- THE CONQUEST OF THE SKY
Man's flight was made with a lighter-than-air device. The honor belongs to the Montgolfier brothers who, after many observations and efforts, built the first hot air balloon (operated by hot air which rose in 1783 in Versailles (Paris). Second, Professor Charles flew a balloon containing hydrogen. Then others followed such as Blanchard, John Jeffries, etc. In 1799, balloons are also used for military purposes (either for observation or to transport explosives and incendiary bombs). Since 1950, balloons have been used for the study of winds. and for atmospheric research...
Balloons! The Forgotten Flights That No One Talks About
For centuries, inventors have been searching for a way in which man could fly. In the eighteenth century, Frenchmen Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier observed smoke rising into the air and concluded that the smoke must have some characteristic property that could perhaps be used to help humans fly. So they made a huge sack of paper and cloth and held it over the smoke of a fire. The villagers who gathered to watch the experiment were amazed when the sack rose into the sky.
That June 1783 the Montgolfier brothers had invented the hot air balloon. Five months later the first manned flight took place in a balloon of the Montgolfier brothers. The huge balloon, decorated with ribbons, rose into the sky of Paris, while 300,000 people were delirious with excitement. John Pilatre de Rosier (1756 - 1785) and the Marquis d'Arland were the first people who were able to travel a distance in the air, overcoming gravity. It was November 21, 1783. In bankrupt France, the hungry found something to occupy them, lest they forget their suffering.
The world was entering the era of air navigation. De Bakeville's 43-year-old venture had already been forgotten. The Marquis de Bacqueville was advancing the plan for the attainment of the great object of his life in all secrecy. He wanted to be the first person to fly. By his time, many had tried. But they were all shattered. All the previous ones wanted to imitate birds and wore feathers on their hands. The marquis thought that man is not a bird. To fly, therefore, he needed not two but four wings. That was his great secret.
The real parachute, the hydraulic ram and other inventions are due to them. But they went down in history as the inventors of the hot air balloon. They filled a balloon with hot air so that it became lighter than atmospheric, and managed to lift it. Hanging a basket full of sandbags, they had their flying device ready. They needed a pioneer to agree to fly their balloon, as they called it. They found two. John Pilatre de Rosier (1756 - 1785) and the Marquis d'Arland. They explained the mechanism.
If they wanted to go down, all they had to do was open the balloon from below to let in cold air and weigh down the balloon. If they wanted to rain again, they would empty the sandbags to lighten it up. The venture took place on November 21, 1783, in Paris. Pilatre and d'Arland rose into the sky in a huge balloon decorated with colorful ribbons, while 300,000 people went wild with excitement. They were the first people to defeat gravity. Their wandering lasted 25 minutes. They had traveled nine kilometers. However, they could not go where they wanted. They were going in the direction the wind was blowing.
He knew of earlier attempts by "bird people" to imitate the mythical Icarus without success, and believed that the solution lay in engineering. He invented a flying machine, something like a ship with many rudders and wings. Try as he might, his construct wouldn't budge from the earth. When on November 21, 1783 the hot air balloon of the Mogolfier brothers rose into the sky of Paris, Jean-Pierre was thrilled. A way had been found to lift his machine. In less than two and a half months, he fitted to his machine a balloon, like that of the Mogolfiers, and dragged it to the field of Mars.
By 1809, he made 64 flights. The 65th stalled fatally, the machine malfunctioned and Blanchard crumpled to the ground. He was 56 years old. The efforts were continued by his wife, Sofia, for ten more years. In 1819, the balloon caught fire in mid-air and Sophia was killed falling to earth. The disadvantage of balloons, however, was that they drifted in the wind and could not be steered in a specific direction. To make the balloon navigable a method of propulsion was necessary. The first to combine buoyancy with propulsion was the Frenchman Henri Gifar, who in 1852 flew a steam-powered airship.
History Of Balloons (1944)
In general, the term air navigation describes today all the knowledge and handling required for a safe flight to a specific destination, including landing, refloating or de-watering, (as the case may be). In particular, air navigation is related to the methods of determining the course of an aircraft, finding its position, i.e. its geographical position, at any time, as well as relating to the safety of the flight.
In the past (up to 40 years ago), air navigation was divided into aeronautics (for lighter-than-air vehicles, e.g. balloons, airships and gliders) and aviation (for heavier-than-air vehicles, e.g. airplanes and helicopters) ). However, with the rapid development of flights today, air navigation is part of the more general aeronautics, which includes both the above individual distinctions as well as aeronautics. As in Shipping, by extension also in Air Navigation the knowledge is almost identical and applied either by observation or with the help of electronic instruments.
In aeronautics, just as in navigation, on a steady course the line on which the vehicle moves intersects the meridians at the same angle where on mercator projection maps it is depicted as a straight line, which is also called a declination. And the geographical position of the medium can be determined either by a match, which is a kind of summation of time, speed and direction elements, which is independent of communication with external reference points, but with the disadvantage of an increase in error depending on the weather conditions and the passing time , or by observing external reference points where the case for error is minimized.
Air navigation with observation depending on the point and means of reference has evolved today into:
1) Astronomical aeronautics
2) Radio-aviation and
3) Satellite air navigation.
Aerostatics is the branch of Physics, and in particular Engineering, that deals with the mechanical properties of gases when they are in equilibrium. Aerostatics deals primarily with the forces exerted by gases on any surface they come in contact with, which arise from the fact that gases have weight. These forces are in direction always perpendicular to the surface examined each time.
The quotient of dividing the force exerted by a gas by the area of the surface on which it acts vertically is called pressure. But these forces, of the gases that are in equilibrium, are not only exerted on the walls of the containers in which they are contained, but also on the bodies that are inside their mass, where again they are exerted vertically and their pressure is calculated similarly, that is, by of force divided by surface area.
· From this it is deduced that at every point of an air mass that is at rest a certain pressure is exerted which is called aerostatic pressure.
· Gas pressures are measured with special instruments called manometers, and in particular the atmospheric pressure with barometers.
In Physics, the Laws of gases are characterized as all those physical laws that have been formulated and which concern the behavior of gases in nature. These laws describe the behavior of gases taking into account three basic parameters: the temperature, the volume and the pressure of an ideal gas. These are the laws of Boyle, Gay-Lussac and Charles. All three of these laws are special cases of the constitutive equation of gases. Ideal gases or perfect gases are gases that follow the gas laws exactly.
But such gases are only hypothetical, since gases in nature deviate more or less from the characteristics of ideal gases, and thus they are characterized as real gases. Their behavior is described by the constitutive equation of real gases or gas equation of state, which is an extension of this ideal one using approximate methods. The gas laws are explained by kinetic theory. If a gas is heated, its molecules will move faster.
So if it is in a container, the collisions of the molecules on the walls of the container will become more frequent with a consequent increase in pressure, volume or both. If the volume of the container is reduced (thus reducing the space) the collisions of the molecules with the walls will become more frequent and therefore the pressure will increase.
- IDEAL GAS
The ideal gas is a model, useful to roughly study the properties and behavior of gases. At a first level, an ideal gas is called that which verifies the laws of Boyle-Marriot and Gay-Lussac which are synthesized into a single law in the form of the general equation of products:
PV = NkBT = nRT
where:
· V the specific volume
· T the absolute temperature
· n the number of moles
· R the global gas constant
· k B the Boltzmann constant
The two forms of the above relationship are equivalent. This equation is also called the equation of elasticity or the general equation of state of the gas and provides the relationship that connects its three characteristic elements, i.e. pressure, specific volume and temperature, and is valid for any state of the gas as long as it is in thermodynamic equilibrium. More specifically, the assumptions made for the ideal gas are as follows:
1) The molecules that make it up are point-like and of finite mass.
2) The particles collide with each other according to the laws of impact of spheres.
Combined with the point-like nature of the particles, this means that we always consider the impacts to be frontal, where the only thing that changes is the magnitude and direction (but not the direction) of the particle's velocity. The impacts are elastic so the total kinetic energy of the molecules is conserved.3) The molecules do not interact in any other way with each other. There are, for example, no electrical forces of attraction or repulsion.
Real gases deviate from this model as they are not pointwise, and the impacts and interactions between them are more complicated. More realistic models describing real (interacting) gases fall into two categories: Phenomenological and theoretical. An example of a phenomenological model is the van der Waals equation, while an example of a theoretical model is a constitutive Virial equation.
- VOLUME - WEIGHT RELATIONSHIP OF GASES
It is known from Physics that the specific gravity of a gas is called the weight of the unit of its volume. While the specific volume of a gas is called the opposite, that is, the volume occupied by the unit of its weight. In the application of measures as a unit of weight in the metric system, the kilogram (kg) is used and in English the pound (lb). As a unit of volume in the metric system it is the cubic meter (m3) while in English it is the cubic foot (ft3).
1) Therefore specific weight of a gas in the metric system is the weight in kg of 1 m3 of the gas, and in English the weight in lb of 1 ft3. And this is measured in kg/m3 (kilograms per cubic meter) or lb/ft3 (pounds per cubic foot).
Real gases deviate from this model as they are not pointwise, and the impacts and interactions between them are more complicated. More realistic models describing real (interacting) gases fall into two categories: Phenomenological and theoretical. An example of a phenomenological model is the van der Waals equation, while an example of a theoretical model is a constitutive Virial equation.
It is known from Physics that the specific gravity of a gas is called the weight of the unit of its volume. While the specific volume of a gas is called the opposite, that is, the volume occupied by the unit of its weight. In the application of measures as a unit of weight in the metric system, the kilogram (kg) is used and in English the pound (lb). As a unit of volume in the metric system it is the cubic meter (m3) while in English it is the cubic foot (ft3).
2) By extension, the specific volume of a gas in the metric system is the volume in m3 that occupies 1 kg of its weight, and in the English system the volume in ft3 that occupies one lb of it. And this is measured in m3/kg (cubic meters per kilogram) or ft3/lb (cubic feet per pound).
Following the above, both the specific weight and the specific volume are determined by dividing any weight by the volume it occupies or any volume of the gas by the weight of that volume. Therefore, if B is the weight of a gas, V is the volume of the gas, c is its specific weight, and v is its specific volume, then the following formulas arise:
γ = B / V and also v = V / B
and even:
γ = 1 / v and also v = 1 / γ
Following the above, both the specific weight and the specific volume are determined by dividing any weight by the volume it occupies or any volume of the gas by the weight of that volume. Therefore, if B is the weight of a gas, V is the volume of the gas, c is its specific weight, and v is its specific volume, then the following formulas arise:
γ = B / V and also v = V / B
and even:
γ = 1 / v and also v = 1 / γ
Conclusion:
From the formulas above, but also from what has been previously mentioned, specific gravity and specific volume are inversely related to each other. It is also noted that the specific weight and specific volume of gases are not constant as is the case for solid and liquid bodies but always depend on their pressure and temperature. That is, the lower the pressure and the higher the temperature of the gas, the thinner it is and therefore the lower its specific weight or the higher its specific volume.
Whenever the specific gravity or specific volume of a gas is determined or measured, its pressure and temperature at the time of measurement must also be determined.
Application Example:
If it is assumed that the atmospheric air pressure is 760 mmHg and the temperature 0 degrees C has a specific weight γ=1.293 kg/m3, the specific volume is easily determined from the above formula v = 1 / γ. That is, specific air volume v = 1 / 1.293 = 0.778 m3/kg.
- AIRCRAFT
- IN GENERAL
The aerostat (from the Greek words "ἀήρ" and "statos", through the French compound word "aérostat") is an aircraft, i.e. a flying medium, which remains aloft because its "aerostatic sphere" is filled with warm atmospheric air or other gases (e.g. hydrogen, helium, light gas, etc.) lighter (i.e. less dense) than air, resulting in buoyancy capable of lifting the aircraft, even if its overall density is almost the same ( but even a little smaller) compared to that of air. The term "balloon" includes "free balloons", airships and tethered balloons.
The main structure of a balloon consists of an "envelope" or "balloon", a (relatively) light envelope containing a lifting gas to provide the lift necessary for flight, to which all other components are attached, usually consisting of from a 'basket' or 'gondola', (usually) below the envelope, connected to it (i.e. the envelope) by ropes or cables, and carrying people, animals or automatic equipment such as telescopes, cameras and meteorological instruments.
The balloon may also contain flight control mechanisms. The first successful balloon flight (supposedly) was made by the Montgolfier brothers, and the first manned by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d'Arlandes 'Arlandes) on November 21, 1783 in Paris, which was the "birthday" of aviation.
- HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE AIRPORT
History describes many attempts by man to "fly" in the sky like birds. The most famous mythological description of flight was that of Daedalus and Icarus, who wanted to escape from Crete by flying. The desire of people to fly to the heavens also contradicts the predictions of the Old Testament, which mentions in the book of Job that, the desire of man to imitate the sparks of fire and to go up high, cannot be satisfied.
One legend has it that the Incas placed eminent dead in a vehicle that looked like an inverted pyramid, which then took off with the help of hot air and carried the dead to the gods - apparently to the nearest ocean. Findings about this legend do not exist yet. Although many Physics textbooks cite the Montgolfier Brothers as the first to invent the hot air balloon, this is probably untrue, as there are earlier reports of similar constructions, in various parts of the world, as mentioned below.
But to them (the Mongolfier Brothers) is rightly attributed the first documented and indisputable record of a successful flight. Before the invention of the Mongolfiera, as the balloon was then called, there had been many other attempts, designs and constructions, both lighter and heavier than air.
- Antiquity
In ancient times, an ancient people in Asia Minor, the Mysos, were characterized as "smokers", where according to a tradition that has been preserved, a Mysos lit a fire from which the smoke lifted him up and carried him to his ancestral home. Yet another legend states that the Incas placed prominent dead in a vehicle resembling an inverted pyramid or shield, which then took off with the help of hot air and carried the dead to the Gods. Findings about this legend do not exist yet. Unmanned hot air balloons have been popular in Chinese history.
Zhuge Liang of the Shu Han kingdom, during the Three Kingdoms Era (220 - 280) used flying lanterns for military signals. These lanterns are known as Kongming lanterns, (孔明灯). There is even a theory, from a demonstration led by modern balloonist Julian Nott in the late 1970s and again in 2003, that hot air balloons were used by the people of the Nazca culture ) in Peru about 2000 - 1500 years ago, as a tool for designing the famous Nazca land plans and lines.
- 16th Century
Originally in 1550 a Bavarian Jesuit published a work entitled "Universal Magic" showing how it is possible to move through the heavens using a medium lighter than air. He had called this medium the "hyper-atmosphere". But he made the tragic mistake of writing that such a means was not going to be found and so he failed to lead to the solution of the problem without ever knowing that he had determined at least the beginning of the solution. In 1670 the Italian cleric Father Francesco Lana, philosopher, theologian and great naturalist, also known as the "father of aeronautics" published a work entitled "Preface to some new inventions proposed by the great art".
In this work the multi-talented Jesuit defined with extraordinary clarity the theory of balloons and aeronautics using lighter air means which was finally realized a century after his death. In fact, in the sixth chapter of his work, Lana describes in a plan a small boat that carries four spheres made of brass sheets in which a vacuum would necessarily have to be created through which they would rise and turn into an airship. Historians of the time assert that Lana, due to lack of money, could not experiment on the "flying ship" as he had called it, for 10 ducats that no one was willing to offer.
If it is true that the first idea of the "lighter medium" is due to Lana, then the idea of application belongs to another also consecrated Brazilian Bartholomew Lorenzo de Gusmão. Leonardo da Vinci designed many "machines" and devices, which could be used for flight, but he did not implement any of them. A book published at the end of the 17th century included designs for "paper dragons" (vultures to us), which flew inflated with hot air. In 1709 the first recorded "flight" was achieved in Portugal.
- 17th Century
In 1709 the Portuguese cleric Bartolomeu de Gusmão made a balloon about 70 cm in diameter that was filled with hot air created by burning grass and wood in a small container at the bottom and raised in a room in Lisbon. The demonstration was so impressive that Gusmão was summoned to repeat his demonstration in Lisbon, before the king, in the great reception hall of the "Palaces of the Indies". However, the eyewitnesses turned into firefighters, because this balloon, rising, then rested on the curtains of the palace, causing a fire.
