fleet consisted of four vessels, the Lieutenant Selle de Beauchamp, Capitaine Marechal, Adjutant Vincenot, and the Adjutant Reau, all of them having been named after the officers who perished in the La Republique disaster. Their type is a clever development of the old Lebaudy and the Ville de Paris, of the classic La France type, the Adjutant Reau and its sister ship being patterned after the Ville de Paris, while the other two are improved Lebaudys. With about 250,000 cubic feet displacement, a length of 270 feet, beam 38 feet and a power-plant consisting of two 80-horse-power motors on each, these are the smallest of the four, but the most interesting, as the Lebaudy type with its single short car does not lend itself so readily to enlargement from the engineering point of view.
French Airships / Dirigeable - The Great War
In the development of military aeroplanes France early took and maintained the lead. In 1912 she appropriated nearly $5,000,000 to military flying, an amount increased by a popular subscription of $500,000. Germany, wedded to the dirigible, at first regarding flying as of limited value. Germany alone developed, in the rigid dirigible, a genuine air battleship. While she has been perfecting it, other nations have experimented with other forms of air craft. France put her faith in a flock of aeroplanes more numerous than any other country's, aided by semi-rigid and non-rigid types of dirigibles.
So rapid was the evolution of airship design that dirigibles built before 1910 by the time of the European War which began in 1914 were quite obsolete. In the development of actual type most nations were content to follow models of French or of German origin. The airships built by the English and French at the beginning of the Great War were chiefly of the nonrigid type. France was the pioneer in this type of airship, and has consequently a larger number of them in service than any other power. The body of these French non-rigid airships is generally cigar-shaped, and it is distinguished from the "SchutteLanz" wooden-framed German airship by the fact that it carried only one car or gondola.
At the beginning of the Great War the French had several non-rigid ships of various types which carried out bombing operations, but no important new ships were built. During the early days of the war French airships were employed for bombing behind the German line, but the damage to the ships, usually through gas leakage caused by shell and bullets, was so great that only a limited amount of work was done.
Matched against the powerful German air-fleet, at the beginning of the Great War the very much smaller and slower dirigibles of France, Russia, and England were unimportant. Only six of the French fleet were armed even with light weapons, and these can only be fired from cars under the over-hang of their gas-bag. They were powerless to protect themselves against an attack from overhead by German aeroplanes; so that it was extremely doubtful if they ever get very far on their sole mission of attempting to drop bombs on German soil. The remaining sixteen of the French fleet were insignificant. France would have been better prepared if her factories had not been largely engaged in turning out the same type of inadequate airships for her allies, Russia and England.
The French General Staff confessed that it made a big error in regarding airships as useful only in scouting, and French opinion now proclaims that only the most powerful airships can accomplish the real work of war. In later days vessels were built by the Astra Company of the peculiar design introduced by Senor Torres. These ships, some of which were of considerable size, were highly successful, and we became purchasers at a later date of several. A large Astra ship of some 800,000 cub. ft. capacity was built in France with two large cars. It is understood that lack of longitudinal rigidity of the envelope gave trouble. The Zodiac Company also constructed a number of small ships which were utilized during the war for anti-submarine patrol.
It cannot be said, however, that the French fulfilled their early promise as airship designers, the chief reason for this being that the airship was peculiarly suitable for work at sea and the French relied on the Americans to maintain the commerce routes on the high seas and concentrated their main efforts on defeating the Germans in the field, in which as all the world acknowledges they were singularly successful.
