Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
British observation balloon from 1908, typical of pre-WWI observation balloons. An observation balloon is a type of balloon that is employed as an aerial platform for gathering intelligence and spotting artillery. The use of observation balloons began during the French Revolutionary Wars, reaching their zenith during World War I, and they ...
The following year, during the Siege of Mainz an observation balloon was employed again. However, the French military use of the balloon did not continue uninterrupted, as in 1799 Napoleon disbanded the French balloon corps. [2] In 1804, Napoleon considered invading England by landing troops transported by balloons.
Caquot kite balloon (in French Caquot Captif) was a type of non-rigid military observation balloon, designed in 1915 by Albert Caquot.The type became widely used by Allied forces in World War I warfare for multiple observation or naval defence uses and later also as a anti-aircraft barrage balloon.
The French Aerostatic Corps or Company of Aeronauts (French: compagnie d'aérostiers) was the world's first balloon unit, [1] founded in 1794 to use balloons, primarily for reconnaissance. Experimentation
L'Intrépide was the larger [2] 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 and the Robert brothers in Paris.
French Emperor Napoleon III employed a corps of observation balloons, led by Eugène Godard, for aerial reconnaissance over battlefields both in Franco-Austrian war of 1859, and in 1870 during the Franco-Prussian War and the Siege of Paris. The Union Army Balloon Intrepid being inflated from the gas generators for the Battle of Fair Oaks
The story of aviation at Chalais-Meudon starts in October 1793 when the French Public Safety Committee ordered the construction of an observation balloon capable of carrying two observers. The old royal grounds at Meudon were allocated for this work, with the Château de Meudon chosen as the centre, with Nicolas-Jacques Conté as director.
The United States also manufactured nearly a thousand "Caquot R balloons" in 1918-1919. This balloon gave France and its allies an advantage in military observation, significantly contributing to the allies' supremacy in artillery and aviation and eventually to the final victory.