''L'Intrépide'' ("The Intrepid") was a

hydrogen balloon Hydrogen is the chemical element with the symbol H and atomic number 1. Hydrogen is the lightest element. At standard conditions hydrogen is a gas of diatomic molecules having the formula . It is colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, an ...

of the ''

Compagnie d'Aérostiers The French Aerostatic Corps or Company of Aeronauts (french: compagnie d'aérostiers) was the world's first balloon unit,Jeremy Beadle and Ian Harrison, ''First, Lasts & Onlys: Military'', p. 42 founded in 1794 to use balloons, primarily for reco ...

'' (French Aerostatic Corps) and is the oldest preserved manned aircraft in Europe.Information plaque displayed in the ''

Heeresgeschichtliches Museum The Museum of Military History – Military History Institute (german: Heeresgeschichtliches Museum – Militärhistorisches Institut) in Vienna is the leading museum of the Austrian Armed Forces. It documents the history of Austrian ...

'': "Da es sich hierbei um das älteste noch bekannte Luftfahrzeug Europas handelte, mußte nicht zuletzt aus Rücksicht auf konservatorische Bedingungen die originale Ballonhülle entsprechend gesondert untergebracht werden." ''L'Intrépide'' was the larger of two observation balloons, the other being '' Hercule'' ("Hercules"), issued to the Aerostatic Corps in June 1795, twelve years after the pioneering hydrogen balloon flights of Professor

Jacques Charles Jacques Alexandre César Charles (November 12, 1746 – April 7, 1823) was a French inventor, scientist, mathematician, and balloonist. Charles wrote almost nothing about mathematics, and most of what has been credited to him was due to mistaking ...

and the

Robert brothers Les Frères Robert were two French brothers. Anne-Jean Robert (1758–1820) and Nicolas-Louis Robert (1760–1820) were the engineers who built the world's first hydrogen balloon for professor Jacques Charles, which flew from central Paris o ...

in Paris. These balloons were used by the Corps's first company attached to General Jourdan's

Army of Sambre-et-Meuse The Army of Sambre and Meuse (french: Armée de Sambre-et-Meuse) was one of the armies of the French Revolution. It was formed on 29 June 1794 by combining the Army of the Ardennes, the left wing of the Army of the Moselle and the right win ...

in 1796. When that army was defeated by Austrian forces at the

Battle of Würzburg The Battle of Würzburg was fought on 3 September 1796 between an army of the Habsburg monarchy led by Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen and an army of the First French Republic led by Jean-Baptiste Jourdan. The French attacked the archduke's ...

on 3 September 1796, the balloon was captured and taken to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, where it is now on display at the ''Heeresgeschichtliches Museum''. The balloon's silk envelope is roughly spherical and has a diameter of . Its wooden gondola is very small, measuring by and its railing has a height of . The balloon envelope is a replica, with the original displayed folded in a glass case nearby.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Intrepide Individual balloons (aircraft) French military reconnaissance aircraft