He also supposedly built another hot air balloon called Passarola and attempted to lift himself off Saint George Castle in Lisbon, but only managed to land harmlessly about a kilometer away. This claim is not generally recognized by historians of flight outside Portuguese-speaking communities, particularly by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI). After Henry Cavendish's work on hydrogen, Joseph Black proposed that a balloon filled with hydrogen would be able to rise into the air.
However, who was the inventor who was later called (flyer) is not exactly known. His experiment was considered magic. His plans and studies were confiscated and burned by the Inquisition, he himself did not die in exile in Seville. At the same time, researchers are discussing the "fire air" caused by combustion, a special type of air that rose with the smoke because it was lighter than the atmosphere.
Also the hydrogen that Cavendish discovered in 1766 and called "combustible air" was lighter than atmospheric was already known, and his colleague Black had already estimated that objects filled with air lighter than atmospheric should rise high, without but also to have experimented. The various opinions and thoughts about "light air" were recorded at some point in the French Academy of Sciences and made known to all its members from the Lyon area.
In 1782, the Neapolitan Tiberius Cavalo presented to a large audience gathered at the headquarters of the Royal Society of London, a report in which he asserted that: "any envelope whose content would be hydrogen could be lifted into the air". showing successful experiments with balloons of ox intestines. Undoubtedly this genius of study and experiment finally facilitated the solution of the problem which had so long confronted so many scholars. The first recorded manned flight was by a hot air balloon built by the Montgolfier brothers on November 21, 1783.
The flight started from Paris and reached a height of about 150 meters. The aeronauts Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d'Arlandes covered about 9 kilometers in 25 minutes per hour. It required continuous feeding of the brazier to maintain an adequate flow of hot air into a huge bag, made of cloth and paper, above the aeronauts' heads. The reputation of the hot air balloon was short lived. Just 11 days after that historic flight, a demonstration of a balloon using hydrogen as a means of lift took place.
This new mechanism was simpler and caused the hot air balloon to fall into obscurity for 2 centuries. It came back to the fore in the late 1950s, when the US government built a hot air balloon as part of its research program. The use of modern handmade fabrics and oil in bottles was a clearly more practical and long-lasting solution, compared to the materials originally used for the construction of the balloon, but also for the production of heat by Montgolfier.
The hot air balloon was reborn and today its use exceeds that of those with hydrogen or the Sun, with a ratio of 500/1. Very soon after the first flight, the usefulness of the balloon in military operations was realized, initially in the roles of reconnaissance and directing artillery fire (and later as a means of air defense, espionage and also bombing in the form of Zeppelin airships).
The wealthy Montgolfier brothers decided to build a balloon that would rise with hot air. There are many versions of the work and secret tests that were carried out until the official presentation of their invention, since in the following decades they became folk heroes and their various real exploits were described in newspapers and books. They were actually the first to achieve practical results. Their first attempt is said to have been made with paper balls filled with steam. However, it quickly liquefied, wetting the casings, making them heavier than air and consequently falling.
The fact did not deter them and they continued their efforts. In the autumn of 1782 they constructed an oblong balloon of silk fabric and fed it with hot air from burning grasses and wool. Their success was significant, because this balloon flew for about 10 minutes at a height of 20 meters. On their next attempt the buoyancy force was such that the ropes holding it broke and the balloon reached about 300 meters before falling a few kilometers away. After these successes, an official presentation was organized on June 4, 1783 in his home town of Annet.
They made a ball of waterproof, thin cloth, covered with colored paper and filled it with hot air and let it rise into the sky on June 5, 1783. The conquest of air was done. This balloon rose to a height of approximately 180 m and covered a distance of 2,337 m from its launch point. The official guests from power and science took their seats on wooden platforms and watched the flight of the so-called "Mongolfiera", which had a diameter of 30 meters and was said to reach a height of several kilometers.
The report on the flight was delivered by observers to the Academy of Sciences assigned to the researcher Jacques Alexandre Cesar Charles(1746 - 1823) for further study and the inventor brothers were invited to present their work in Paris. On December 1, 1783, Professor Jacques Charles and the Robert brothers made the first airless (light) gas flight, also from Paris. They used a hydrogen-filled balloon, flew almost 600 meters, stayed in the air for more than two hours, covered a distance of about 43 kilometers and landed in the small town of Nels-la-Vallee.
On August 27, 1783, on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, in front of 300,000 Parisians, the French physicist Charles raised a 3.5 m diameter rubber-coated fabric sphere filled with hydrogen, which had just been discovered. The primitive arrangement for hydrogen production caused enormous pollution, and many of them, as it is said with a dose of exaggeration, 300,000 spectators, that is half of Paris, fled far away in order not to be poisoned. Ultimately the flight was successful and considered the first balloon flight, in Paris, since the Montgolfier brothers were still unknown in the capital.
On June 23, 1784, Jean-Francois Pilatre de Rosier took part in another flight, with an improved version of the Montgolfier brothers' balloon, which had been named Marie Antoinette, after the then Queen of France. This balloon took off in front of the (then) King of France Louis XVI and the (also then) King of Sweden Gustavus III. Together with Joseph Proust, the balloon flew north, at an altitude of about 3,000 meters, above the clouds.
They traveled 52 kilometers in 45 minutes before cold weather forced them to land near Luzarches, between Coye and Orry-la-Ville, near the Chantilly forest. . They broke the previous speed, altitude, and travel distance records. The Montgolfier brothers, on September 19, 1784, repeated this experiment in the great courtyard of the Palace of Versailles in the presence of the King. In fact, then, for more scientific interest, a wicker basket was attached to the bottom, which carried the first aeronauts in history.
There was a rooster, a duck and a lamb. The large crowd in attendance eagerly awaited the fate of the "passengers". Indeed, the experiment was completely successful this time and the animals returned to Earth "safe and sound", proving that even living organisms can face the free atmosphere without damage. To these three animals also belongs the title of the pioneers of the ethers, since they preceded many others who collaborated with man in their conquest.
And just as then, the crowd was especially excited by the return of the "Mongolfiera" animals, so in November 1957 the world was moved by the loss of the dog Laika when it was informed that the Russian satellite with which she had launched into space would never return on Earth anymore. Nevertheless the most important test for the conquest of the ethers by man had not yet been made.
History finally awarded the coveted title of pioneering aeronauts to two French namesakes, Francois Pilatre de Rosier (1754 - 1785) and Francois Lorraine (1742 - 1809). These two courageous pioneers on November 21, 1783 riding in a circumnavigation "Mongolfiera", in the park of La Miette, rose in the air about 1000 meters and after crossing Paris, after 25 minutes of the hour, landed smoothly in the area of Moulin de Merveilles at a distance of 12 km from the point of departure.
The thrill of this success was painted on the faces of all the residents of Paris who ran and jumped after the balloon. With tears of emotion the heroic protagonists returned to the ground, and while the people in their excitement almost destroyed the balloon, they were carried by the crowd triumphantly on their shoulders to the palace. After such a great success, unfortunately luck was not favorable for these protagonists. Especially de Rosier, who met a tragic death in June 1785.
That failed attempt was finally succeeded by another also French aeronaut, Jean Pierre Blanchard (1753 - 1809) where on January 7, 1785 departing from Dover he landed on the French coast crossing the Channel with great skill and with favorable currents of air. So the hot air balloon craze is starting to become general. Italy is second after France, in similar flight tests where the first ascent occurred in Milan on February 25, 1784, attempted by the Italian aeronauts Paolo Andreanici
From the formulas above, but also from what has been previously mentioned, specific gravity and specific volume are inversely related to each other. It is also noted that the specific weight and specific volume of gases are not constant as is the case for solid and liquid bodies but always depend on their pressure and temperature. That is, the lower the pressure and the higher the temperature of the gas, the thinner it is and therefore the lower its specific weight or the higher its specific volume.
Whenever the specific gravity or specific volume of a gas is determined or measured, its pressure and temperature at the time of measurement must also be determined.
Application Example:
If it is assumed that the atmospheric air pressure is 760 mmHg and the temperature 0 degrees C has a specific weight γ=1.293 kg/m3, the specific volume is easily determined from the above formula v = 1 / γ. That is, specific air volume v = 1 / 1.293 = 0.778 m3/kg.
- AIRCRAFT
- IN GENERAL
The aerostat (from the Greek words "ἀήρ" and "statos", through the French compound word "aérostat") is an aircraft, i.e. a flying medium, which remains aloft because its "aerostatic sphere" is filled with warm atmospheric air or other gases (e.g. hydrogen, helium, light gas, etc.) lighter (i.e. less dense) than air, resulting in buoyancy capable of lifting the aircraft, even if its overall density is almost the same ( but even a little smaller) compared to that of air. The term "balloon" includes "free balloons", airships and tethered balloons.
The main structure of a balloon consists of an "envelope" or "balloon", a (relatively) light envelope containing a lifting gas to provide the lift necessary for flight, to which all other components are attached, usually consisting of from a 'basket' or 'gondola', (usually) below the envelope, connected to it (i.e. the envelope) by ropes or cables, and carrying people, animals or automatic equipment such as telescopes, cameras and meteorological instruments.
The balloon may also contain flight control mechanisms. The first successful balloon flight (supposedly) was made by the Montgolfier brothers, and the first manned by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d'Arlandes 'Arlandes) on November 21, 1783 in Paris, which was the "birthday" of aviation.
History describes many attempts by man to "fly" in the sky like birds. The most famous mythological description of flight was that of Daedalus and Icarus, who wanted to escape from Crete by flying. The desire of people to fly to the heavens also contradicts the predictions of the Old Testament, which mentions in the book of Job that, the desire of man to imitate the sparks of fire and to go up high, cannot be satisfied.
One legend has it that the Incas placed eminent dead in a vehicle that looked like an inverted pyramid, which then took off with the help of hot air and carried the dead to the gods - apparently to the nearest ocean. Findings about this legend do not exist yet. Although many Physics textbooks cite the Montgolfier Brothers as the first to invent the hot air balloon, this is probably untrue, as there are earlier reports of similar constructions, in various parts of the world, as mentioned below.
But to them (the Mongolfier Brothers) is rightly attributed the first documented and indisputable record of a successful flight. Before the invention of the Mongolfiera, as the balloon was then called, there had been many other attempts, designs and constructions, both lighter and heavier than air.
In ancient times, an ancient people in Asia Minor, the Mysos, were characterized as "smokers", where according to a tradition that has been preserved, a Mysos lit a fire from which the smoke lifted him up and carried him to his ancestral home. Yet another legend states that the Incas placed prominent dead in a vehicle resembling an inverted pyramid or shield, which then took off with the help of hot air and carried the dead to the Gods. Findings about this legend do not exist yet. Unmanned hot air balloons have been popular in Chinese history.
Zhuge Liang of the Shu Han kingdom, during the Three Kingdoms Era (220 - 280) used flying lanterns for military signals. These lanterns are known as Kongming lanterns, (孔明灯). There is even a theory, from a demonstration led by modern balloonist Julian Nott in the late 1970s and again in 2003, that hot air balloons were used by the people of the Nazca culture ) in Peru about 2000 - 1500 years ago, as a tool for designing the famous Nazca land plans and lines.
- 16th Century
Originally in 1550 a Bavarian Jesuit published a work entitled "Universal Magic" showing how it is possible to move through the heavens using a medium lighter than air. He had called this medium the "hyper-atmosphere". But he made the tragic mistake of writing that such a means was not going to be found and so he failed to lead to the solution of the problem without ever knowing that he had determined at least the beginning of the solution. In 1670 the Italian cleric Father Francesco Lana, philosopher, theologian and great naturalist, also known as the "father of aeronautics" published a work entitled "Preface to some new inventions proposed by the great art".
In this work the multi-talented Jesuit defined with extraordinary clarity the theory of balloons and aeronautics using lighter air means which was finally realized a century after his death. In fact, in the sixth chapter of his work, Lana describes in a plan a small boat that carries four spheres made of brass sheets in which a vacuum would necessarily have to be created through which they would rise and turn into an airship. Historians of the time assert that Lana, due to lack of money, could not experiment on the "flying ship" as he had called it, for 10 ducats that no one was willing to offer.
If it is true that the first idea of the "lighter medium" is due to Lana, then the idea of application belongs to another also consecrated Brazilian Bartholomew Lorenzo de Gusmão. Leonardo da Vinci designed many "machines" and devices, which could be used for flight, but he did not implement any of them. A book published at the end of the 17th century included designs for "paper dragons" (vultures to us), which flew inflated with hot air. In 1709 the first recorded "flight" was achieved in Portugal.
- 17th Century
In 1709 the Portuguese cleric Bartolomeu de Gusmão made a balloon about 70 cm in diameter that was filled with hot air created by burning grass and wood in a small container at the bottom and raised in a room in Lisbon. The demonstration was so impressive that Gusmão was summoned to repeat his demonstration in Lisbon, before the king, in the great reception hall of the "Palaces of the Indies". However, the eyewitnesses turned into firefighters, because this balloon, rising, then rested on the curtains of the palace, causing a fire.
He also supposedly built another hot air balloon called Passarola and attempted to lift himself off Saint George Castle in Lisbon, but only managed to land harmlessly about a kilometer away. This claim is not generally recognized by historians of flight outside Portuguese-speaking communities, particularly by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI). After Henry Cavendish's work on hydrogen, Joseph Black proposed that a balloon filled with hydrogen would be able to rise into the air.
However, who was the inventor who was later called (flyer) is not exactly known. His experiment was considered magic. His plans and studies were confiscated and burned by the Inquisition, he himself did not die in exile in Seville. At the same time, researchers are discussing the "fire air" caused by combustion, a special type of air that rose with the smoke because it was lighter than the atmosphere.
Also the hydrogen that Cavendish discovered in 1766 and called "combustible air" was lighter than atmospheric was already known, and his colleague Black had already estimated that objects filled with air lighter than atmospheric should rise high, without but also to have experimented. The various opinions and thoughts about "light air" were recorded at some point in the French Academy of Sciences and made known to all its members from the Lyon area.
In 1782, the Neapolitan Tiberius Cavalo presented to a large audience gathered at the headquarters of the Royal Society of London, a report in which he asserted that: "any envelope whose content would be hydrogen could be lifted into the air". showing successful experiments with balloons of ox intestines. Undoubtedly this genius of study and experiment finally facilitated the solution of the problem which had so long confronted so many scholars. The first recorded manned flight was by a hot air balloon built by the Montgolfier brothers on November 21, 1783.
This new mechanism was simpler and caused the hot air balloon to fall into obscurity for 2 centuries. It came back to the fore in the late 1950s, when the US government built a hot air balloon as part of its research program. The use of modern handmade fabrics and oil in bottles was a clearly more practical and long-lasting solution, compared to the materials originally used for the construction of the balloon, but also for the production of heat by Montgolfier.
The hot air balloon was reborn and today its use exceeds that of those with hydrogen or the Sun, with a ratio of 500/1. Very soon after the first flight, the usefulness of the balloon in military operations was realized, initially in the roles of reconnaissance and directing artillery fire (and later as a means of air defense, espionage and also bombing in the form of Zeppelin airships).
The wealthy Montgolfier brothers decided to build a balloon that would rise with hot air. There are many versions of the work and secret tests that were carried out until the official presentation of their invention, since in the following decades they became folk heroes and their various real exploits were described in newspapers and books. They were actually the first to achieve practical results. Their first attempt is said to have been made with paper balls filled with steam. However, it quickly liquefied, wetting the casings, making them heavier than air and consequently falling.
The fact did not deter them and they continued their efforts. In the autumn of 1782 they constructed an oblong balloon of silk fabric and fed it with hot air from burning grasses and wool. Their success was significant, because this balloon flew for about 10 minutes at a height of 20 meters. On their next attempt the buoyancy force was such that the ropes holding it broke and the balloon reached about 300 meters before falling a few kilometers away. After these successes, an official presentation was organized on June 4, 1783 in his home town of Annet.