Astra : "Adjudant Réau" (Cruiser 1909) : last flight on 08.08.1914! (Thus barely used WWI!) "Conté" (Scout 1912) : shot down twice and twice repaired. Astra-Torres : "Pilâtre de Rosier" (Grand Cruiser 1915) was to long and less maniable was cut into two and made two new airships from : "Pilâtre de Rosier" and "Alsace" both shot down by the Germans! AT-1 until AT-4 (1916)first French navy airships AT-5 until AT-9 (1917) AT-10 until AT-17 (1918) built to carry 75mm gun AT-18-19 (1919) carried heavy anti-submarine weapons Chalais-Meudon airships "Fleurus I" (1912 Scout) : bombed in shed 1918. "Fleurus II (Named also "Lorrain" ?) & Fleurus III (Named also "Tunesie"?)"1915-1916 (Deleted post WWI) Chalais-Meudon "T-1" (had a submarine mettallic shaped gondola & Lost with crew 1916!) Chalais-Meudon C.M. 14 "T-2" Capitaine Caussin Used by the Americans! Had a 47 mm anti submarine gun! C.M. 1 until 4 (1917-1918) used by French Navy. C.M. 5- 8 only C.M. 5 was constructed against armistice! (Sold to USA) Clément-Bayard airships "Dupuy-de-Lôme" (1912) Shot down by own French troops on 24th August 1914! "Montgolfier" CB V ,( 1913) no info ? "General Meusnier" 1915-1916 (got 1916 another gondola) Lebaudy airships 1914-15 "Tissandier" Refused by both French and British Army! (In fact not used really WWI!) Zodiac Airships "Capitaine Ferber" but possible deleted 1914 just pre WWI ? "Commandant Coutelle" (1913 enlarged 1915 ) based at Epinal "D'Arlandes" (1915-16) for navy "Champagne" (1915-16) for Navy VZ-1 until VZ-5 Vedtette Zodiac 1916...V-Z 5 was in fact the former Belgian airship "Belgique III" gasbag used with a gondola from from a Vedette Zodiac! For more 2 Blegian crews Lt Coucy and Ernest Demuyter served in French service (mixted-French-Belgian crews!) on this and other French airships! VZ-7 until VZ-15 (1918) VZ-16 until VZ-23 (Only VZ 16 until VZ 20 built!) 1919 ZD-1 until ZD -5 (Zodiac Destroyer) 1918 ZD-US 6 until 8 1919 Only ZD US-6 built and were ordered by US Navy! Carried a 75 mm gun! The US Navy also operated a T-2 type Chalais-Meudon airship Capitaine Caussin. The Capitaine Caussin was operated for training at Paimb?uf, and Guipavas. It was shipped to Hampton Roads, but not erected or flown after arriving there. While hostilities continued, it was naturally impossible to publish even the somewhat meagre information which reached us as to the doings of our French Allies. As, however, the French Government are taking active steps towards the development of commercial aircraft, both aeroplanes and airships, the details of what has been done in the way of design^during the War are not without interest, giving, as they do, an idea of what may be expected in the future. An additional reason for giving the subject some close consideration is afforded by the fact that the Government of the United States purchased a number of airships from France ; which may be expected to have an influence on Transatlantic progress and design in the future. The French Naval Airship Service was formed in 1916, the British airship station at Marquise, near Boulogne, being taken over on January 1 in that year. Its real progress did not begin, however, until 1917, and it would not have reached its full development until the campaign of 1919. In the early stages great assistance was derived from the collaboration of the Military Airship Service, which had been in existence for many years, and the union of the two services was rendered complete by the formation at the end of 1917 of the Under-Secretariat of State for Military and Naval Aviation. Airship Stations On the inception of t he Service in 1916, three airship stations were commissioned : at Bizerta, Havre and Marquise ; while two further stations were commenced at Rochefort and Aubagne, near Marseilles. In October of the same year a programme was lard down for the establishment of further stations at Montebourg (Cherbourg), Guipavas (Brest), Oran and Alger (both in Africa). The position was, then, at this time that nine stations were proposed, of which thiee only were in existence, there being one shed at each station. In July, 1917, a further programme was approved involving the construction of stations at Paimbceuf, Arcachon, Ajaccio and Corfu. At the same time the number of sheds at most of the stations previously mentioned was doubled, the size of the new sheds being 79 ft. by 92 ft. by 492 ft. in place of the 65 £ ft. by 72 ft. by 492 ft. of the earlier type. In addition, doors were provided at both ends and windscreens were fitted. In January, 1918, the programme was again increased from 13 to 17 stations, by the laying down of a new station at Treport, the taking-over of a portion of the military