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Charlière

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Charlière is the name of the first manned gas balloon. The Academy of Science commissioned Jacques Alexandre César Charles to build balloons in the summer of 1783 because the court of King Louis XVI. did not want to wait that long before the Montgolfier brothers finally came from Annonay with their invention called Montgolfière. From the information that came from the environs of the Montgolfier brothers, it was not clear to Charles that the lifting gas used in Annonay was hot air. Charles, on the other hand, mistakenly suspected that the Montgolfiers would use the "inflammable air" (hydrogen) discovered by Henry Cavendish in 1766. It came to pass that with the help of the Robert brothers from Goldbeater's skin, Charles developed gas balloons filled with hydrogen[1][2].

First hydrogen balloon

The balloon built by Jacques Charles and the Robert brothers is attacked by terrified villagers in Gonesse. Some of them even started attacking him because they weren't used to things flying.

The first public gas balloon launch took place by Champ de Mars in Paris on August 27, 1783. This experimental balloon constructed by Charles was called Le Globe, had a diameter of around four meters and was able to carry up to nine kilograms.

The then American ambassador in France, Benjamin Franklin was a spectator at the start. When someone asked him what purpose of this new invention had, he replied with the counter question: "What is the purpose of a newborn child?"

The balloon flew northwards for 45 minutes, pursued by chasers on horseback, and landed 21 kilometres away in the village of Gonesse (not far from today's Charles de Gaulle Airport) where the reportedly terrified local peasants attacked it with pitchforks[3] or knives[4] and destroyed the "monster from the heavens"[3].

First manned hydrogen balloon flight

The first manned gas balloon ride with a Charlière then took place on December 1, 1783 (just ten days after the first manned hot air balloon ride of the Montgolfière called Réveillon). The production of the necessary hydrogen gas made of iron shavings and sulfuric acid lasted almost three days. César Charles, together with Marie-Noël, the younger of the two brothers Robert rode this balloon[1][2]. They reached a height of around 450 meters near Paris. They stayed in the air for two hours and made a stopover in Nesles-la-Vallée, 36 kilometers away. After that, Charles got up again alone. And so, the first solo flight with a balloon was made with a Charlière.

Further reading

  • Claude-Joseph Blondel: Un enfant illustre de Beaugency : le physicien et aéronaute Jacques Charles, Académie d'Orléans, 2003, digitalisat

References

  1. ^ a b Federation Aeronautique Internationale, Ballooning Commission, Hall of Fame, Robert Brothers.
  2. ^ a b Federal Aviation Administration - F.A.Aviation News, October 2001, Balloon Competitions and Events Around the Globe, Page 15
  3. ^ a b Eccentric France: Bradt Guide to mad, magical and marvellous France By Piers Letcher - Jacques Charles
  4. ^ Fiddlers Green, History of Ballooning, Jacques Charles
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