The ''La France'' was a

French Army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (french: Armée de Terre, ), is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. It is responsible to the Government of France, along with the other components of the Armed For ...

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 Timeline of aviation - 19 ...

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. B ...

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

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

Hangar

Specifications

See also

References

External links