Aviation 1 Flashcards
First unmanned, balloon flight?
June 1783
Montgolfier Brothers launched a hot-air balloon in France.
Who were the Montgolfier Brothers?
Worked in family papermill.
Believed that they discovered “Montgolfier Gas”
First hot-air balloon?
Created by the Montgolfier Brothers
1,800 buttons
Hot air leaked through the rag paper (made of cotton fiber)
Straw and wool burner
First free flight in a balloon?
November, 1783. Pilatre de Rozier.
Convinced the King of France not to send up a criminal for the first flight.
Covered 5 miles in 25 minutes.
First aviation death?
June 1785. Rozier died over the English Channel.
He tried to combine hot air with hydrogen.
Pilatre de Rozier
“First to fly 1783
First to die 1785”
First hydrogen balloon?
December 1783. JAC Charles.
Rubberized balloon, didn’t leak.
Went up 5,000 ft. Scared out of flying.
Ornithopter?
Developed by Leonardo Da Vinci in the early 1500’s
“Bird” plane
Which two historic flights did Benjamin Franklin witness?
1st untethered, passenger flight in a balloon (Rozier)
1st untethered, passenger flight in America (Blanchard)
Jean Blanchard
January 1785 - first flight across the English Channel
January 1793 - first balloon flight in the U.S.
1808 - died after 50 ft fall from a ballon, b/c of a heart attack
First flight over the English Channel
January 1785, Jean Blanchard
“Almost naked as the trees,” w/ John Jefferies (who was into meteorology, Blanchard’s employer, and almost tricked out of the flight).
First balloon flight in the U.S.
January 1793, Jean Blanchard
Philadelphia Prison. Ben Franklin and George Washington were there.
First military use of the hot-air balloon
French Army, 1794
Napoleon used balloons for recon missions
Napoleonic wars later hindered French aviation
Use of balloons in the Civil War
1860’s Union used balloons against the Confederates
Attached balloon to a barge, first cargo carrier
Hindenburg Disaster
1937
Used hydrogen, because U.S. stopped selling helium to the Germans
Blimp v. Airship
Just balloon; rigid with support beams
Airship used in WW1?
Germany bombed London w/ its airship.
Done before fighter planes could reach the same altitude.
Billy Mitchell
Critic of the Army’s aviation branch, especially after a Navy’s airship (the USS Shenandoah) crashed due to wx.
Requested a separate air force.
Court Martialed.
1st manned, tethered flight in the U.S.
Peter Carnes - builder
Edward Warren - 13 yr old volunteer
1st aviatrix to die?
Mrs. Blanchard!
1819 (11 years after her husband’s death), her balloon catches fire during an exhibition flight.
Charles Green
Two contributions?
Flight accomplishment?
1820’s - coal gas
30’s - dragline (slows ascent/descent)
36 - set distance record, England to Germany (broken in around 1900)
John Wise
Famous U.S. pilot
Taught S.A. Andree
Set record - 809 miles, MO to NY, 1859
SA Andree
1895 - announced plan to cross the N. Pole
1896 - wx delay, insurance ran out, canceled flight
1897 - balloon disappears b/c of icing (crew alive July-October before starving)
Gordon Bennett
Wealthy yachtsman/sportsman
Sponsored balloon races, starting 1906 (Lieutenant Lahm was the first winner)
Henri Giffard
1st steam-powered dirigible, 1852
Paul Haenlein
Internal combustion engine on airship, 1872
Albert and Gaston Tissandier
1st electrically powered airship, 1883
Alberto Santos Dumont
French hero. Originally from Brazil.
1897 - built one man hydrogen balloon.
1906 - built airplane.
1st heavier-than-air powered flight in Europe.
Eventually received lessons from one of the Wright brothers.
Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin
1st airship - LZ1
Started commercial aviation 1910