They made a ball of waterproof, thin cloth, covered with colored paper and filled it with hot air and let it rise into the sky on June 5, 1783. The conquest of air was done. This balloon rose to a height of approximately 180 m and covered a distance of 2,337 m from its launch point. The official guests from power and science took their seats on wooden platforms and watched the flight of the so-called "Mongolfiera", which had a diameter of 30 meters and was said to reach a height of several kilometers.
The report on the flight was delivered by observers to the Academy of Sciences assigned to the researcher Jacques Alexandre Cesar Charles(1746 - 1823) for further study and the inventor brothers were invited to present their work in Paris. On December 1, 1783, Professor Jacques Charles and the Robert brothers made the first airless (light) gas flight, also from Paris. They used a hydrogen-filled balloon, flew almost 600 meters, stayed in the air for more than two hours, covered a distance of about 43 kilometers and landed in the small town of Nels-la-Vallee.
On August 27, 1783, on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, in front of 300,000 Parisians, the French physicist Charles raised a 3.5 m diameter rubber-coated fabric sphere filled with hydrogen, which had just been discovered. The primitive arrangement for hydrogen production caused enormous pollution, and many of them, as it is said with a dose of exaggeration, 300,000 spectators, that is half of Paris, fled far away in order not to be poisoned. Ultimately the flight was successful and considered the first balloon flight, in Paris, since the Montgolfier brothers were still unknown in the capital.
On June 23, 1784, Jean-Francois Pilatre de Rosier took part in another flight, with an improved version of the Montgolfier brothers' balloon, which had been named Marie Antoinette, after the then Queen of France. This balloon took off in front of the (then) King of France Louis XVI and the (also then) King of Sweden Gustavus III. Together with Joseph Proust, the balloon flew north, at an altitude of about 3,000 meters, above the clouds.
They traveled 52 kilometers in 45 minutes before cold weather forced them to land near Luzarches, between Coye and Orry-la-Ville, near the Chantilly forest. . They broke the previous speed, altitude, and travel distance records. The Montgolfier brothers, on September 19, 1784, repeated this experiment in the great courtyard of the Palace of Versailles in the presence of the King. In fact, then, for more scientific interest, a wicker basket was attached to the bottom, which carried the first aeronauts in history.
And just as then, the crowd was especially excited by the return of the "Mongolfiera" animals, so in November 1957 the world was moved by the loss of the dog Laika when it was informed that the Russian satellite with which she had launched into space would never return on Earth anymore. Nevertheless the most important test for the conquest of the ethers by man had not yet been made.
History finally awarded the coveted title of pioneering aeronauts to two French namesakes, Francois Pilatre de Rosier (1754 - 1785) and Francois Lorraine (1742 - 1809). These two courageous pioneers on November 21, 1783 riding in a circumnavigation "Mongolfiera", in the park of La Miette, rose in the air about 1000 meters and after crossing Paris, after 25 minutes of the hour, landed smoothly in the area of Moulin de Merveilles at a distance of 12 km from the point of departure.
The thrill of this success was painted on the faces of all the residents of Paris who ran and jumped after the balloon. With tears of emotion the heroic protagonists returned to the ground, and while the people in their excitement almost destroyed the balloon, they were carried by the crowd triumphantly on their shoulders to the palace. After such a great success, unfortunately luck was not favorable for these protagonists. Especially de Rosier, who met a tragic death in June 1785.
That failed attempt was finally succeeded by another also French aeronaut, Jean Pierre Blanchard (1753 - 1809) where on January 7, 1785 departing from Dover he landed on the French coast crossing the Channel with great skill and with favorable currents of air. So the hot air balloon craze is starting to become general. Italy is second after France, in similar flight tests where the first ascent occurred in Milan on February 25, 1784, attempted by the Italian aeronauts Paolo Andreanici
Army Air Service Recruiting Film - Balloon and Airship Division
The upper one carried hydrogen and the lower one, which was shaped like a truncated cone, carried heated air from an alcohol lamp. Finally, after several successful flights, Jabecari was killed in a daring attempt on September 21, 1812 in Bologna. Of course, these brave efforts did not lack the presence and contribution of the woman who also used the parachute. And the man was also an aeronaut... he was the first to successfully jump into space using a parachute. Charles continued to improve his own balloon and invented sandbags (ballast) to control the flight height by deflating some of the bags.
He also introduced a valve to release gas when the balloon reached high, since at a few hundred meters above the ground, the balloon overinflated due to reduced atmospheric pressure. On November 21, 1783, the first human flight took place, when John Francis Pilatre de Rosier and Francis Laurentio de Arland flew a Mogolfiera, reaching a height of 1,000 m and traveling a distance of 8 km in 20 minutes. New manned balloon successes were achieved on 1 December 1783 by the Robert brothers, who flew a balloon 27 m in diameter, filled with hydrogen and fitted with a gas escape valve to adjust the height.
Less than a month after that historic flight, a balloon was demonstrated, using hydrogen as a means of lift. This new mechanism was simpler and caused the hot air balloon to fall into obscurity for 2 centuries, only to resurface in the late 1950s when the US government built a hot air balloon as part of its research program. In England in 1783, the Italian Count Francis Czebecari built a silk balloon, with a diameter of 3.05 m and a weight of 5 kg, which stayed in the air for 2.5 hours and traveled 77 km.
It was the first hot air balloon in England. Three months later a balloon crossed the English Channel, traveling a distance of 120 km, from Sandwich, Kent to Flanders. On June 15, 1785, Pilatre de Rosier and Romain attempted the opposite crossing of the English Channel, but the balloon burst and the two passengers were killed. They are the first victims in the endless list of heroic conquerors of the air. Vicentios Lunarti made many balloon flights, starting from London and was the first to use paddles to raise and lower the balloon.
The Italians Vincenzo Lunardi (1759 - 1799) and Francesco Giampecari (1762 - 1812) are noted both for their daring ventures and for their contribution to the engineering of aeronautics. In fact, after the elevation of Lunardi, which he attempted in London on September 14, 1784, the hesitations of the English disappeared until then. In this project Lunardi used hydrogen perfecting the theories of his predecessor Tiberius Cavalo. In Lunardi's balloon design are the "weather balloons" today.
Gas (light) balloons became the most common type of balloon from the 1790s to the 1960s. The 1795 French military observation balloon "L'Intrépide" is the oldest surviving aircraft in Europe. On display at the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum, Vienna. Jules Verne wrote a short non-fictional story, published in 1852, describing being aboard a hydrogen balloon.
Jean-Pierre Blanchard made the first manned balloon flight in the United States on January 9, 1793, after traveling in Europe, recording the first flight in several countries, including the Austrian Netherlands, Germany, the Netherlands and in Poland. His hydrogen-filled balloon took him out of the Philadelphia prison yard. His flight reached an altitude of 1,770 meters and landed in Gloucester County (New Jersey). President George Washington was among those invited to witness the take-off.
- 18th Century
The first attempt to build and raise a hot air balloon in Helladikos, still under Turkish occupation, was made in Ioannina in 1803, in the court of Ali Pasha, by a Greek named Pachomis who came from Syracuse in Epirus, a goldsmith by profession. However, the hot air balloon he built and which he was about to board himself, due to poor handling and inexperience of his assistants caught fire before it started to rise. This event was included in his satirical poem, consisting of 150 verses, "The physician of Ali Pasha" and poet Ioannis Velaras.
In the year 1804, two famous French researchers, Biot and Gay-Lussac, traveled by balloon to a height of 6.5 kilometers above the Alps to study the composition of the atmospheric air and the Earth's magnetic field. The scientists and technicians of the time they saw the balloon as a big toy since its flight could not be controlled. A technician, Jean-Pierre Blanchard, demonstrated in 1874 a balloon with wings made of rods and cloth, but the forces in flight were so strong that they destroyed every structure devised.
It is striking that during the Napoleonic wars in Europe, until 1815, the balloon was not systematically used for reconnaissance flights close to the enemy, although it was proposed and appears to have been tested from time to time. The inability to steer the balloon made it an easy target for enemy forces. As a controlled flight balloon, the Zeppelin was invented several decades later, but it also failed to compete with the airplane. Hot air balloons are used today, sometimes for scientific work, but mainly for entertainment and advertising, due to the large surface area of the balloon visible from the ground.
On September 29, 1804, Abraham Hopman became the first Dutchman to make a successful balloon flight in the Netherlands. Francesco Jabecari invented a balloon consisting of two separate spheres one on top of the other. The upper one carried hydrogen and the lower one, which was shaped like a truncated cone, carried heated air from an alcohol lamp. Finally, after several successful flights, Jabecari was killed in a daring attempt on September 21, 1812 in Bologna. In 1821, light gas was first used to fill the balloon in England, on July 19, during the coronation of George IV.
Many others followed, such as Glaser and Coxwell. That on September 5, 1862 they reached a height of 8,338 m., where they risked dying from lack of oxygen. On April 15, 1875, Tissadier, Sivel and Cross Spinel reached a height of 8,600 m, where all died except Tissadier, who remained deaf for life. On July 4, 1896 Andre left Spitsbergen for the North Pole, but never returned. In 1901 the Germans Benson and Schürig remained at an altitude of 10,500 m with special masks. In 1908 the Swiss Sack stayed in the air for 73 hours and 47 minutes and in 1913 the Frenchmen René Rabelmeyer and Goldschmidt covered a distance of 2,400 km in 41 hours.
Alongside the hot air balloon, the parachute was developed as a means of rescue in the event of a breakdown. It was first used by Garnerin in 1797, who descended with it from a height of 1,000 m. In 1895, i.e. a century later, Capazzo and Du Gast descended from a height of 4,000 m. The development of the balloon was the ruddered airships. The first airship flew in 1852 by Henri Giffard. Its propulsion was by steam engine and was too slow to be practical. As with "heavier-than-air" airplanes, it took the invention of the internal combustion engine before airships became practical in the late 19th century.
Henri Giffard also developed a tethered passenger airship in 1878 in the Tuileries Garden, Paris. The first tethered airship of the modern era also flew in France, at Chantilly Castle, in 1994 by Aerophile SA.
- 20th Century to Present
Ed Yost redesigned a hot air balloon in the late 1950s, using nylon fabric and burning propane to heat the air inside the balloon's envelope. The first flight of this balloon, which lasted 25 minutes and traveled 5 kilometers, took place on October 22, 1960 in Bruning, Nebraska. Yost's improved hot air balloon design inspired the modern sports balloon movement. Nowadays, hot air balloons have become more common than (light) gas balloons.
Today, the balloon is widely used in meteorological observations of the upper atmosphere, entertainment, aerial advertising, as well as in aerial emergency deployment of security measures, while its evolution was the airplane. Today, the use of modern handmade fabrics and oil in bottles was a clearly more practical and long-lasting solution, in relation to the materials that were originally used for the construction of the balloon, but also for the production of heat by Montgolfier. The hot air balloon was reborn and today its use exceeds that of those with hydrogen or the Sun, with a ratio of 500/1.
- THE FIRST FLIGHT INTO THE AIRSPHERE
The next milestone in the history of the balloon is more than 100 years later. In August 1932, Swiss scientist Auguste Piccard became the first person to ascend into the stratosphere. It reached a height of 16 kilometers. In the next two years the altitude record was constantly raised by international competition. In 1935 the Explorer 2 balloon balloon filled with helium gas set an altitude record that lasted 20 years. It reached an altitude of 22 kilometers, proving for the first time that humans can survive at very high altitudes, inside constant pressure chambers.
This flight is a milestone in the history of aviation in general, and helped pave the way for future manned space flights. In 1960 Joe Kittinger reached a height of 31 kilometers, from where he parachuted. During the fall his body exceeded the speed of sound before his parachute opened. In 1978, Ben Abruzzo, Maxie Anderson and Larry Newman crossed the Atlantic Ocean in 137 hours in a helium balloon. In 1981, 4 pilots crossed the Pacific Ocean in 84 hours. Later other expeditions, but also individuals succeeded in crossing the two oceans in hot air balloons.
Finally in 1999, Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones circled the world in a hot air balloon in 19 days, 21 hours and 55 minutes. The balloon of Piccard and Jones It is interesting to note that the historical development of the balloon makes a circle. At first the ascent was by hot air balloon, heated by materials burning in the basket. Later the use of hydrogen and sun was preferred, but in the last decades hot air balloons came back to the fore.
EARLY BALLOONS
- Tethered Balloons
These are balloons that are connected to the surface with one or more tethering systems. Unlike other types of balloons, tethered ones do not fly freely. A notable example of tethered balloons are cloaking balloons. Some tethered balloons obtain (also) aerodynamic lift, through the shape of their envelope or through the use of fins. Tethered balloons were also used for military purposes, for border protection, as aerial observatories. Their other uses include hosting security cameras and advertising.
- Free Balloons
They are free-flying balloons that are transported according to the breath of the wind. There are the following types of free balloons:
1. Hot air balloons: Hot air balloons gain aerostatic lift by heating the air inside their envelope. It is the most common type of balloon. The term is often extended to refer to tethered balloons or airships that use hot air to gain their buoyancy. Of course, this extension also applies to the following types.
2. Light gas balloons:These balloons obtain their aerostatic buoyancy by filling their envelope with a gas that has a lower density than the (average) atmospheric one. In most light gas balloons the internal pressure of the gas is equal to the pressure exerted externally by the surrounding atmosphere. But there is a type of light gas balloons called "hyper-compressed balloons" that contain gas under an internal pressure greater than that exerted externally by the surrounding atmosphere, so as to neutralize (somewhat) any escape of the gas.
1. Hydrogen balloons: They are not used much anymore since the famous Hindenburg accident, because of the high flammability of the gas. They are still commonly used in unmanned scientific or other meteorological balloons. However, hydrogen has the best lifting capacity, with a density ratio of about 1/14 that of the atmospheric average.
2. Helium Balloons: This gas is currently used by all airships and most other types of manned balloons. The gas density ratio is about 1/7 that of the average atmospheric one.
3. Ammonia balloons: It is rarely used because of the caustic properties of the material but also because of its limited lifting capacity. The gas density ratio is about 59% relative to the atmospheric average.
4. Gas balloons: Gas as a filling gas for the balloon envelope was used in the early days of balloon use, but was practically abandoned due to its high flammability. The average density ratio of the gas is about 35% relative to the atmospheric average.
5. Methane balloons: Methane was used as a more economical lifting gas, but it is flammable and the density ratio of the gas is about 55% of the average atmospheric.
6. Rozière balloons: These balloons are a combination of the above types, since they use both heated and unheated lifting gases. The most common modern use of this type of balloon is for long-distance flights, such as various flights around the world, mainly in pursuit of various records.
- Airships
Airships are free-flying balloons that can steer and propel themselves. Some of the airships acquire (and) aerodynamic lift, through the shape of their envelope or even through the use of wings. These types of airships are called "hybrid airships". In the past they were sometimes filled with hydrogen, but with this gas they are at risk of explosion. Modern airships are filled with hot air or sun, which does not run the risk of exploding.
- FUNCTION
A balloon usually consists of a light spherical or cylindrical bag (of paper, rubber, silk or waterproof material) containing hot air or hydrogen or helium. All three of these gases are lighter than ordinary atmospheric air. In the upper part there is a valve from which the escape of the gas can be made, when the aeronaut wants it. A basket or a boat can be hung under the sack with ropes or nets, into which passengers and cargo enter. Unnecessary weight hangs on the basket or boat, the "ballast" like sandbags.
A hot air balloon stands in the air, just as a fish stands in water. Each of them displaces with its volume more air or water than its weight. That is, the air heated by the fire has a lower weight (for equal volume) than the atmospheric air, i.e. lower density than it. Thus the air heated by the fire of the casing enters the balloon and the balloon rises into the atmosphere. The atmospheric pressure decreases as the balloon rises, and it is natural that when the atmospheric pressure becomes less than the pressure of the gas inside the balloon, the gas expands and the balloon bursts.