stations at St. Cyr and Issy-les-Moulineaux, and the establishment of an American airship station at Brest. At the time of the Armistice, 14 but of this total of 17 stations were in commission, with 22 sheds in all ; the stations at Ajaccio, Treport, and Arcachon (American) not having been completed. Airships At the end of 1916 there were six airships in commission :- Four scouts ; three S.S. type, purchased from Great Britain, of 60,000 cub. ft. capacity, and one Zodiac of 70,000 cub. ft. which had been presented to the Service. One " Coastal " of 170,000 cub. ft. capacity, purchased from Great Britain. The " Tunisie " of 370,000 cub. ft. capacity, taken over from the military authorities. This was a somewhat heterogeneous collection, and it was, therefore, decided to evolve classes of ship suitable for the particular work required of them. The general functions for which the airships were to be used were threefold : submarine patrols, escort of convoys, location of mines. The matter was further complicated by the fact that the airships would be required to operate in different localities : in narrow seas with moderate temperatures, such as the Channel ; over seas where high temperatures would be met with and of considerable width, such as the Mediterranean, and in the Atlantic for the protection of convoys of troops and munitions coming from America. The airships for use in the Channel must be handy, numerous and fast; while their range need only be small. The following specification was evolved to fulfil these requirements :- Engines.-Two 80 h.p. Renault. Range.--Six hours at a full speed of 45 m.p.h., or 12 hours at cruising speed (35 m.p.h.). Weight of bombs.-220 lbs. Ballast.-800 lbs. Total lift.-2,500 lbs. This involved a capacity of 90,000 cub. ft. This " Scout " type was designed to do the work carried out by the British " S.S." of 70,000 cub. ft. capacity, but it had the advantage of being provided with two engines instead of one, which gave greater security. Five of these scouts were ordered in 1916, and commenced operations in 1917. Ten more of the same type, ordered at the end of 1917, were put into service during 1918, while an additional eight, of slightly larger size (110,000 cub. ft.), fitted with larger engines, totalling 300 h.p., were ordered at the beginning of 1918, and began to come forward in December of the same year. These airships were known as the " V.Z." (Vedette Zodiac) type, and were numbered 1 to 23. Counting the two British *' S.S." already mentioned, and two more of the " S.S. Zero " type bought from England in 1917, France then put into commission about 20 non-rigid " Scouts " before the signing of the Armistice. These airships located and attacked, during the ten months of the 1918 campaign, about 15 submarines, in addition to their ordinary patrol and convoy work. These scouts were, however, of insufficient range for seas less narrow than the Channel, and also carried too few bombs, so a larger type was found to be necessary. For this work greater range was necessary, besides a general increase of weatherworthiness, and improved comfort for the crew. The Zodiac scouts had been based upon the British " S.S." type, but there was in existence no prototype for the special requirements of these larger airships : Italy, for example, using her airships almost solely for bombing purposes, while the British ships were (at that time) only used for patrols near the coast-line. Owing to the urgency of the need it was decided to appeal again to the French military authorities, pending the time when a suitable type could be evolved. In addition to the " Tunisie," which had been based upon Bizerta, the military airship service accordingly handed over six further airships in#April, 1917. These were: The " Champagne" and " d'Arlandes " (500,000 cub. ft.) ; the " Lorraine " (370,000 cub. ft.) ; the " Caussin " (320,000 cub. ft.) ; and the " Fleurus " and " Montgolfier " (training ships of no military value). , These six airships permitted of the immediate equipment of Corfu and Paimbceuf, the completion of Bizerta, and the establishment of a training centre at St. Cyr. The work which was done by these six airships is evidenced by the fact that in one month (October, 1917) the " d'Arlandes " alone discovered 18 mines at Corfu in the course of her duties in escorting convoys of troops for the East. The military establishment at Chalais-Meudon further produced, commencing from the end of 1916, four airships of 200,000 cub. ft. capacity, which were commissioned at the beginning of 1916. These were to a similar specification to the Astra airships, of which mention will be made shortly. The Military Airship authorities thus in a period of two years provided 11 airships for the use of the Naval branch. At the same time the Naval Service turned their attention to the evolution of airships specially designed for their purpose. In the first place, four experimental airships (" A.T." 1-4) of the Astra-Torres type were ordered from the Astra Co. of Billancourt to the following specification :-. Capacity.