1. Chapter 1 Early Aviation (1783-1914)
Section A – The Invention of Aviation
Section B – Balloons
Section C – Dirigibles
Section D – Airships

2. Introduction How far back did the dream of flying go?
Ancient Greek myth tells the story of Daedalus, who constructed wings of wax and feathers. He and his son Icarus used the wings to escape captivity from Crete. Icarus, ignoring warnings from his father flew too close to the sun and melted his wings.
Icarian – (adj.) someone with high-flying or bold ambition.

3. Introduction
As far we can tell, manned flight began in France in 1783.
Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier invent the hot air balloon.
From the balloon, came dirigibles, the addition of power and control, gliders, airplanes…
And the rest is history.

4. Section A The Invention of Aviation
Aviation began in the provincial French town of Annonay, where the brothers Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier lived. The year was 1783.

5. The Montgolfier Bros. Joseph and Etienne (E.T.) Montgolfier
Papermakers
Interested in mechanics and science, Joseph conceived the ides of aviation.
Joseph performed experiments relating to flight in order to understand the mechanical nature of heat
He saw smoke rise from fire and experimented with a paper bag over the fire. He made a model of taffeta and watched the model rise to the ceiling. The first hot air balloon was born.

6. The Montgolfier Bros.
ET Montgolfier reported the experiments to the Bureau of Commerce Dec
He suggested the new machine be used…
To transmit communications
To conduct scientific experiments
Carry people
Drop bombs
Or transport goods

7. The Montgolfier Bros.
The bros. constructed a full-size machine, but their elderly father prohibited the bros. from flying.
Modifications were made
Eliminated wood form, went with an envelope
Used hot air instead of hydrogen, which was too expensive to obtain.

8. The Montgolfier Bros. The first public ascension scheduled
4 June 1783
Officials were invited to document the event
Balloon rose to almost 3000 ft.
Flew about 1 ½ miles
The flight ended because of warm air leaking out of button-holes, crashed, and caught on fire.
Overall, the experiment was a success.

9. The Montgolfier Bros.
In Paris the bros. sought government funds to reimburse their expenses and to finance further development of aviation.
They also wanted publicity for their ballooning and to help increase orders for their papermaking business.

10. Competition Charles needed help with creating a tight sealed envelope.
A.J. and M.N. Robert bros.
Dissolved rubber in turpentine
Allowed them to rubberize silk taffeta fabric
Robert bros. create hydrogen
Filled an oak barrel with iron filings, poured sulfuric acid over the filings. A copper tube carried the hydrogen to a valve on the balloon

11. Competition Competition soon followed the bros. J.A.C Charles
French physicist
Award grant from the French Academy of Sciences
Used hydrogen as the lifting agent
Hydrogen balloon

12. Competition
27 August 1783
Charles and his crew released their balloon about 5pm in front of ticket holders.
It rose about 1,500 ft and disappeared into the clouds
The balloon burst, fell to the ground, and was attacked by frighten peasants with pitchforks.
The balloon was destroyed

13. Hot Air Development
The Montgolfier bros. continued their work on ballooning
ET arranged the Academy of Sciences to finance their balloon under assembly at the Reveillion wallpaper factory. Hence, why most paintings have elegantly designed balloons
They scheduled another flight, but was cancelled by rain, but the next flight would be big…….

14. Hot Air Development 19 September 1783
The Montgolfier bros. demonstrated their balloon in front Royalty
King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette
At Versailles, France
The first passengers
A Sheep, a duck, and a rooster
Rose to 1,500 ft, landed safely, SUCCESS!!

15. Manned Flight
October 1783
ET built and tested a tethered balloon in which he rode in
Was not publicized because of his father.
Jean-Francois Pilatre de Rozier and Francois Laurent
Made the first public manned flight in a free Montgolfier balloon, 21 November 1783.
Witnessed by Benjamin Franklin

16. Hydrogen Balloon Development
Competition gets too good…
The Robert bros. improves the method of making hydrogen.
1 December 1783
M.N. Charles and J.A.C. Charles took-off from Paris and flew 17 miles.
After they landed, Charles want solo
Climbed to 9,000 ft, got scared
Never flew again!!

17. Section B Balloons
What the Montgolfier bros. had begun in 1783 quickly spread. Ballooning became immediately popular throughout Europe and soon spread to America. J.A.C. Charles stopped flying, but the Montgolfier bros. were not through yet.

18. The Montgolfiers Continue
A large balloon was constructed by Joseph Montgolfier. It was designed to carry six passengers.
The day before the flight, the balloon was damaged by rain, sleet, fire, and snow.
The balloon was then hijacked by four noblemen – with guns.
With a total of 7 passengers, the balloon slowly rose to 2,500 ft, tore landed hard.
The bros. last contribution was the invention of the parachute - Joseph Montgolfier, 1784.

19. Military Aviation
France was leading the world in Aviation, including military aviation.
Military aviation began in France in 1793
A confiscated balloon was assigned to the Republican Army by Napoleon.
In 1794, the French Army organized the Compagnie d’Aerostiers.
Used for observation of Austrian maneuvers
The balloon corps was captured by the Austrians in Wurzburg in September 1796.

20. International Aviation
On 25 Feb 1784
Paolo Andreani, Charles Gerli, and Augustin Gerli made the first balloon ascension in Italy
1784, manned flight was achieved in
Ireland, Scotland, England, and the US

21. International Aviation
Jean-Pierre Blanchard (French Balloonist) and John Jeffries (US expatriate)
Made two “aerial voyages”
The second trip was from England to France on 7 January 1785
For the non-geography buffs, they were the first to cross the English Channel by air.

22. Ballooning in the US
1784, College of William and Mary in Virginia established a Balloon Club
Edward Warren, 13, became this first to achieve the first manned ascent in the US, tethered.
Blanchard accomplished the first free balloon flight in all the Americas 9 January 1793
He was presented a written passport for safe conduct by President George Washington.

23. Exhibition Flying The favorite of the professional aeronauts…
Flying for exhibition
Flying for distance
Charles Green
Invented the dragline
Rope attached to the balloon basket and used to slow the speed of ascent of descent when near the ground.

24. Exhibition Flying
In the US, ballooning entered the golden age in the 1830s
Charles Ferson Durant became known as “The American Aeronaut”
World Distance Records
Richard Clayton - Cincinnati, OH, to Monroe County,VA. 350 miles in 1835
John Wise, O. Gager, John La Mountain- St. Louis to Henderson, NY. 809 miles in 1859

25. Exhibition Flying Crossing the Atlantic became the next Big Thing…
Many fakes
Many attempts
Many failures
But we’ll get there…

26. Military Aviation Developments
The Austrian military launched unmanned balloons – dropping bombs – against Italy in WW II.
Thaddeus Lowe developed aerial recon techniques during the US Civil war
Union soldiers converted a coal barge to a balloon carrier, an operation carrier (technically the first aircraft carrier).

27. Exploration Can’t fly to the Frogs? Go See Santa.
S.A. Andrée, Swedish aeronaut
Decided to attempt to fly across the N. Pole, 1894
1st attempt failed
2nd attempt, 11 July 1897
Andrée and two others (Strindberg and Fraenkel)
Ascend from Spitsbergen
They disappeared

28. Turn of the Century
Newspapers recognized the “newsworthiness” of aviation
Started sponsoring expeditions
Ballooning becomes the “rich mans” sport
Gordon Bennett
New York Herald publisher
Sponsors first annual balloon race, 1906
Raced for distance, not time

29. End of Section A & B
Any questions thus far?