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

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

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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