-230,000 cub. ft. Engines.-Two Renault of 150 h.p. each carried on gantries. Range.-Ten hours at full speed (50 m.p.h.) or 20 hours at cruising speed (30-35 m.p.h.). Weight of Armament.-260 lbs. Ballast.-1,500 lbs. It was found that the weight of bombs was insufficient, and consequently in the 10 further ships (" A.T." 5-9, of 260,000 cub. ft., and " Z.D." 1-5) ordered from the Astra and Zodiac companies respectively, in October, 1916, this was increased from 260 lbs. to 550 lbs. These 10 airships were commissioned at the end of 1917 and beginning ot 1918. It was then found that submarines were frequently able to submerge and escape before the airships could arrive in position for bombing, and it was decided to fit a 47 mm. gun with a muzzle velocity of 1,000 ft. per second. This was tried experimentally in the " Caussin," "A.T. 9 " and " Z.D.5," with such success that eight airships of 300,000 cub. ft. capacity fitted with these guns were ordered under the 1917 programme. These airships, which came into service at the beginning of 1918, carried 800 lbs. of bombs in addition to the gun and ammunition. It was still found, however, that the German submarines of the cruiser class which had 6-inch guns could drive off attacks from these airships, and accordingly still larger airships with bigger guns and increased range were ordered. A total of 13 were commenced in 1918, due for delivery at the end of 1918 and beginning of 1919. Of these six were built by the Astra Co., three by the Zodiac Co., and four at Chalais-Meudon. Eight of them were sold to the American Navy. All these airships, of which the capacity varied according to the constructor from 360,000 to 420,000 cub. ft., were built to the following specification :- Engines.-Two of 250 h.p., each fitted on gantries. Range.-14 hours at full speed (50 m.p.h.), or about 30 at cruising speed. Crew.-Ten. Armament.-75 mm. airship gun with a muzzle velocity of 880 ft. per second, and 880 lbs. of bombs. Ballast.-1,500 to 1,800 lbs. They were provided with an enclosed pilot's cabin fitted with windows and sleeping quarters. The first ships of this class were ready for inflation at the date of the signing of the Armistice, and they were, therefore, never actually used on service. In conclusion, it may be recapitulated that during the War, in addition to the 20 scouts, 39 airships (23 Astra, 8 Zodiac, and 8 Chalais-Meudon) were specially built for the French Navy, of which about 25 were actually commissioned, in addition to six bought from England and 11 taken over from the Army. At the cessation of hostilities there were 14 airship stations in existence. More than 60 submarines were located and attacked, whilst upwards of 100 mines were destroyed. Five airships were delivered \>y air from Paris to Algeria, the normal duration of patrols being 12 to 15 hours. In October, 1918, " A.T. n " carried out a flight lasting for 36 hours. During 1917 a rigid airship of 2,000,000 cub. ft. capacity was ordered, fitted with a 75 mm. gun and to have an endurance of 20 hours at full speed (55-60 m.p.h.), while being capable of remaining in the air for three days at cruising speed. In 1918 plans were prepared for 11 more rigids of similar design, and for the building of three rigid airship stations (one on the Atlantic, and two in the Mediterranean). None of these had appeared by 1919, though it is reported that the French Government propose to Use at anv rate three of them for running an experimental mail service. The Capitaine Caussin was one of several different types of French airships operated by U.S. Naval Aviation forces in France during WW I and in the postwar period. Cmdr. Louis H. Maxfield, U.S.N., was in charge of the U.S. Rigid Air Detachment in training at Howden, and was to be the Commanding Officer of the ill-fated R.38 airship on the flight to America, was born in 1883 at St. Paul, Minnesota. He entered the Naval Aviation service in 1914, and was promoted to Temporary Commander in 1918. During the War he was in command of the U.S. Naval Station at Painbaeuf, France, and served with distinction. During a flight in the French airship "Capitaine Caussin" he dived overboard from a great height and rescued an enlisted man who had fallen overboard. Details of French Airships Type Capacity Engines Full speed Cruising speed Range at full speed Range at cruising speed Armament Crew Useful lift Type .. Capacity Engines Full speed Cruising speed Range at full speed Range at cruising speed Armament Crew Useful lift V.Z. 1-15. 