Thus the filling of the balloon is limited. The balloon stops rising when the density of the balloon equals the density of the surrounding air. The height at which it will stop is called the "normal height" and depends only on the capacity of the bullet. In reality the balloon exceeds the normal height from acquired speed, so it still loses some gas and thus its buoyancy is not sufficient. So now begins its descent as a half-full balloon, which continues to the ground, because the gas is constantly contracting. To stop this descent it must shed weight and thus lighten the balloon.
This is done by discarding the ballast, which it has with it. The balloon will descend definitively if its weight after dropping the ballast is greater than the buoyancy it receives from the atmospheric air or when the aeronaut expels a corresponding amount of gas from the valve. Landing is done with an anchor.
- BALLOONS AS FLYING MACHINES
A hot air balloon is conceptually the simplest flying machine. A balloon is a fabric envelope filled with a gas that is lighter than the surrounding atmosphere. The entire balloon is less dense than its surroundings, so it rises taking with it its basket, which is tied under the envelope, carrying passengers or other cargo. Although a hot air balloon generally does not have a propulsion system (if it does it is an airship), a degree of directional control is possible, since it is possible to make a hot air balloon go up or down, thus adjusting the flight altitude, thus seeking to find a suitable wind address.
Light gas balloons have established themselves in scientific applications as they are capable of reaching much higher altitudes and for much longer periods of time. They are generally filled with helium. Although hydrogen provides greater lift (per envelope volume), it is explosive in an oxygen-rich atmosphere. With few exceptions, scientific balloons are unmanned. There are two subtypes of light gas balloons:
1) Zero pressure balloons2) High pressure balloons
- Zero pressure balloons are a traditional form of light gas balloon. They are relatively inflated with the light gas before takeoff, with a gas pressure equal inside and outside the balloon envelope. As the balloon rises, the gas expands to equalize the pressure difference, so does the envelope of the balloon that encloses it. At night, as the gas cools it becomes denser and the balloon loses height.
A zero-pressure balloon can maintain its flight height by releasing gas when it gets too high, where the expansion of the gas begins to threaten to burst the envelope, or by dropping ballast if it gets too low. The loss of gas and ballast limits the endurance of the balloon to a few days.
- A hyperpressure balloon, in contrast, has a hard and inelastic envelope that is filled with light gas at a pressure higher than the outside atmospheric pressure and then sealed. The overpressure balloon cannot change size significantly and thus generally maintains a constant volume. The overpressure balloon maintains a constant density altitude in the atmosphere and can maintain its flight until gas leakage gradually brings it down. Hyper-pressure balloons offer flight endurance of up to months, not just a few days.
In fact, in a typical ground-based hyperpressure balloon operation, the flight mission is more likely to end with an order from ground control to open its envelope than with a physical escape of its gas. High-altitude balloons are used as flying craft to carry scientific equipment (such as weather balloons), or reach an altitude near the threshold of space to take measurements or photographs of Earth.
Such balloons can reach up to 30,500 meters in the atmosphere, and are programmed to burn up at a certain altitude, after first dropping the data payload back to the ground by parachute. There are also cluster balloons, which use many smaller envelopes of light gas for flight.
- TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE BALLOON
- Definition
A balloon is a flying medium (flying machine), lighter than air, that floats thanks to aerostatic buoyancy. It consists of two main parts: the dinghy or gondola (also called the "basket") and is the space where the passengers - aeronauts and/or instruments and any other cargo are located, and a large bag, (balloon), called "balloon" and filled with hot air or some lighter-than-air gas, (eg hydrogen, helium, light gas, etc.).
- Main Parts
a) Balloon:Made of special airtight fabric to withstand and retain heat. It is not completely closed to prevent an explosion due to the expansion of the gas during buoyancy. Here we also find the burner, the instrument that blows and heats the air inside the balloon. It is placed at a fixed point above the pilot's head and is controlled by special levers.
b) Basket: Woven tightly and densely to withstand power lines and other obstacles it may encounter in the air. It has a special coating inside and out that protects it from moisture and helps absorb shocks. In the basket are the instruments: compass, altimeter, fuel and temperature indicator.
- General about Balloons
The balloon is an aircraft lighter than air and its navigation within it is based on Archimedes' Principle, which is also based on the navigation of sea vessels. Of course, if we weigh an uninflated balloon with all its parts and accessories, as well as its passengers, we will find that it is heavier than an equal volume of air. Therefore, what makes it lighter than air is some medium, much lighter than air, which, integrated into the balloon, achieves the intended purpose: it increases the volume and reduces the specific weight of the whole.
This medium can be either hot air or a gas lighter than air, such as hydrogen, which was first used in early balloons, but even in later ones, such as in gliders, but was eventually ruled out because it is extremely flammable and explosive , qualities which cost many disasters and deaths. Today, helium is used in gas balloons, a noble, non-flammable gas contained in atmospheric air and, of course, lighter than it.
The pilots of hot air balloons are generally called aeronauts. A balloon is a sphere made of fabric, made airtight by a suitable coating. At the top of the balloon is a valve, which the aeronaut can open with a rope, so that gas can escape, and at the bottom is the filling tube. A piece of fabric is sewn in such a way that it can be easily torn. Thus, in the event of an uneven landing with wind, the gas immediately escapes from the tearing of the fabric and the balloon does not drift to the ground.
The entire sphere is surrounded by ropes, which hold a ring at their lower end. From it hangs the ballast, the rope and the boat with the instruments and the crew. Hydrogen, kerosene and helium are used as filling gas. The sphere is not completely closed, because as the balloon rises, the external pressure of the atmosphere decreases and therefore the gas expands. This expansion of the gas would result in the explosion of the balloon. There is also the semi-full balloon, whose sphere is 9/10 filled with light gas.
As the lift continues, the atmospheric pressure and the lifting force of the gas decrease. But since the volume of the gas is constantly increasing, according to the Boyle-Marriot law, the total lifting force of the balloon remains the same, until the height where the gas will occupy the entire sphere. Now the lift continues as in the full balloon. The gas still expands, but, since the sphere is now full, it begins to escape into the atmosphere, so its lifting force is reduced. Eventually its buoyancy becomes equal to its weight and the balloon stops.
The height at which it will stop is called the "normal height" and depends only on the capacity of the bullet. It is therefore pointless to fill the balloon completely from the beginning. Actually the balloon goes above the normal height from acquired speed, so it still loses some gas and so its buoyancy is not enough. So now begins its descent as a half-full balloon, which continues all the way to the ground, because the gas is constantly contracting. To stop this descent it must shed weight and thus lighten the balloon. This is done by discarding the ballast it has with it.
The balloon will descend definitively if its weight after dropping the ballast is greater than its buoyancy or when the aeronaut expels a corresponding amount of gas from the valve. Landing is done with an anchor. For low-altitude flight, a rope is used, which allows it to drag along the ground and compensate for buoyancy, depending on its length from the boat to the ground. The "captive balloon" is widely used today, which is a wonderful observatory for making experiments and measurements.
The most common type of captive balloon, the hot air balloon, is oblong, with gas at the top and atmospheric air at the bottom. Its stability is very high thanks to a special attachment that it has on its back and looks like an eagle's tail. Such balloons, joined together to form a net, were used by thousands by the British on the coast of Great Britain towards Europe, to fend off German planes and flying bombs. The only ones that could get through the barrier were the V-2 rockets, built by Wernher von Braun.
- The Parts of the Balloon
- Dome
The envelope is sewn from polyester fabric. The shape of the dome allows, once filled, the developing forces - stresses to be transferred to its vertical strips (strains). The division of the dome into horizontal sections is also intended to form several sections of small dimensions so as, on the one hand, to increase the durability of the dome, on the other hand, to interrupt the expansion of the tearing of the fabric, if this happens. The edge of the air inlet to the dome is sewn from high fire resistance fabric, since at this point, together with the hot air, the flames of the burner reach.
In the upper part (top) of the dome and in its center, another circular-shaped opening (mouth) of much smaller dimensions than the hot air inlet (bottom opening) is formed. The purpose of the orifice is to detonate the hot air (reduce its pressure, and therefore its specific weight), to control the aircraft during flight (descent) and during landing. This opening is controlled by a round valve (parachute), which allows air to escape when it moves away from the point of contact with the mouth and ensures tightness when it touches its seat.
Keeping the valve in contact with the orifice, when the dome is under development, when the air pressure is not yet able to achieve this contact, is achieved by adhesive tape (Hritch-Hratch, Velcro, as in clothing and footwear). . However, when the canopy is deployed, prior to release for flight, the pilot pulls on the valve control rope (see below) to disengage the adhesion strips, otherwise when the air pressure increases further for takeoff , it is very difficult to overcome the combined bearing force of tapes and pressure.
Of course, at any moment, depending on the direction of the wind, the appropriate part of the aerostat is covered, so that the flame is maintained and the crew has guaranteed visibility. The seams of the vertical sections end in wire ropes, which in groups end up in safety rings (carabiners), on which they are attached using an aviation-type method and these safety fasteners, which are of high strength of the order of three tons of load, are connected to the corresponding fixed sockets of the basket arms.
The domes are usually of two types: the smooth ones, because their external surface is smooth and their code is "type N". The second type is "type O" and in this the nomes are clearly distinguished, as each one is independent of the others (visually) giving an irregular outer surface. In terms of size, domes are distinguished by their capacity, their volume. Thus, there are domes of 1200 m3, 1600 m3, 2000 m3, 2200 m3, 2600 m3, 3000 m3, 3700 m3, 4500 m3 and above 4500 m3. The most common are medium sizes.
Finally, let's say that the dome is packed and stored in a suitable bag, where it is protected from all kinds of factors of wear and damage during storage and transport.
- Basket
The basket is the living space for the passengers, the cockpit and, in a way, the engine room, since this is where the engines are installed, i.e. the burner and everything accompanying it (fuel gas cylinders, etc. ). The basket is made up of the woven body, the canopy suspension base, the burner support bed and the boat equipment materials. Made from Thai cane. The floor is reinforced with a wooden frame and covered with plywood, thus forming the basic structural element.
The four arms are attached to its four corners, from which the basket is suspended from the dome by means of safety rings (carabiners) and the dome's cables. Also, the cables for external tying and stabilization of the balloon are tied on the suspension arms or stilts, before release for flight, or when the flight is carried out with the balloon tethered.
The floor is covered with hard leather on the outside, to protect the reed weave from possible friction with the ground, although the whole structure rests on a frame (base) made of wooden beams (quadrons). Inside the basket there are handles to support passengers, especially during landings, while the basket's equipment is completed with a rope, which is used for maneuvers during landing, a fire extinguisher and a first aid kit.
- Burner
The burner is the source of supplying the dome with hot air under pressure and includes the central burner, which has a switch and a small pilot burner, which permanently maintains a flame, with which the main burner is ignited. every time the dome needs to be filled with hot air, it is, in other words, an igniter. From the supply cylinder, natural gas enters the burner assembly in liquid form, as the gas is stored under high pressure, which liquefies it (hence it is also known as LPG).
The purpose of liquefaction is the ability to store large amounts of gas in a small volume (of the bottle). In the spiral tube of the burner, the liquid gas is expanded, so it is gasified and reaches the nozzle (injector), from where it is sprayed and, mixing with air, forms the combustible mixture, which is ignited by the flame of the pilot burner (ignitor). The crew is protected from the heat (despite the fact that the flame is directed upwards from the metal lower cup holder of the burner.
Usually, the burner assembly consists of two burners, which operate either simultaneously or individually, as they have special switches and an igniter each.The igniter (pilot burner) also burns natural gas, whose pressure (which is much lower than that of the main burner) is regulated by a regulator installed on the cylinder, from where the gas ends up in the nozzle and, mixing after the This ignition is achieved either with a piezoelectric lighter integrated in the system, or with another means, even with a match.
- Gas Tanks
The tanks (bottles, cylinders) for storing the liquid natural gas (propane) for the balloons are of a special durable and safe construction. They are made of stainless steel, aluminum and titanium and there are two types. The first type is called the master tank, which incorporates a main switch, a switch for the igniter pressure regulator and a vent switch to remove the air and allow the liquefied gas to occupy the entire space of the cylinder during filling.
The tank of the second type is standard and does not have a pressure regulator switch for the igniter. All tanks are equipped with a fuel gauge.
To meet the needs of initial filling, operation, flight control, safety and minor injury treatment, the balloon is equipped with the corresponding instruments and materials. Thus, during the first phase of development of the dome, when it is impossible to use the burner, as there is no opening through which the flame can pass safely, without affecting the integrity of the material, a powerful fan is used, which supplies cold air (surrounding) the dome.
When the air pressure inside the dome begins to create space and form its mouth cleanly so that the burner can be used safely, then the latter takes over its work. During the flight, the control of the aircraft is assisted by the instruments (the thermometer, the altimeter and the barometer). Of course, a speedometer is not usually required in free balloons. A rope for maneuvering, restraint and guidance by the auxiliary ground personnel during landing (like the ship's keels) is inside the basket and is included among the basic equipment materials
. and, of course, a trailer to transport the balloon.
Balloons rise thanks to a law of Physics, the "Archimedes Principle", as buoyancy applies in aerostatics. In particular, gas behaves as a fluid. Thus, according to Fluid Mechanics, in aerostatics the same happens as in hydrostatics, where Archimedes' Principle is formulated as follows: "A buoyancy force equal to the weight of the gas displaced by the body is applied to any body that is inside a gas". In simple words it tells us that if a body is inside a gas (or liquid) then an upward force is exerted on it, the buoyancy, which is equal to the weight of the gas (or liquid) displaced by this body.
Thus, in the case of the balloon, the upward force it receives is equal to the weight of the atmospheric air it displaces. When we fill the balloon with lighter-than-air gas, the buoyancy is greater than the total weight, so the balloon rises. The same happens when we heat the air inside the balloon because then it becomes lighter than atmospheric air. But the difference is small: 30 liters of air weighs about 30 grams at normal temperature. If we heat them by 40 degrees Celsius, they will weigh just 7 grams less.
So we understand that in order to have a lot of buoyancy and for the balloon to rise, the balloon must be very large and we must heat the air inside it a lot. The balloon material in modern hot air balloons can withstand temperatures above 200°C but most pilots choose temperatures around 120°C because that way the material can withstand more, 400 to 500 hours of flight. There is great fear for the hydrogen balloon because in the event of an accident there is a risk of a strong explosion.
This threat has been addressed by installing high pressure safety valves or using helium instead of hydrogen, but because it is 4 times as dense it provides much less buoyancy.
Takeoff - Liftoff: The operator turns on the burners that burn liquid propane, stored in special containers, so that the air inside is heated enough that the buoyancy overcomes the weight of the balloon. Then the balloon goes up.
Flight: If the buoyancy is equal to the weight, the balloon flies at a constant height. We can't change its course, it goes where the wind blows, and at the same speed, so the passengers don't feel the wind blowing at them.
Landing: The operator lets the air cool down a bit so the balloon slowly descends. The basket is made of knitted material so that on landing it absorbs part of the impact and the passengers are not jolted too much.
On very hot days the difference with the ambient air temperature is less, so the balloons do not rise as quickly and easily as on colder days. All balloons, regardless of the way they are lifted, basically consist of the envelope and the basket.
Hot air balloons have as a buoyancy system a burner or a group of burners, which works, using natural gas (propane) as fuel, in order to heat the air inside the dome, heating which reduces its density and consequently its specific weight of this air to a point, so that the total specific weight of the entire assembly (vessel and cargo) falls short of that of the external atmospheric air, which surrounds the balloon, with the result that this aircraft rises within the mass of the surrounding air.
As long as, with continuous heating, the specific gravity of the balloon is kept lower than the surrounding air, the aircraft continues to rise (Eaer<Epa, where Eaer, the specific gravity of the balloon and Epa, the specific weight of the surrounding air). If, again, the specific gravities of the balloon and air are equalized (Eaer = Epa), then the aircraft maintains a constant height and under theoretical conditions of absolute apnea, the balloon remains floating still. Finally, if the air inside the canopy cools to the point where its specific gravity becomes greater than the ambient air (Aaer > Epa), then the balloon descends.
