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The first trial of the "Ville de Paris" from The boys' book of airships.

Smithsonian Libraries and Archives

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Object Details

Creator
Delacombe, Harry
Book Title
The boys' book of airships.
Caption
The first trial of the "Ville de Paris".
Educational Notes
Usually, it takes some trial and error to reach a goal, and considering how much work goes into designing and building a functional airship, it’s no surprise that this dirigible wasn’t successful on its first go. A French businessman and supporter of aerial navigation, M. Deutsch de la Meurthe had the aircraft, Ville de Paris, built in 1902 using plans by aeronautical engineer, Victor Tatin. Since the first trial of the Ville de Paris was unsuccessful, it was later rebuilt in 1906. One feature of the airship that was praised at the time was the attachment of eight, small cylinders to the back of the envelope, or the main gas bag and largest feature of the airship, which helped the Ville de Paris maintain stability. However, the cylinders were air resistance, which meant it was harder for the airship to pick up speed in the air, and the highest documented speed that the airship ever travelled was 25 miles per hour. Nonetheless, De la Meurthe was enthusiastic over these aircrafts and used them to encourage further exploration in aviation. Eventually, the Ville de Paris was used as a government airship.
1902
Publication Date
1909
Image ID
SIL-39088016462954_boysquotbookair00Dela_0210
Catalog ID
17748
Rights
No Copyright - United States
Type
Photographic prints
Place
France
Publication Place
New York (New York)
Publisher
Frederick A. Stokes Company
See more items in
See Wonder
Smithsonian Libraries
Topic
Travel
Transportation
Military
Government
Aeronautical Engineer
Victor Tatin
Deutsch de la Meurthe
Aviation
Aircraft Ville de Paris
Language
English
French
Record ID
silgoi_103987
Metadata Usage (text)
CC0
No Copyright - United States
There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page .
No Copyright - United States
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