90,000 L'.f. 2 80 h.p. Renault 45 m.p.h. 35 ni.p.h. 6 hours 12 hours 220 lbs. bombs 3 2,000 lbs. CM. 1-4 190,000 c.f. 2 150 h . p. Salmson 50 m.p.h. 30-35 m.p.h. 7 hours 15 hours 550 lbs.bombs 5 4, "00 lbs. V.Z. 16-23. 110,000 c.f. 2 150 h.p. Hispano 50 m.p.h. 40 m.p.h. 6 hours 12 hours 220 lbs. bombs 3 2,240 lbs. A.T. 1-4 230,000 c.f. 2 150 h.p. Renault 50 m.p.h. 30-35 ni.p.h. 10 hours 20 hours 260 lbs.bombs 5 4,880 lbs. fi Tunisie. 370,000 c.f. 2 220 h.p. Clement 44 m.p.h. - 12 hours - 1,760 lbs. bomb; 2 47 mm. guns 7 A.T. 5-9 260,000 c.f. 2 150 h.p. Renault 50 m.p.h. 30-35 m.p.h. 10 hours 20 hours 550 lbs.bombs 5 5,800 lbs. n a Champagne and d'Arlandes. 500,000 c.f. 2 220 h.p. Zodiac 44 m.p.h. - 15 hours - i 2,200 lbs.bombs 1 47 mm. gun 7 Z.D. 1-5 217,000 c.f. 2 200 h.p. Hispano 50 m.p.h. 30-35 m.p.h. 10 hours 20 hours 550 lbs. bombs 5 5,400 lbs. B [ Lorraine. 370,000 c.f. - - - - - - - - - . - A.T. 10-17 300,000 c.f. 2 200 h.p. Hispano 50 m.p.h. - 14 hours 30 hours 1 j ^ mm. gun 880 lbs. bombs 6 6,900 lbs. El Capitaine Caussin. 320,000 c.f. 2 240 h.p. Salmson 55 m.p.h. - 12 hours - 1,760 lbs. bombs 1 47 mm. gun 6 Z.D. 6-8 330,000 c.f. 2 250 h.p. Renault 50 m.p.h. - 12 hours - 1 75 mm. gun 1,760 lbs. bombs 10 9,500 lbs. Fleurus and Montgolfier. __ - - - - - - CM. 5-8 320,000 c.f. 2 230 h.p. Salmson 50 m.p.h. - 10 hours - 1 75 mm. gun 1,320 lbs.bombs 8 8,200 lbs.
French Airships / Dirigeable - After the Great War
Up to the first months of 1922, complete neglect had been prevailing in what regards both the two zeppelins surrendered by Germany and the twenty odd serviceable dirigibles that had survived the war, this being the twofold result of lack of credits and of want of faith in the gasbags that have been profusely derided in service papers. Then French experts who made investigations in Germany and studied the possibilities of helium and of another non-inflammable gas, brought new facts to the knowledge of the Paris Admiralty, and when Admiral Lanxade (curiously enough a noted gunnery specialist), became head of the newly-created Aeronautical Department he decided to revive the gasbag service and to train dirigible crews in all heavier-than-air craft at all serviceable, and since May 1922, small and large dirigibles had been humming, as if by enchantment over all naval bases in company with avians de chasse, to the great delight of military men who see in this aerial activity a compensation for France's maritime decline.
Although it was contended in service papers that the largest rigid, the 65,000 cubic-meter Dixmude, was being totally neglected, it was certain that at no time previously had so many French aeronauts been simultaneously in the air for the purpose of experiments and exercises, and - a fact deserving of notice in the light of the experience of rival fleets - no accident had marred that continuous aerial practice. The improved Zeppelin Mediterrance (25,000 cubic metres) had to its credit several interesting performances, including one of 700 kilometres at a fine rate of speed (up to 150km. per hour), with on board Commandants Yvon and Rivet and ten officers de vaisseau. The Brest soft dirigible AT 10, in commission for coastal exercises, has kept the air days on end, advancing 200 miles to sea to meet the Salaun fleet, and directing by wire less the repeated submarine attacks which accounted theoretically for the Toulon Dreadnaughts.
In 1908 France received from the builders her fourth large air ship, La Republique. Her predecessor, Le Patrie, 198 feet long, greatest diameter 34 feet, engines 70 horsepower, and capable of a maximum speed of 34 miles an hour, made 174 miles from Paris to its station on the German frontier in about seven hours. Another French dirigible, the Ville de Paris, has a length of 203 feet, greatest diameter 34 feet, engines 70 horsepower. It has made a successful flight of 140 miles and made a speed of 26 miles per hour. This air ship was taken over by the French army for station at Verdun in place of Le Patrie, which was lost.
Various expedients have been resorted to for the purpose of anchoring a dirgible in the open and keeping its head into the wind, but at best it will always be a decidedly hazardous undertaking. In November, 1907, the French dirigible 'La Patrie' was caught away from its house, broke loose in a storm and in spite of the two hundred soldiers holding it, and after drifting across France, England, Ireland and Scotland, floated over the North Sea and disappeared.