WW1 Observation Balloons - High Value Targets
The first military use of a balloon was during the Battle of Fleurus (1794) when the balloon L'Entreprenant was used by the "French Aerostatic Corps" (French Aerostatic Corps) to observe its movements enemy on the ground. This particular military department was formed on April 2, 1794 by the French Army. However, the logistical problems created by the production of hydrogen on the battlefield (furnaces were used to red-fire iron, which was treated with water), the corps disbanded in 1799.
The first large-scale use of balloons for military purposes occurred during the American Civil War of War when in the Summer of 1861 the Union Army Balloon Corps was founded and organized by Professor Thaddeus SC Lowe. Typically, the balloons were filled with kerosene by the relevant municipal agencies and transported to the battlefield, a laborious and inefficient operation, as the balloons had to return to a city with kerosene every 4 days for refilling.
The first application considered useful for balloons was mapping from aerial reference points, so the first missions of Dr. Lowe was with the Corps of Topographical Engineers. But General Irvin McDowell, commander of the Army of the Potomac, realized the value of aerial reconnaissance and called Dr. Lowe, who at the time was using his personal balloon Enterprise, during the First Battle of Bull Run. Dr. Lowe also worked as a "Forward Artillery Observer" (FAO) to direct artillery fire via flags.
This allowed the artillery to fire accurately at targets that could not be seen from the ground, a military advantage. The first military balloon of Dr. Lowe, the Eagle, was ready on October 1, 1861. She was called into service immediately to be towed to Lewisville, Virginia, without any hydrogen generator, an operation that took longer than it took to build the balloon. The journey began after inflation in Washington and turned into a 12-hour, 12-mile (19-kilometer) jaunt threatened by a gusty wind that ripped the balloon from its tether and tossed it ashore.
General military sentiment toward the use of balloons deteriorated. Finally in August 1863 the Balloon Corps of the Union Army was disbanded. The Confederate States Army also made use of balloons, but was fatally hampered by supply shortages due to the embargo. They were forced to construct their balloons from the fabric of sacrificed colorful silk dresses, and their use was limited by the infrequent supply of kerosene in Richmond, Virginia.
The first balloon aviator of the Federal "air force" was Edward Porter Alexander. By the summer of 1863 all Civil War balloon reconnaissance ceased. In Britain during 1863, experimental flights of balloons were made for military reconnaissance purposes by the Royal Engineers on behalf of the British Army, but although the experiments were successful it was not considered worth the venture to take them further, because they were too expensive.
However, by 1888 a School of Aerostatics was established in Chatham, Medley, Kent. During the Paraguayan War (1864 - 1870), balloons were used for observation by the Brazilian Army. Balloons were used by the Royal Engineers for reconnaissance and observation purposes during the Bechuanaland Expedition (1885), the Sudan Expedition (1885) and the Second Boer War (1899-1902). . A 330 m³ hot air balloon was kept inflated for 22 days and crossed 265 km through the Transvaal with British military forces.
Hydrogen-filled balloons were widely used during World War I (1914 - 1918) to discover the movements of enemy units and to direct artillery fire. Observers telephoned their reports to officers on the ground, who relayed the information to those who needed it. Observation balloons were often a target for enemy planes. Airplanes attacked enemy balloons often equipped with explosive bullets, to ignite the balloons' hydrogen.
The aviator insignia was adopted by the US Army during World War I to distinguish service members who were skilled aviators. Observation balloons also served after the Great War, having been used during the Russo-Finnish Wars, namely the Winter War (1939 - 1940) and the Continuation War (1941 - 1945). During World War II the Japanese launched thousands of incendiary helium balloons against the US and Canada. In Operation Outward the British used balloons to carry incendiary bombs against Nazi Germany.
Large helium balloons were used by the South Korean government and by private liberal activists in North Korea. They flew hundreds of kilometers along the border carrying news from the "outside world", illegal radios, foreign currency and gifts of personal hygiene supplies. A North Korean military official described the missions as psychological warfare and threatened South Korea if they continued.
- USEFULNESS OF THE BALLOON FOR MAN AND SOCIETY
Balloons have been used for various purposes throughout their history. Their most important contribution was precisely their ability to fly, since this proved that this eternal dream of man was possible. Since hot air balloons do not have the ability to chart their course, but follow the wind, they were not widely used as means of transportation. A variation of these, airships, were used to transport passengers, even on transatlantic routes, but their use came to an inglorious and tragic end after the destruction of the German airship Hindemburg, which burst into flames upon arrival in the US in 1937.
Very soon after its first flight, its utility in military operations was realized, initially in reconnaissance and artillery fire-directing roles (and later as a means of air defense, reconnaissance and bombing in the form of Zeppelin airships). In such roles it continued to be used until the Second World War.. They were also used for defensive purposes tied with wire ropes in dense arrangements to prevent enemy planes from flying over populated areas.
A very important use of balloons, which continues today, is in meteorology and exploration of the upper atmosphere, as they enable scientists to raise to very high altitudes instruments that record meteorological conditions or measure and analyze atmospheric phenomena. The airship was an evolution of the balloon.
- THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE BALLOON
The free balloon has not changed much since its first flight in 1783. In general, hot air was abandoned as a means of providing lift when, in the 1820s, kerosene and hydrogen became available. In the mid 1960s - 1970s hot air ballooning was revived as a sport. It retained the classic configuration, i.e. air bag (housing) in the shape of a ball or pear, from which hangs a basket for a crew of one or two aeronauts.
Initial filling and continuous supply of hot air in flight is done by one or more burners suspended below the open mouth of the enclosure, which are supplied with gaseous fuel (eg propane), from cylinders placed inside the basket. By adjusting the combustion in the burners, the temperature of the air inside the bag and the rate of rise or fall of the balloon can be controlled. Hot air balloon aviators can control only two movements, ascent and descent.
In the early years, this kind of weather knowledge was a matter of luck and so balloon disasters were common. But even with weather data from satellites or constant radio communication with weather stations, an attempt to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a free balloon in 1970 ended in tragedy when the balloon encountered unpredictable bad weather and crashed in Newfoundland, killing the 3 of his passengers. Only recently (1978) did man manage to cross the Atlantic in a hot air balloon.
As history has recorded, hot air balloons have taken part in all types of aircraft missions, except mass transport of passengers and cargo. The first aerial photographs were taken from balloons. However, geographical explorations with balloons rarely yielded significant results. An attempt to fly over the South Pole in 1897 ended in tragedy, but intact photographic plates were saved, which were recovered and displayed 33 years later. The use of balloons (free or captive) for military purposes dates back to the battle of Fleury in Belgium (1794).
In the American Civil War, captive balloons were used to a small extent for battlefield surveillance. This method of observation was particularly developed during the First World War. During World War II, balloons were used to build barriers against bomber planes. Free balloons, manned or not, proved invaluable in atmospheric research and weather forecasting.
The first scientists to study these subjects painstakingly recorded high-altitude air temperatures, pressure, wind speeds, and other phenomena of the upper atmosphere using balloons. These pioneers often died from lack of oxygen or freezing during their investigations, but the structure and physical characteristics of the atmosphere were recorded for the first time thanks to their own efforts.
Later this type of research was done mainly with unmanned balloons, i.e. with radioballs, which are carried at high altitudes by balloons and which continuously transmit the indications of their instruments to the ground. Today the balloon is used for scientific research and for meteorological observations. Through a newspaper article we see that NASA has announced the start of work on the construction of a nuclear-powered spacecraft, which will explore the icy moons of Saturn in an attempt to discover life or to determine whether there are conditions for the development and maintenance of life.
In the path opened by Jules Verne, some pioneering researchers are stirring the waters by proposing the use of balloons and airships for the exploration of planets and space worlds. Space balloon devotees have already developed an entire theory around their use. Initially large balloons will be deployed when a spacecraft reaches a planet to make its landing smoother.
Then the exploration of the planet will be undertaken by normal balloons equipped with the necessary instruments, since they will be able to cover long distances and in fact in much less time than the robotic ground exploration vehicles used today. NASA seems to have been intrigued by the whole idea and so commissioned its engineers to study the possibilities. The study was undertaken by the Principal Engineer for Advanced Thermal and Mobility Technologies division, and three candidate targets are already being considered to send exploratory balloons.
These are Mars, Venus and Titan (one of Saturn's moons). The first studies show that a balloon must be built for Venus that will have the ability to quickly change its height according to the changes and phases that the planet and its atmosphere will be in each time. Solar-powered balloons or balloons powered by sunlight seem ideal for Mars. For Titan, the proposed solution is the construction of balloons that will run on hydrogen or helium.
However, the engineers of this particular department of NASA have focused their attention mainly on the construction of balloons for the exploration of Mars that will work with solar panels. Such a balloon could during the polar summer on Mars remain in the air and carry out explorations for many weeks or even months. During its multi-day flight this balloon would pass over most of the planet and study the planet's biology among other things.
It could also, with the appropriate instruments, probe the Martian subsoil in an attempt to detect traces of life even at the microbial level. Airships of any form must be regarded as valuable tools and are necessary in conjunction with land-based means for a proper and comprehensive exploration to take place. Balloons will not come to replace the rest of the means and vehicles but to complement them," Anthony Kolozza, an engineer at NASA's Glenn Research Center, told space.com.
Experts say that the balloons will be able to collect samples of each planet's atmosphere in any region and at any height, allowing us to have a complete and detailed picture of the environment there. The use of balloons is considered a safer method than the use of ground vehicles. For example, the Cassini spacecraft is approaching Saturn (it will arrive next July) and will drop a probe on Titan.
There is a risk and fear that the probe will not land but will fall into one of the methane lakes that exist on the satellite and thus the whole operation will fail. Whereas if there was a balloon in place of the probe, scientists would be waiting less anxiously for it to enter Titan and immediately send images and data.
- AIRCRAFT
- IN GENERAL
Airships are free-flying balloons that can steer and propel themselves. Some of the airships acquire (and) aerodynamic lift, through the shape of their envelope or even through the use of wings. These types of airships are called "hybrid airships". In the past they were sometimes filled with hydrogen, but with this gas they are at risk of explosion. Modern airships are filled with hot air or sun, which does not run the risk of exploding. One hundred and fifty-one years after the original experimental flights of aeronautical pioneer Henri Giffard, airships are returning to the airwaves.
The new applications mainly in the field of transport, the economy of the medium as well as the new technology that ensures a greater degree of safety have a catalytic effect on the reappearance of lighter-than-air giant ships. In 1784 the French general Meusnier formulated a series of ideas that revolutionized the development of the airship. He argued that airships should not be spherical, as they were in his day, but cigar-shaped. In this way, the aerodynamic drag of the airship during horizontal movement is reduced. In addition, he argued that a "gondola" under the airship was necessary to carry the pilots and passengers.
At the time, however, propulsion systems were primitive, so Meusnier proposed as an "engine" a propeller driven by the muscle power of 80 men. The next innovation in airships was ushered in with the advent of steam engines. Specifically, in 1852 the Frenchman Giffard built an airship to which he had attached a 3-horsepower steam engine. But the real revolution started with the use of internal combustion engines. The German Count Graf von Zeppelin built at the beginning of the 20th century the eponymous airships which dominated the airwaves for decades.
The airship, in general, is a flying vehicle that consists entirely of a metal mesh frame, covered with waterproof material. To raise it, it uses a special air chamber, which contains gas (initially they used hydrogen and later helium) lighter than air. The airship can and does move through the air thanks to the small propeller-driven engines located at the rear of the cabin. Their shape resembles a fuselage, which has stabilizing tail fins. Airships are called "Zeppelins" after the German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, because he was the first to build them.
Many still claim today that it was sabotage and that there was a bomb in the luggage compartment. Today there is a strong interest with the creation of new companies that manufacture airships in Great Britain, the USA and Germany. The driving force behind the establishment or revival of these companies is the belief that economic benefits can be derived from the technical capabilities of airships. These new companies operate or wish to operate mainly in the field of goods transport and advertising through airships.
In addition, the technical characteristics of airships make them useful in new applications, such as mine detection and firefighting. After a series of accidents, the most famous of which is the crash of the German airship Hindenburg in the USA, airships were deemed dangerous and disappeared from the ethers as means of passenger transport. However, supporters of the medium stress that after more than six decades, technological advances can make flying much safer and thus remove the prejudices of the past.
It is also notable that the aircraft in question made 590 flights, visited the USA, the Middle East as well as South America covering more than 1,600,000 kilometers and carrying 13,110 passengers without any problems. World War II and the subsequent rapid technological development of airplanes led to the decline of airships, and their subsequent displacement from the passenger transport market. Their versatility and advancement in areas where they excel over airplanes may bring these giant craft back to the skies en masse.
Hindenburg Disaster | Hindenburg (2011) Disaster Scene
Aircraft, like the balloon, equipped with propulsion engines and a steering and stability system so that it can be moved in a specified direction and height, depending on the will of the commander (pilot). The main parts of the airship are:
1.The envelope (balloon), which is elongated and filled with gas lighter than air (hydrogen or usually helium), to ensure its required buoyancy. This is shaped like a spindle, to achieve the least possible resistance of the air in its advancement.
2. The wings, mobile or fixed, which function like the rudders on airplanes, to ensure i.e. constant direction and stability in the aircraft. We have vertical and horizontal fins, to regulate the movement at the respective levels.
3. The spaces with the propulsion systems, where there are the appropriate engines and propulsion propellers.
4. Cabins for the aircraft crew and passengers.
1. The "flexible",
2. The "semi-rigid" ("semi-solid") and
3. The "rigid" ("solid").
Airships have been in use since the middle of the last century. Essentially, their use stopped in 1937, when the German airship "Hindenburg", carrying passengers over the Atlantic Ocean, was destroyed during its landing in Lakehurst (USA), as a result of which 33 passengers were killed. Of course, other accidents had preceded it, such as in 1930 in Beauvais, France with 48 dead and in 1933 in America with 74 dead. Initially the airship was used experimentally, but its development peaked during the first thirty years of our century.
In 1919 the "Zeppelin" was built, which, after circumnavigating the Earth, was later used for Europe-America routes. The use of airships stopped, because they presented serious disadvantages, resulting in accidents, as mentioned above. Their use depends on weather conditions and their weight. So they were replaced by the "heavier than air" plane and their construction was abandoned.
Airships achieve their lift by using gases less dense than air (usually helium). Their engines are used for horizontal movement while they have a rudder system to move in different directions. The size of the helium tanks determines the ability of the airship to lift a certain load. In general, airships can be divided into three types according to their stiffness. Rigid airships maintain their shape through an internal frame overlaid by a fabric or synthetic outer shell.
The frame is made of aluminum or steel and makes it possible to build large and durable airships. Passenger Zeppelins of the last century also belong to this category. In contrast, non-rigid airships do not have some kind of frame to hold the outer shell. In this case the pressure of the lifting gas housed in the casing shapes the shape and degree of stiffness of the airship.
The third class of airships are the semi-rigids which maintain their rigidity by using a keel on the bottom of the outer shell. Semi-rigid airships were designed when early non-rigid airships were found to be having problems and engineers concluded that the keel could stabilize and strengthen the craft.
- THE GIANT ZEPPELIN AIRPLANE
According to accounts, Zeppelin got the design of an aluminum-framed airship from a Croatian inventor named David Schwartz. The idea of an airship large enough to carry many passengers or heavy cargo fascinated Zeppelin. His airships were distinctive because they were large and cigar-shaped. Their frame was metal and externally covered with fabric. Inside or under the frame was a cabin, or gondola, in which the crew was housed. Passengers were accommodated either in the gondola or in the hull of the airship.
Buoyancy was achieved through hydrogen, which was stored in several chambers - cylinders or gas bags - located inside the frame. Propulsion was created by engines mounted on the frame. As Count Zeppelin experimented with airships, people considered him bold and eccentric. But eventually the day of recognition would come. Count Zeppelin left the army and devoted himself to the design and construction of airships. His first Zeppelin made its maiden flight near Friedrichshafen, Germany, in July 1900.