France was alert to the potential menace of the German airships. The supremacy of the Zeppelins has been acknowledged on the floor of the French Senate. General Cherfils, the renowned French military writer, has also admitted that the French style of dirigible balloons can not possibly compete with the Zeppelin, and has even pronounced all aeroplanes powerless against the German airship.
The French, on the theory that the more colossal craft were too unwieldy to be easily handled and too large to be fast, built smaller dirigibles of short endurance which can do only one thing well at a time. These dirigibles attain a very high altitude, an advantage if it is desired to launch bombs upon a near-by enemy; but this advantage is counterbalanced by the fact that their capacity for further flight is reduced practically to zero.
Then it was discovered that the Zeppelins had won by reversing the French idea. The Zeppelin carries engines sufficiently powerful to drive it almost twice as fast as any French dirigible has been able to travel, and, in fact, has reached a speed equal to that of the best of the French war aeroplanes, which of necessity are the larger and slower type of biplane. This high speed enables a Zeppelin not only to cover great distances in a short time, but also to attain a height of a mile in less than five minutes after it leaves the earth- which is about one-fourth the time that is required for a war aeroplane to reach the same height.
It was the Italian commander's official reports of the war in Tripoli that cured France of her delusion as to the relative values of aeroplanes and airships. Two baby Italian dirigibles cruised day after day a mile above the ground, surveying every Turkish post within twenty miles of the Italian camp. While these small airships were at work, swift aeroplanes were also in service, but they did well if they explored one camp in a flight and got safely back to headquarters. In fact, except for scouting in fair weather, their successes in bomb-throwing were not worth mentioning. On the other hand, the airships reported constantly by wireless to the troops and to the war-ships. They played the game true to aerial tactics. When the enemy opened fire upon them and they discovered that they were within possible reach of the bullets, they simply took a higher altitude, from which they deliberately continued their observations. Later, the same dirigibles returned to the Italian camps, where they took on a supply of bombs. Then they cruised leisurely about over the Turkish camps, from time to time dropping a bomb.
Attention to engineering details and construction, especially in making the envelope gas-tight and using, pure gas, brought additional success to the 1904 and 1905 Le Baudy airships, and the latter, which proved most useful in military aeronautical work, was turned over to the French Army, and similar balloons were ordered by the War Ministry. The success of French dirigible balloons led to the construction of an airship for the Wellman Polar Expedition, in which a dash could be made for the North Pole from Spitsbergen. Unsuccessful attempts were made both in 1906 and 1907.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,717386,00.html">The Dixmude "http://www.greatwardifferent.com/Great_War/Fusiliers_Marins/Fusiliers_Marins_01.htm">'Dixmude' an Epic of the French Marines "http://www.avalanchepress.com/FrenchAirship.php">France's Naval Airship Experiment began with the Lebaudy brothers, originally sugar refiners, who turned their energies to airship construction in 1899. Three years of work went to the production of their first vessel, which was launched in 1902, having been constructed by them together with a balloon manufacturer named Surcouf and an engineer, Julliot. The Lebaudy airships were what is known as semi-rigids, having a spar which ran practically the full length of the gas bag to which it was attached in such a way as to distribute the load evenly. The car was suspended from the spar, at the rear end of which both horizontal and vertical rudders were fixed, whilst stabilising fins were provided at the stern of the gas envelope itself. The first of the Lebaudy vessels was named the 'Jaune'; its length was 183 feet and its maximum diameter 30 feet, while the cubic capacity was 80,000 feet. The power unit was a 40 horse-power Daimler motor, driving two propellers and giving a maximum speed of 26 miles per hour. The second airship of Lebaudy construction was 7 feet longer than the first, and had a capacity of 94,000 cubic feet of gas with a triple air bag of 17,500 cubic feet to compensate for loss of gas; this latter was kept inflated by a rotary fan. The vessel was eventually taken over by the French Government and may be counted the first dirigible airship considered fit on its tests for military service. Later vessels of the Lebaudy type were the ' Patrie ' and ' Republique,' in which both size and method of construction surpassed those of the two first attempts. The ' Patrie ' was fitted with a 60 horse-power engine which gave a speed of 28 miles an hour, while the vessel had a radius of 280 miles, carrying a crew of nine. In the winter of 1907 the ' Patrie ' was anchored at Verdun, and encountered a gale which broke her hold on her mooring-ropes. She drifted derelict westward across France, the Channel, and the British Isles, and was lost in the Atlantic. The ' Republique ' had an 80 horse-power motor, which, however, only gave her the same speed as the ' Patrie.' She was launched in July, 1908, and within three months came to an end which constituted a tragedy for France. A propeller burst while the vessel was in the air, and one blade, flying toward the envelope, tore in it a great gash; the airship crashed to earth, and the two officers and two non-commissioned officers who were in the car were instantaneously killed. The Clement Bayard, and subsequently the Astra-Torres, non-rigids, followed on the early Lebaudys and carried French dirigible construction up to 1912. The Clement Bayard was a simple non-rigid having four lobes at the stern end to assist stability. These were found to retard the speed of the airship, which in the second and more successful construction was driven by a Clement Bayard motor of 10o horse-power at a speed of 30 miles an hour. On August 23rd, 1909, while being tried for acceptance by the military authorities, this vessel achieved a record by flying at a height of 5,000 feet for two hours. The Astra-Torres non-rigids were designed by a Spaniard, Senor Torres, and built by the Astra Company. The envelope was of trefoil shape, this being due to the interior rigging from the suspension band; the exterior appearance is that of two lobes side by side, overlaid by a third. The interior rigging, which was adopted with a view to decreasing air resistance, supports a low-hung car from the centre of the envelope; steering is accomplished by means of horizontal planes fixed on the envelope at the stern, and vertical planes depending beneath the envelope, also at the stern end. One of the most successful of French pre-war dirigibles was a Clement Bayard built in 1912. In this twin propellers were placed at the front and horizontal and vertical rudders in a sort of box formation under the envelope at the stern. The envelope was stream-lined, while the car of the machine was placed well forward with horizontal controlling planes above it and immediately behind the propellers. This airship, which was named 'Dupuy de Lome,' may be ranked as about the most successful non-rigid dirigible constructed prior to the War. The total weight of the 1914 airship "Commandant Coutelle" with two pilots, two observers and four mechanics was said to be 2,200 kilograms. This dirigible airship has a gas volume of 9,500 cubic meters and a fabric surface of 3,250 square meters. It has two balloonets of 3,600 cubic meters and a total length of 92 meters, with a diameter of 14 meters. The envelope is made from double fabric caoutchoute with a wind resistance of 1,600 kilograms or 400 gramms per square meter. The framework of the car is 40 meters long and 2 meters high with a width of 1.3 meters. It was located at a distance of 5 meters below the balloon. The total height of the airship including the balloon and car was 21 meters. The balloon proved very successful in many flights.- The French Government maintained a very reserved attitude over the question of airship construction. Dirigible balloons had not lost favor for military purposes. The authorities were merely of the opinion that it was prudent to await the results of technical investigation, and of the progress being carried out elsewhere, before embarking upon the construction of new airships. Before doing anything further it was awaiting developments and acquiring fresh experience which was believed to be necessary in view of the uncovincing results obtained with the dirigibles previously constructed in the country, and especially with the three German airships which were surrendered under the terms of the Versailles Treaty.
- During 1921 the Zeppelin dirigible L-72 was delivered to France by Germany. The first proposed designation, "DR-1," was not in accordance with French practice, which assigned names to airships, and accordingly it was renamed the "Dixmude," in recognition of the magnificent work of the French marine fusiliers in defence of that town in October and November, 1914. The Dixmude was taken over by the Marine and was intended to be used for survey work over the Mediterranean and North Africa, but for some time past the German airship had been lying in its shed near Toulon waiting for repairs which the authorities were reluctant to carry out. As the Dixmude was already four years old in 1922, which was regarded as the normal life of an airship, it was feared that repairs will be continually absorbing large sums of money.
- The L-133 had to be taken down at Maubeuge before it could render any useful service.
- The Nordstern, or Mediterranee as it was called, was still waiting in its' shed at St. Cyr until arrangements can be made for handing it over either to the military or naval services. It was feared that the Mediterranee will share the fate of the other airships. Nordstern, re-named Mediterranée, undertook a number of propaganda flights and trained some French naval airship crews. The French Army took over LZ.113, but never flew the obsolete airship. She was subjected to ground testing with an eye toward improving Dixmude and gaining knowledge for a future series of French-built rigid airships.
The program of French-built dirigibles was cancelled.
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