Crowds gathered on the shores of Lake Constance as the cylindrical craft, about 127 meters long, flew over the water for 18 minutes. An airship manufacturing company was founded and other vessels followed. The count was no longer considered eccentric. She was a worldwide celebrity. Kaiser called him the greatest German of the 20th century. Count Zeppelin saw his giant airships as a means for Germany to gain air superiority. During World War I, the German armed forces used Zeppelins to spy on enemy territory and even to bomb.
Zeppelin fever has taken over the United States. When the Graf Zeppelin made its maiden transatlantic journey from Friedrichshafen to the US East Coast in 1928 - during which the airship was damaged - President Coolidge ran to the White House garden to watch the behemoth pass through the sky. There was unbridled excitement in New York. The city honored Graf's crew who marched in triumph through its streets.
Airship flight was different from modern air travel. Imagine boarding the Hindenburg, which was three times the length of a jumbo jet and as tall as a 13-story building. You would have at your disposal, not a place, but a cabin with a bed and a bathroom. You would not need to fasten your seat belt for take off. Instead, you could stay in your cabin or roam the saloon or promenade looking out the windows which might have been open. All these amenities were available for the passengers in the huge hull of the airship.
According to the book (Hindenburg - An Illustrated History), 50 passengers dined in the dining room, around tables with white tablecloths and original silver and china crockery. On a typical transatlantic voyage, the galley staff used 200 pounds of meat and poultry, 800 eggs, and 100 pounds of butter to prepare meals in the galley, which had electric stoves, ovens, an ice maker, and a refrigerator. A small grand piano graced the saloon, where an attendant tended to the passengers.
The Hindenburg was built for comfort, not fast travel. At a speed of almost 130 kilometers per hour and at a height of 200 meters, the Hindenburg made its fastest trip over the North Atlantic in 1936 in about 43 hours. Under normal conditions the journey was calm. On one flight from Lakehurst, a passenger was so tired when she boarded the plane that she stayed in her cabin to sleep. Later he called the flight attendant and demanded to know when the airship was going to take off anyway. Confused, the flight attendant explained that they had already been in the air for more than two hours. "I don't believe you," she shouted angrily.
The lady was only convinced when she went into the living room and looked out the windows at the New England shores which were several tens of meters below. The pinnacle of the Zeppelin era came in 1929 when the Graf Zeppelin circled the world. Officially starting from Lakehurst, the airship circled the globe from west to east in 21 days, with stops in Friedrichshafen, Tokyo - where 250,000 people gathered to welcome it - as well as San Francisco and Los Angeles . Two years later the Graf was making history again, flying to the Arctic where it encountered a Russian icebreaker.
The Hindenburg book comments: “By then the Graf Zeppelin had acquired a somewhat mythical reputation. Everywhere he went he caused a sensation. It would probably be no exaggeration to say that it was the most famous aircraft ever to fly - even since the modern Concorde." And other nations envisioned a bright future for rigid airships. Britain planned to build a fleet of silver giants to connect the far reaches of its empire with regular flights to India and Australia.
In the United States, the Shenandoah was the first rigid airship to use helium for its buoyancy instead of flammable hydrogen. The aircraft carriers Akron and Macon had the ability, while in flight, to launch and collect small aircraft which were in their hulls. The Macon, with its radio homing equipment, became the world's first highly efficient aircraft carrier.
- DISPUTES WITH AIRPLANE
Airships present a number of differences from airplanes and other flying vehicles and consequently have some significant disadvantages and advantages over them. The primary difference between airships and airplanes is the fact that airships are less dense than air. The philosophy and operating principles of airships are based on this element. By increasing or decreasing the helium (or formerly hydrogen) content of the airship, the density of the airship is reduced or increased and control of the lift or descent of the craft is achieved.
Another factor that increases the economic use of airships over airplanes is the fact that they have the ability to land and take off vertically. Thus, it is not necessary to build multi-exit airports for their landing. Any flat space with a size greater than their length can be used for this purpose. The negative consequence of the sheer volume of airships is that huge hangars are required to house and repair them. It is worth noting that the length of airships often far exceeds the length of a Boeing 747.
- MILITARY APPLICATIONS
World War I marked the widespread use of airships in military operations. The Germans, having the technological superiority in this flying medium, carried out the most ambitious military missions. Both on the Western and Eastern fronts they used airships in large-scale bombing raids by the standards of the time. At the beginning of the war Germany only had 10 Zeppelins, but under the guidance of the aeronaut Hugo Eckener 67 Zeppelins were built for the German navy.
In October 1914, the city and port of Antwerp were bombed, while on January 19, 1915, the first attack on Great Britain took place, costing the lives of 20 people. On May 31, 1915, London was bombed, followed by many Zeppelin bombings of both London and Paris. At the beginning of the Great War, the Zeppelin was the "invisible" weapon of the time, as it had a long range and was extremely difficult to detect in time. These factors resulted in the Zeppelins bombing any part of the enemy country they wished with impunity.
Initially the German targets were random and their intention was to demoralize the civilians. They later sought to convert the airships into a strategic bombing force with the intention of reaping greater military benefits. However, the sensitivity and dependence of airships on weather conditions and strong winds resulted in a lack of accuracy. Also, the need to attempt bombing from high altitudes to avoid British anti-aircraft and aircraft fire strained the German crews who suffered from the cold and lack of oxygen at altitudes greater than 3,000 meters.
In 1916 the British developed new detection methods and managed to locate the German Zeppelin bombers more effectively while with the combined efforts of fighter aircraft and anti-aircraft they scored several downs which gradually weakened the fleet of airships. In addition, the new more powerful engines of the British and French planes allowed them to climb to greater heights. Catalysts in the effectiveness of the fighter planes were also the munitions containing phosphorus, because they caused the ignition of the Zeppelin's huge hydrogen reserves, leading them to total destruction.
By the end of 1916 the Zeppelins had been defeated, and at the end of the war the 16 remaining airships were handed over to the Allied Powers under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. The above-mentioned treaty obliged Germany not to build new aircraft carriers, which underlines the importance of the medium as an offensive weapon. On the other hand, the British Royal Navy also exploited the capabilities of the airship during the First World War. Having to deal with attacks by the infamous Zeppelins, as well as German submarines that were causing significant damage, the British utilized the defensive capabilities of airships.
The French forces, however, used other types of aircraft for aerial observation, coastal patrols and convoys as well as for the detection of enemy submarines and mines. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor acted as a catalyst to increase the number of aircraft carriers in the ranks of the US Navy. It was thought that using the airships for patrols could prevent a similar surprise attack in the future.
In June 1942, after suggestions, the US Congress authorized the construction of 200 airships which were mainly used for escorting convoys and patrolling the Mediterranean, Pacific and Atlantic oceans. The patrols covered an area of 7,800,000 square kilometers. The construction of the 200 airships was undertaken by the Goodyear company, which eventually completed 168 during World War II. At one stage of the war, in fact, Goodyear had managed to build 11 airships a month.
The US Navy also used the airships for other missions including rescue operations, mine clearance and photography. After the end of the war, the US Navy continued to use a significant number of aircraft carriers. It is typical that during the Cold War, radars were installed on aircraft for early detection of Soviet bombers. Finally, on August 31, 1962, the use of airships by the US Navy ended.
- TRANSPORTATION BY AIR
The transport of goods presents some peculiarities and problems that often make it inefficient and expensive. Transport ships are limited to areas where there are sea lanes, while trucks are affected by road traffic and can carry relatively small loads. On the other hand, trains carry large loads, but are dependent on the existence of networks and services, and there is often a shortage of wagons.
In contrast, transport planes have the ability to transport goods at high speed, but with the disadvantage that they consume excessive amounts of fuel and are therefore characterized as uneconomical for the transport of low value goods. Generally the four factors that determine the efficiency of a means of freight transport are speed, cost, flexibility and capacity. For example, using airplanes it takes about a day to fly and deliver goods via a transatlantic trip at a cost of about $3.50 per kilogram (2001 prices).
For the corresponding trip a commercial ship charges about 0.6 USD, but it is extremely time consuming as it takes 10 - 25 days for the transfer. By comparison, airships offer a cost-effective solution, estimated to make the transatlantic journey in 40 hours at a cost of one dollar per kilogram. The low, compared to airplanes, fuel consumption of airships means that the latter have an increased autonomy. This element, combined with their ability to load and unload on any large surface, greatly enhances the flexibility of airships.
Therefore, airships can carry large objects and heavy loads to the ends of the earth without the need for airports or similar facilities. Airship manufacturers, in support of the special capabilities of the medium, stress that no ocean or frozen region is an obstacle. The increased capabilities of airships combined with the aforementioned problems in the transportation sector led to 16,000 investors.
Among them the German industrial giant Siemens, to invest in a new and unknown German aircraft manufacturing company, 63 years after the Hindenburg disaster. Specifically, in 2000 the company CargoLifter AG was listed on the Frankfurt stock exchange and raised approximately 110,000,000 dollars. CargoLifter is based in a former Soviet airport in Berlin, where it operates excellent facilities, including a huge hangar.
The 150 multi-specialty engineers who design and build CargoLifter's new airship, the CL160, must meet several specifications for commercial operation. The helium capacity required is 500,000 cubic meters to lift loads with a mass of 160 tons. The desired speed of the 260-meter-long airship is 100 kilometers per hour, while its range is in the order of thousands of kilometers. On the other side of the Channel, the British aircraft manufacturer Advanced Technologies Group (ATG) relies more on high technology.
ATG's innovative boat design breaks from the standards set by Zeppelin in the early 20th century. Its prototype is called Skykitten and according to its representatives it is not a conventional airship but a hybrid flying vehicle. The Skykitten, although only 12.2 meters long, is technologically revolutionary, combining elements of a catamaran, hovercraft, airplane and airship. The Skykitten's most distinct visual difference from ordinary airships is its fuselage, which consists of two joined cigar-shaped balloons.
The fuselage is flat on the bottom, while the top surface is curved. The hull design gives the boat aerodynamic advantages. According to ATG engineers, as the Skykitten moves horizontally, 40% of its lift is due to the aerodynamic design of the craft. In addition, this new shape is more aerodynamically stable and more ergonomic in terms of cabin design in the lower part of the aircraft. Another important innovation of ATG is the use of hovercraft systems, as a result of which the airship can rest on a layer of air created by the action of its engines.
In this way it is possible to approach and land the Skykitten on any flat surface, even in the sea. Therefore, it is not necessary to tie the airship to a specific point, as was done in the past. This fact significantly increases the flexibility of the medium, while the cost of use is also significantly reduced, since special facilities and airports are not required for the landing of aircraft. Skykitten is essentially an experimental vessel. ATG wishes to develop airships capable of carrying up to 1,000 tons of cargo.
The largest model designed is the SkyCat 1000 with a length of 307 meters. It is also argued that with the use of airships that combine large capacity, flexibility and speed, the economical transport of fresh perishable fruits and vegetables from producing countries to consuming countries will become possible. The current situation is problematic, as a large percentage of these sensitive products are damaged during transport. In recent years the dynamics for airships seems to be positive, as apart from the two aforementioned companies, several others have been established both in Europe and the USA.
Even the company that became synonymous with airships, the legendary Zeppelin was reborn from its ashes. The company in question had suffered financial ruin from the Hindenburg accident and from the outbreak of the Second World War. The reborn Zeppelin focuses its efforts not on transporting goods but passengers. Traditionally this German company held the largest share of air passenger transport and had many transatlantic flights to its credit during the interwar period. Since 1997, the company's prototype airship, the Zeppelin New Technology (NT), has hundreds of hours of flight and testing under its belt.
At just 75 meters long, the Zeppelin NT can lift just 1,000 kilograms. It goes without saying that Zeppelin does not wish with this vessel to re-enter the transatlantic passenger market as it knows that those days are gone with the advent of modern aircraft which achieve significantly better times. Zeppelin is mainly geared towards ferrying tourists over attractions and airship nostalgia. With the lifting capabilities of the Zeppelin NT it is estimated that it is possible to carry a crew of two and 12 passengers.
Finally, it is worth noting that the arrangement of the engines of the Zeppelin NT is such as to allow it to take off and land vertically. In addition, it is not necessary to tie it to a fixed point as was done with the airships of the interwar period.
- DETECTION OF MINEFIELDS BY AIRCRAFT
One of the most important global problems both in terms of human losses and in economic terms is the existence of numerous minefields scattered in many recorded and unrecorded areas of the planet. The main reason for the spread of mines in mainly developing countries is their low price. There are millions of landmines scattered across 64 countries, deadly remnants of long-forgotten wars. It is worth noting that landmines cause an average of 70 deaths or serious injuries every day.
Britain's Richard Branson, owner of Virgin, recently proposed the use of airships to detect minefields and pinpoint the exact location of each mine. The method provides for an aircraft fitted with a suitable radar to fly over the suspected area. The radar will accurately detect if there are mines and if there are, their location will be marked. After the mapping, specialized crews will take action to clean the area.
The idea is relatively simple but its successful implementation depends on the degree of accuracy of the radar. For this reason Branson has funded the research needed to develop the radar. The research is carried out by the Defense Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) of the British Ministry of Defence. The radar developed is called UWB SAR. The results of the first tests in January 2000 were positive as objects as small as 10 cm in diameter were detected even under thick grass and soil.
It is also positive that mapping rates of the order of 100 square meters per second can be achieved with the new system. To emphasize the difference with conventional methods, it is reported that experienced technicians need one day for just 40 square meters. The first tests in real conditions were recently carried out in Kosovo under the auspices of KFOR and were crowned with success. The aircraft is the ideal carrier of the radar due to its economy and great autonomy.
On May 6, 1937, the disastrous fire that broke out on the Hindenburg airship caused considerable disrepute for airships, resulting in their withdrawal from the air passenger transport market. During the landing at Lakehurst, New Jersey, USA, the hydrogen explosion that followed the fire killed 35 of the 97 people on board and one person on the ground.
The Hindenburg disaster, although not the deadliest airship accident, was of great public importance because it was filmed and shown worldwide. Today, the Hindenburg fire is attributed to an electrical charge on the surface of the airship that triggered some hydrogen leakage. The electrical charge must have been concentrated when the Hindenburg passed close by two storms. Yet another possible interpretation of the accident was recently given by hydrogen expert and former NASA engineer Addison Bain.
Bain's research was based on photographic, film material and the study of remains of the Hindenburg. He found that the outer fabric of the airship had a coating of nitrocellulose mixed with aluminum powder. During the Hindenburg's approach and contact with the ground, there was an electrical ground. According to Bain, however, significant concentrations of charge remained in some places, resulting in ignition of the coating and consequently of the fabric. Holes were created in the fabric from which hydrogen leaked out and the mechanism of destruction was accelerated.
The Hindenburg accident was preceded by a series of fatal accidents involving British, American, French and Italian airships. The British tried to adopt Zeppelin technology but without much success. In addition, the R-38 airship they had sold to the US was destroyed in mid-air in 1921 due to manufacturing errors resulting in the loss of 44 lives. In the same period, the French aircraft carrier Dixmude and the Italian Roma went down. These accidents affected the airship development programs of France, Italy and Great Britain leading them initially to decline and later to abandonment.
It was followed by the British airship R-101 which crashed in Northern France on 5 October 1930. It had departed England and was en route to India when engine problems combined with adverse weather conditions put it out of control. The impact with the ground was violent, the airship burst into flames and only 6 of the 54 on board managed to survive. Two and a half years later, the crash of the US Navy aircraft carrier Akron was the deadliest accident as only 3 of the crew of 73 survived.
The Akron crash off the coast of New Jersey State was due to bad weather. Finally, in 1935, the US Navy aircraft carrier Macon, the same type as the Akron, crashed in California with the loss of 2 men. Most airship accidents are mainly due to the use of hydrogen, the failure of construction materials and adverse weather conditions. These three factors have been addressed by modern manufacturing companies. Flammable hydrogen has been replaced by inert helium which offers comparable buoyancy.
Zeppelin's round-the-world flight in 1929
Critics of the airships point out that the large airships are sensitive to weather and winds while not omitting the references to the accidents of the past. The companies respond that with new technology in weather forecasting it is possible for airship operators to avoid severe storms. They recall the capabilities of satellite systems and the accuracy of supercomputers available for weather forecasting by state meteorological agencies. They also emphasize that this information did not exist in the past, so the criticisms are unfounded.
Meighorner, a spokesman for the Zeppelin NT company, admits that a strong storm can damage a modern airship but argues that with new technology airships there will be no recurrence of accidents similar to the Hindenburg. ATG's Bruce Wright states that with the airship systems his company is developing, winds of the order of 125 kilometers per hour can be dealt with. Also, even an engine failure during the storm will not be fatal, as there are two spare engines on ATG's SkyCat.
- THE DESTRUCTION OF THE ZEPPELIN HIDDENBURG
One of the largest Zeppelins built was the Hindenburg. Its length reached 245 meters. It had a diameter of 41 meters. It contained 16 airtight hydrogen gas compartments with a total volume of 200,000 cubic meters. It was powered by four diesel engines, which turned propellers to give it a top speed of 130 kilometers per hour. The Hindenburg was carrying 36 people as it docked in Lakeland, New Jersey, USA. Under the watchful gaze of a crowd of onlookers a burst of fire appeared directly in front of the upper vertical rudder.
The rear of the airship was suddenly engulfed in flames and within 34 seconds, it was completely engulfed in flames. 35 of the 97 passengers died. The Hindenburg wasn't even the deadliest airship incident, although it has been dubbed the "Titanic of the skies." But it is the most famous because there happened to be a camera that took every single shot. Journalist Herbert Morrison's shocking account of the landing of the airship shocked society in 1937.
- The Fatal Journey
The airship took off from Frankfurt on May 3, 1937. It was the first trip of the season. In the previous year, the Hindenburg had completed ten voyages between Europe and America, carrying a total of 1,002 passengers. The first transatlantic airplane trips would take place two years later, in 1939, so the experience of traveling on an airship was unique. ''You feel like an angel is carrying you in his arms,'' said a journalist who traveled on the airship. If all went well, the aircraft would arrive at its destination in New Jersey, USA, on May 6 at 4:00 am.
Arriving at Lakehurst Station, there was a report of bad weather. Captain Prouss decided it was best not to land and the airship cruised until the bad weather passed. At 6:00 in the afternoon, it started to rain heavily and stopped fifteen minutes later. The control center informed the captain of the airship that conditions were suitable for landing, but the Hindenburg was too far away. Returned to New Jersey at 7:10 and began landing procedures. Ten minutes later, the airship was 90 meters from the ground.
Passengers had gathered around the windows and watched as the people on the ground seemed to grow larger and larger as the distance decreased. At 7:25, eyewitnesses say they saw a small, mushroom-shaped flame appear at the back of the airship. The crew of the Hindenburg said they heard a small bang at that moment. It took only 34 seconds for the flames to engulf the entire aircraft. Before it even reached the ground, the Hindenburg had burned to the ground. The passengers and crew had no time to react.
The Hindenburg Movie - based on a true event
Most versions of the fire speak of a hydrogen leak, caused by static electricity. A recent study from the Aeronautical Institute in San Antonio, Texas, proved this claim. Others, confident, have even mentioned the possibility of a terrorist act. The Hindenburg Airship as Nazi Propaganda Nazi Germany's Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, arranged for the first flight of the Hindenburg Airship to take place in March 1936, on a flying tour of Germany.
For four days, the airship played patriotic music, pro-Hitler announcements and dropped propaganda leaflets and Nazi flags from the air over various German cities. The Hindenburg reappeared at the Berlin Olympics, decorated on its exterior with swastikas. In fact, Goebbels wanted to name the airship "Hitler". But its maker, Hugo Eckener, was not a fan of the Führer and managed to name it after the former German President, Paul von Hindenburg.
Hitler was initially disappointed, but after the disaster, he considered himself very fortunate that the airship had not been associated with his name. Such was its symbolic importance to the Nazi movement that it was constantly under threat of bombing. Therefore, when it was destroyed, many thought it was a targeted attack rather than an accident.
- THE 10 BIGGEST AIRPLANE DISASTERS IN HISTORY
At the beginning of the 20th century, these behemoths ruled the airwaves and yet they will always be associated with disaster. It all started in 1852, when French engineer Henri Giffard added a small steam engine to a propeller. This was later followed by the first gasoline-powered airship, built by Brazilian navigation pioneer Alberto Santos-Dumont in 1898. But airships led to a series of tragic accidents - most famously that of the Hindenburg Zeppelin. The 10 worst airship disasters in history.
- 17 October 1913: L 2 (Zeppelin LZ 18), Imperial German Navy
The LZ 18 was one of 14 Zeppelins acquired by the German Navy before World War I. Until then, Zeppelins were used by the first commercial airline, Deutsche Luftschiffahrts-AG (DELAG) and carried passengers. When LZ 18 crashed on October 17, 1913, it was one of the first fatal air disasters. The accident occurred during a test flight, when hydrogen gas leaked into the airship's engine.
The gas caught fire and caused the explosion. The aircraft went down near the Johannisthal Air Base, outside Berlin, and today the event is known as the "Johannisthal Air Disaster". All 28 on board were killed.
- 10 November 1915: Schütte-Lanz SL6, Imperial German Navy
At the beginning of the 20th century, Ferdinand von Zeppelin had a competitor in airship construction, the Schütte-Lanz Company. Made of wood and plywood, rather than alloys like the Zeppelins, the Schütte-Lanz airships had some distinct disadvantages. For example, the glue that held the joints together was sensitive to moisture. In addition, the entire airship was at risk if water got into its outer waterproof layer. And for an airship used by the navy that was pretty bad.
However, it was not the wet wood that brought down the Schütte-Lanz SL6 shortly after it took off from the Seddin base in Pomerania on 10 November 1915. Instead, it was an explosion - the cause of which remains a mystery - that destroyed the airship and killed the boat's 20-member crew.
- 7 April 1918: L 59 (Zeppelin LZ 104), Imperial German Navy
The Zeppelin LZ 104, also known as the "Africa Ship", was used by the German Navy. Its nickname came from its mission to supply the German garrison in East Africa in 1917. The mission was canceled before the Zeppelin reached the garrison and returned to base in Yambol, Bulgaria after nearly four very rough days of flying. Amazingly, the airship had enough fuel for another 64 hours in the air - at the time, a record for any aircraft.
On 7 April 1918, LZ 104 was sent to Malta to attack the British naval base. A German submarine was watching it go overboard. Then, while they saw two explosions in the Zeppelin, they saw it burst into flames and nose down into the sea. All 21 men on board were killed. The cause of the crash is believed to be an accident.
- 23 August 1921: R38, British
And the R38 was military, built in England for the US Navy. When it was built it was the largest airship. The R38—later designated the ZR-2—made its first flight on June 23, 1921. On August 23, 1921, the ZR-2 began its fourth flight from Howden, England. His destination was Norfolk. But unable to dock due to fog, the ZR-2 was preparing to return to England. While doing some testing the airship appeared to wrinkle in the middle.
44 people were killed when two explosions rocked the front of it and it crashed into shallow water. Five lucky people who were in line at the time of the explosion survived. The accident was due to faulty design.
- February 21, 1922: Roma Airship, US Army
Built in Italy in 1919 and entered the US Army in 1921, the Roma was the last US hydrogen airship. Later the ship's balloon was filled with the more expensive but less flammable helium. Also known as the T-34, the 125m long Roma was designed for transatlantic voyages and was the largest semi-rigid airship.
Its disaster occurred on February 21, 1922, when the Roma struck power lines in Norfolk, Virginia, due to a problem with the rudder system box, and the airship exploded and nosedived. 34 people, including the pilot, were killed and 8 others were injured. Three managed to be saved as if by a miracle. The aluminum wreckage of the boat was said to glow late into the night.
- 21 December 1923: Dixmude, French Navy
Dixmude started out as the German Navy's LZ-114, but was given to France as war reparations. Renamed by the French, it underwent several rigorous test flights over the Mediterranean, including a record-breaking 118-hour flight to Algeria over the Sahara.
His last journey began on December 21, 1923, for a test flight between Sicily and Tunisia. It fell into a storm where it is believed to have been struck by lightning and exploded. 48 people were killed. The pilot's body was found a few days later in some remains of the cabin. The rest of the airship was lost at sea.
The 223m long R101 was the largest airship since the Hindenburg. It was built with the intention of making voyages throughout the British Commonwealth, including Canada and India. Unfortunately, he only made one - which was also his last - trip. On 4 October 1930, in bad weather R101 set off for India. On October 5, it was over France when it suddenly made two dives, causing it to hit the ground. But it was not destroyed by this, but rather by the explosion of the gases and the flames. 54 people were killed.
The greatest disaster in airship history was that of the USS Akron on April 4, 1933, off the coast of New Jersey. The Akron was a rigid airship belonging to the US Navy, and together with the Hindenburg they hold the record for the largest helium powered aircraft. It could store 37,854 liters of gasoline, giving a range of 16,898 km. Before the fatal accident, it had three other minor accidents, including this one on May 11, 1932, when two crew members hung themselves from the mooring lines.
On the day of his disaster, as soon as he took off he encountered severe bad weather. The wind ripped the cables and pushed its tail into the Atlantic, where it broke up and sank, killing 73 people. Only three survivors were rescued from the sea. The Akron crash marked the end of aviation, just as the Hindenburg crash ended commercial Zeppelin flights.
- May 6, 1937: Hindenburg, German
The fame of its disaster comes not from the destruction it caused, but because it was captured on film. It was very comfortable and made for very quick air travel. It was the first airship with transatlantic voyages. Another interesting - if terrifying - fact was that the Hindenburg was partially built from metal salvaged from the British R-101.
On May 6, 1937, the Hindenburg approached Lakehurst, New Jersey. Passengers were preparing to disembark when some heard an explosion and felt a jolt. Immediately after the airship burst into flames, the tail hit the ground and the nose exploded. And all this within half a minute. But the wreckage continued to burn for hours because of the diesel fuel it had. Many conspiracy theories were developed about its destruction, since the exact causes were never found. 35 people were killed, including a cameraman on the ground.
- 6 July 1960: ZPG-3W, US Navy
The nearly 123-meter N-class, ZPG-3W, was the largest non-rigid aircraft ever built. Built by the Goodyear Aircraft Company, it was used by the US Navy from 1958 to 1962. The N-Class aircraft carriers were primarily used as part of the North American early warning system during the first half of the Cold War. Their purpose was to fill in the radar gaps.
Ironically, the ZPG-3W that crashed on July 6, 1960 was on a rescue mission off Long Beach Island, New Jersey, searching for a missing vessel. The commander of the Lakehurst base, Capt. Marion H. Eppes, described the crash as "violent." Moments after the airship hit the water, only its tail was visible. According to journalist Andrew Meisels, who was present at the scene, pieces of it "floated in the water like pieces of a toy balloon." The cause of the crash is still under dispute. What is clear, however, is that 18 sailors lost their lives and this contributed to the end of the Navy's airship program.
- OTHER APPLICATIONS
Airships exhibit minimal vibration and are among the most stable flying vehicles. These advantages, combined with their increased range and economy compared to airplanes and helicopters, make airships ideal for use as flying laboratories. On this wavelength, ESA in a joint effort with Daimler Chrysler, the British company Lindstrand Balloons Ltd and the Dutch technical university TU Delft, believes that it is feasible and advantageous to use airships to assist satellite telecommunications.
This idea is also of scientific interest as it is also proposed to use airships as laboratories for collecting atmospheric measurements while astronomical observations are also possible. In terms of telecommunications, the helium airships in question will have the aerodynamic shape of a cigar measuring 220 meters in length and 55 meters in diameter, giving them the ability to lift a load of around 1 tonne. The airships will be placed at a height of 20 kilometers from the surface of the sea.
At this height, neither airplanes nor satellites operate, and it has been chosen so that each airship covers an area of 100 kilometers in diameter while having to deal with stratospheric winds that are comparatively not particularly strong. Solar panels will be placed on the surface of the airship to absorb solar energy and power the electric motor that will be necessary to maintain the correct position of the airship. Thus, regular refueling of the aircraft will not be mandatory.
However, as American Blimp emphasizes, helicopters, although they have the advantage of speed, show limited autonomy as a result of which it is necessary to refuel them every one and a half to three hours. In addition, their operating costs are quite high. A positive element for airships is their large capacity which allows them to transport more sophisticated monitoring instruments. They are therefore capable of carrying out border and coastal patrols to detect the smuggling of goods or the transportation of illegal immigrants.
It is also emphasized that airships use less fuel and create much less noise than helicopters, so they are more environmentally friendly at a time when big cities are plagued by pollution. It should be noted that airships have occasionally been used by police forces in the US to monitor and police special events such as American football games. An exotic application for airships has been proposed by Wetzone Engineering based in California, USA.
Operacja Zeppelin 1971 Lektor PL
This particular company proposes the use of giant remote-controlled airships for forest firefighting. As of today, firefighting helicopters and planes drop limited amounts of water while their crews put their lives at risk by flying too close to the flames. In addition, helicopters and airplanes are unable to operate under adverse weather conditions and at night, so many fires are rekindled. According to Wetzone Engineering, 300-meter-long airships will be able to carry around 1,000 tons of water.
From a height of 3,500 meters they will spray water through a system of nozzles thus creating an artificial rain that will last for hours over the hottest parts of the fire. The positive thing about the use of airships is that they will be remotely controlled, so human lives will not be threatened, while the water will be thrown continuously during the night. In addition, since the airships will operate from a high altitude they will not be greatly affected by smoke and local weather conditions.
The renaissance of airships seems to have good prospects and foundations. Most of the technical problems and safety issues of the medium have now been resolved by the companies active in the construction of the new vessels. The main problem that remains to be solved is to convince government agencies and investors that the mass use of airships can provide solutions not only for the transportation of people and goods but also for dangerous applications such as minefield mapping. The specifications, and consequently the capabilities of the new generation of airships, are unique.
- THE RETURN OF AIRSHIPS
The American company Aeros promises the "total return" of airships with the Aeroscraft, an aerial vehicle with a "hybrid" mode of operation, which will hover like a balloon and be propelled like an airplane. According to the company, Aeroscraft will revolutionize aviation, as it is intended for transport. In fact, Aeros is already preparing a prototype model of the airship, 70 meters long and as high as a 10-story building, at an air base in Tustin, California. The miniature of the aerial vehicle is expected to be ready by the summer, so that testing can begin soon after.
The construction of the prototype is financed with 35 million dollars by NASA and the US Department of Defense, who believe that in the future Aeroscraft will be able to transport supplies and equipment quickly and cheaply, taking part in military and humanitarian missions. After all, when the tests of the experimental model are completed, and it gets permission to fly as the company hopes, the next step will be to start the construction of the first airship in normal dimensions. In its normal version, the Aeroscraft will be more than twice as long, reaching 152 meters.
The vehicle will be able to take off and land vertically, flying at a maximum speed of 210 km/h, at an altitude of up to 3,500. But most importantly, it will be able to carry 66 tons of supplies or machinery - three times the load of a C-130. At the same time, it will consume 1/3 of the fuel needed by a conventional airplane, having a range of 5,500 kilometers. Although the Aeros vehicle will be classified as an airship, it will actually have nothing to do with the Zeppelins of the first half of the 20th century, which after World War II were completely replaced by airplanes.
First, because the fuselage of the Aeroscraft is rigid, made of carbon fiber, while it is covered by a Mylar fabric. Inside there are special tanks with compressed helium gas. To stay in the air, the helium will be released from the tanks into cells that will resemble beehives. When the vehicle wants to lose altitude, the helium will be compressed back into the tanks, with atmospheric air taking its place in the chambers. Thus, the vehicle would not need to use ballast and, since helium is non-flammable, there is no chance of a repeat of a tragedy similar to that of the Hindenburg, the German Zeppelin that exploded in mid-air.
- Alternative Means of Sending Supplies and Machinery
The reason why the US Department of Defense is participating in the financing of the prototype airship is because it considers that it could be an alternative means of sending supplies and machinery to remote military bases. From NASA's side, interest is focused on using Aeroscraft in areas that have been hit by natural disasters and have lost roads, making it difficult to get supplies and medicine.
According to Aeros, its vessel will also be able to be used in several more special cases, such as to transport the assembly parts of new oil pumping tanks or large wind turbines to marine parks, which are located quite far from land. In terms of transporting commercial products, Aeroscraft will be useful in cases of remote areas, where the road network is poor and there is no rail connection. Also, in the case of perishable goods, which need to reach a city or village, which does not have an airport, since the airship needs a minimum space to land.
However, for goods that are not perishable, such as raw materials for factories, the airship will not normally be able to replace trains or ships, which operate at a lower cost. Aeroscraft transportation will be 16 times more expensive than rail and 24 times more expensive than cargo ships. And they add that, for now, their vehicle does not aim to replace these means of transport, but to be used where, due to particular circumstances, it has comparative advantages.
Aeros isn't the only company with a new "hybrid" cargo airship in the works. Canada's Aviation Capital Enterprises plans to commercialize the SkyTug, a 90-meter-long shuttle designed and built by Lockheed Martin. Lockheed Martin describes the SkyTug as a "massive helicopter," which will be able to carry 20 tons of cargo. The first aircraft is expected to be ready by the end of 2013, so that test flights can begin, with the aim of getting the "green light" from the US Civil Aviation Administration.
In addition to the SkyTug for Aviation Capital Enterprises, Lockheed is developing an even larger version of the "hybrid" airship, the SkyFreighter, which will be able to carry 70 tons, while the ultimate goal is a 245-meter-long behemoth, the SkyLiner, which will carry up to 500 tons. According to Lockheed, demand will be so great that in three years it will be building 30 airships a year.
- NEW TECHNOLOGIES IN THE FIELD OF AIRCRAFT
- The SKY STATION Program
SKY STATION is the name of an airship system designed by the company Sky Station International. The number of platforms will depend on demand (250 platforms have been announced). The balloons will be covered by solar cells, thus providing power to electric motors, and will be located 10,000 feet above the ground in fixed positions via GPS devices supported by multiple relay and control centers. This network could serve many millions of small, inexpensive, mobile terminals for Internet access and video-telephony services.
The foreseen data rates for the fixed services are 2 Mbps for the upper link (uplink) and 10 Mbps for the lower link (downlink). The expected data rates for mobile services are 9.6 to 16 kbps for voice services and 384 kbps for data services. The total load of each platform will consist of a directional antenna and an array of processors which are responsible for transmit and receive, modulation and demodulation, encoding and decoding, multiplexing and demultiplexing as well as switching operations.
The cost of the entire program for a global broadband infrastructure is estimated at 2.5 billion dollars. Initially SKY STATION was expected to use ion engines to navigate the platforms. However, little information has been published about this technology. The possibility of realizing such ion engines has been the subject of much criticism. Ultimately, the SKY STATION was chosen to have conventional electric motors and light propellers. No further information is available on the propulsion engines.
STRATSAT is an airship system from the British company Advanced Technology Group (ATG). It is to offer an efficient and secure solution for providing geostable telecommunications services over large concentrations of subscribers. With civilian as well as military applications, STRATSAT can be sent thousands of kilometers to the station and remain there for up to five years. Airship in the stratosphere is higher than conventional air traffic and is not a hazard.
The airship is propelled and steered by a mechanism mounted on the tail cone of the craft as part of a complex propulsion system. This unit provides longitudinal thrust to overcome the very strong stratospheric winds and lateral force for maneuvering to keep the airship nearly stable over the station within a one kilometer edge cube.
- Japan's Multi-Platform Stratospheric System
This system has been designed by the Wireless Innovation Systems Group of the Yokosuka Radio Communications Research Center in Japan. The airship has a semi-rigid ellipsoidal hull with a total length of approximately 200 meters. It is made of an air-compressed whalebone to maintain a stable contour and inner bags filled with helium gas. Two air balloons are installed inside the boat to keep it at the required height. For ballast, chain curtains are attached to a lower rigid keel directly attached to the envelope.
- The ARC System
Airborne Relay Communications (ARC) System is the name of a platform on an aircraft which was designed by the company Platforms Wireless International. The ARC system is designed to operate at lower altitudes, from 3 to 10.5 kilometers. Originally known as "Aerostats" these airships were designed as flying defense platforms for low level radar use.
Inspired by the rudders that patrol the border between the United States and Mexico, Platforms Wireless International has developed a system that will provide fixed wireless broadband as well as mobile services in areas 55 to 225 kilometers in diameter per system and will serve up to and 1,500,000 subscribers (depends on system configuration and antenna radiation power). The ARC airship is a 46-meter-long ellipsoidal helium-filled balloon that can carry nearly 700 kilograms of cargo.
An airship formation is planned with two support aircraft which will be deployed to ensure uninterrupted telecommunications coverage when severe weather conditions (winds exceeding 145 kilometers per hour) occur. Unlike the three programs above, the ARC system does not use solar cells. Electricity is supplied to the load via a 2.5cm thick cable. The cable also coexists with a fiber optic cable that connects the flying base stations to the rest of the network.
Finally, a no-fly zone should be designated so that other aircraft do not crash into the cable or the aircraft.
- 19 Feb 1550: Bavarian Gaspar Scott publishes a work entitled "Universal Magic"
In 1550 the Bavarian Gaspar Scott published a work entitled "Universal Magic" showing that it is possible to move through the heavens using a medium lighter than air, which he called the "super-atmosphere", but unfortunately he believed that such a medium could not be found, and so, although he established the principle of the solution of the problem, he did not succeed in solving it.
- 19 Feb 1670: The theory of balloons by the Italian Francesco Lana
In 1670 the Italian Francesco Lana, a great philosopher also known as the "father of aeronautics" published a book entitled: "Essay on new inventions proposed by great art". In his work he defined the theory of hot air balloons which was finally realized a century after his death. Thus, the first attempts to manufacture balloons began.
- 19 Feb 1709:First recorded balloon flight in Portugal
In 1709, the first recorded balloon flight was achieved in Portugal. Lorenzo Gusmao built a balloon with a diameter of about 70 cm which was fed with the hot air created by burning grass and wood in a small container at the bottom.
- 19 Feb 1766: Discovery that hydrogen was lighter than atmospheric air
In 1766 Cavendish discovered how and why hydrogen is lighter than atmospheric air. So attempts were made to build balloons that were filled with hydrogen.
In the fall of 1782 the Montgolfier brothers constructed a balloon from silk fabric and inflated it with hot air. Their success was significant, because this balloon flew for about 15 minutes at a height of 40 meters.
- 21 Nov 1783: Jean-Francois and Francois Lorraine first cross the air from one end of Paris to the other
On November 21, 1783: Jean-Francois and Francois Lorraine became the first to cross the air from one end of Paris to the other. The thrill of success was painted on the faces of all the residents of Paris who ran and jumped after the balloon. This date is the birthday of aviation or aeronautics.
- 19 Sep 1784: The inventor brothers repeated the experiment in Paris
On September 19, 1784 the inventor brothers, by invitation, in the great courtyard of the Palace of Versailles in the presence of the King. In fact, for more scientific interest, a wicker basket was attached to the bottom that carried the first aeronauts: a rooster, a duck and a lamb. The experiment was a complete success and the animals returned to earth "safe and sound"
- 27 Aug 1783: Charles raised a globe in Paris
On August 27, 1783, in Paris, on the Champ de Mars, in front of 300,000 Parisians, Charles raised a globe made of cloth, covered with rubber, with a diameter of 3.5 m., filled with hydrogen, which had just been discovered. The primitive arrangement for hydrogen production caused enormous pollution. Many of the spectators moved away to avoid being poisoned, but in the end the flight was a success.
- 19 Feb 1782: Tiberius Cavallo presented an exhibition at the headquarters of the Royal Society
In 1782 the Neapolitan Tiberius Cavallo presented to a large audience gathered in London an exhibition in which he asserted that: "any envelope whose contents would be hydrogen this could in the air rise," showing successful experiments with balloons made of ox intestines.
- 21 Feb 1803: First balloon in Greece
In 1803, Pachomis, a goldsmith from Syracuse, made the first balloon in Greece, by order of the highly studious Ali Pasha, who had been impressed by Napoleon's military use of balloons. Pachomis set out to raise a hot air balloon in the area that is now the airport of Ioannina. This is how we also learned in Greece what a hot air balloon is.
- 21 Feb 1820: Abandonment of warm air as a means of ensuring buoyancy
Hot air was abandoned as a means of providing buoyancy when, in the 1820s, after kerosene and hydrogen became available. Hot air balloon aviators can control only two movements, ascent and descent. The control is done by adding or removing sandbags or by changing the volume of the filling gas, which is achieved by releasing some gas (for cathode) or by heating it (for riser).
- 21 Feb 1912: Hot air balloon custom
A unique and very spectacular custom that started around 1912 and continues to this day, is revived in the traditional Leonidio of Kynouria every Easter and specifically on the night of the Resurrection. The night of the Resurrection in Leonidio is the night of balloons
21 Feb 1931: Construction of the German airship Hindenburg
The construction of the German airship Hindenburg began in 1931 and lasted 5 years.
- 4 Mar 1936: First Hindenburg Flight
The Hindenburg was a German commercial and passenger airship. It was the largest airship of that time, its length reached 245 meters. Its frame was made of aluminum and it used hydrogen. It was two-story and luxurious. It flew for the first time on March 4, 1936.
- May 6, 1937: Hindenburg Airship Explosion
On May 6, 1937, while the Hindenburg was preparing to land in New Jersey, USA, it caught fire and burned spectacularly. Within a few seconds the death of 36 people was caused. So the experts understood the high flammability of hydrogen and since then they fill airships and balloons with helium only.
- 19 Feb 1960: Hot air ballooning is revived as a sport
In the mid 1960s - 1970s hot air ballooning was revived as a sport. It retained the classic configuration, i.e. air bag (housing) in the shape of a ball or pear, from which hangs a basket for a crew of one or two aeronauts.
- 21 Feb 1995: Tests for the construction of airships
Ever since man succeeded in lifting himself up with the balloon, he began efforts to be able to control it and steer it in the direction he wants. The balloon can float and move with the wind, but it cannot be steered. Thus began the tests for the construction of airships, which have flight control mechanisms around 1995.
- BROTHERS
Joseph-Michel Montgolfier (August 26, 1740 - June 26, 1810) and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier (January 6, 1745 - August 2, 1799). ) was the inventors of the hot air balloon. The first manned takeoff carried a young doctor and an army officer. Later, both they and their father, as well as the rest of their siblings, were honored with the title of nobility de (Mongolfier). The Mongolfier brothers, who were also the inventors of the hot air balloon which was named "Mongolfiera", according to one version since there is also the opposite which we will see below.
The first manned takeoff carried a young doctor and an army officer. Later, both they and their father, as well as the rest of their siblings, were honored with the title of nobility de Montgolfier. He was an important researcher with many and varied inventions on many applications. He was particularly involved in research on hydraulics and aeronautics. In collaboration with his brother in hot air experiments, he built the well-known balloon, which bore the name. The following year the people of Lyon had the opportunity to see for the first time a manned hot air balloon, with its daring passengers Joseph-Michel Montgolfier and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier.
Later Joseph-Michel worked on the "hydraulic ram" which caused a great impression with the originality of its operation. The Great Napoleon highly appreciating the military use of the balloon, which he first included in a military operation, in the battle of Fleury, in 1794, decorated the Montgolfier brothers with military decorations. Many Physics textbooks mention the Montgolfier brothers as the inventors of the hot air balloon, there is also the opinion that this is untrue. However, what is certain is that they are justly credited with the first successful flight, which was preceded by many other attempts with constructions heavier than air.
- Joseph-Michael Montgolfier
Joseph-Michael Montgolfier was an important researcher with many and varied inventions on many applications. He was particularly involved in research on hydraulics and aeronautics. In collaboration with his brother in hot air experiments he constructed the well-known balloon, which bore the name "Mongolfiera", and succeeded in its elevation before the inhabitants of his native town of Anonnet. The Paris Academy of Sciences in 1783 awarded him and his brother Iakovos Stefanos a prize of 600 pounds. King Louis XVI awarded his father a title of nobility.
Joseph's works are:
1) Balloon talk2) Memoirs of the Balloon Engine3) Hot air balloons4) Air travelers5) Note on hydraulic ram
- Iakovos-Stephanos Mongolfier
Iakovos-Stephanos Mongolfier initially dealt with architecture. He later took over his father's paper factory where he perfected the production of luxury paper. In 1783 in the presence of the Members of the Academy of Paris and the Royal Court he repeated the experiment of raising the balloon. At the beginning of the French revolution, he was appointed prefect of his birthplace, Anonnet. However, during the period of Terror, he was denounced as an opponent and was saved only thanks to the loyalty of his workers. The credit for the invention of the hot air balloon also belongs to him.
Ferdinand Adolf Heinrich August Graf von Zeppelin (1838 - 1917) (Ferdinand Adolf Heinrich August Graf von Zeppelin) was a German engineer. He is best known for the construction of the Graf Zeppelin, the rudder balloon. Ferdinand von Zeppelin was the inventor of the airship. He was born July 8, 1838, at Konstanz, Prussia, and was educated at Ludwigsburg at the Military Academy and at the University of Tübingen. Ferdinand von Zeppelin entered the Prussian army in 1858.
Zeppelin went to the United States in 1863 to work as a military observer for the Union Army in the American Civil War and later explored the headwaters of the Mississippi River, making the first balloon flight when he was in Minnesota. Growing up, he followed the military profession and reached the rank of general. He was interested in hot air balloons and closely followed their development. At one point, he thought that their problem was due to the spherical shape that allowed the wind to blow them away.
He built a long, narrow airship, with a rudder and a solid casing, inside which he placed bags filled with light gas to allow it to rise. Thus was created the steerable "Zeppelin", as it was called. The first such airship was tested in 1900. It rose easily, moved through the air in the direction chosen by its pilot, and after twenty minutes of navigation began the landing process. But something went wrong and the first Zeppelin crashed into the ground.
The count set about perfecting his creation. Continuous improvements allowed regular flights to begin in 1906. Several Zeppelins, all filled with hydrogen, were built and launched to transport people and goods. With the outbreak of World War I, Zeppelins were used as reconnaissance and bombers. With these, the Germans bombed cities in France and England. Their opponents used them towards the end of the war. From 1890 he was strongly engaged in the manufacture of steerable balloons. His first creation was "L.Z. -1".
He then perfected his invention and built many gliders, which were used for war purposes. He served in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 - 1871, and retired in 1891 with the rank of Brigadier General. Von Zeppelin died on March 4, 1917, aged 79. Zeppelins continued to be perfected, gaining enormous dimensions and powerful engines so that they could travel long distances carrying up to a hundred passengers each and flying at a height of 150 to 200 meters above the earth.
In 1928, the Graf Zeppelin crossed the Atlantic covering the distance in 72 hours without a stop and carrying goods. In the 1930s, the competition was fierce between the airplane, which was making its way into air travel, and the Zeppelin, which had opened up the airwaves to commercial exploitation. In 1935, a new plane came to dominate transportation: the DC-3, the legendary Dakota, which remained unrivaled for decades.
WWI movies: Zeppelins and Balloons
Within seconds, the fire spread everywhere. The Zeppelin crashed to earth. The cause of the fire was never determined. But the 36 victims of the crash were enough to spell the end of the gliders. In fierce competition, the plane defeated the Zeppelins in tragic fashion. Major plane crashes were not yet visible back then. Nor could they stop progress in aviation.
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