Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume III

64 ENGINEERING WONDERS OF THE WORLD. RECORDS OF DIRIGIBLE BALLOONS. Date. Name. Place. Type. Duration of Flight. Distance. Remarks 1852 Sept. 24. Giffard’s. Paris. Non-rigid. Velocity, 5 miles per hour. First power - driven dirigible. 1884. Aug. 9. La France. (Renard & Krebs.) Meudon, Franco. 99 First practical dirigible to return to starting-point. Velocity, 10 miles per hour. 1885. Sept. 23. 1898. July 2. 99 Zeppelin I. 99 Friedrichshafen, Germany. 99 Rigid. 1 hr. 20 min. Velocity, 14 miles per hour. Velocity, 16 miles per hour. 1902. Oct. 19. Santos Dumont VI. Paris. Non-rigid. 30 min. 40 sec. 7 miles. Circled Eiffel Tower; won Deutsch Prize. 1903. May 8. Lobaudy. Moisson, France. Semi-rigid. 1 hr. 36 min. 23 miles. Velocity, about 20 miles per hour. May 15. June 24. 99 99 99 99 1 hr. 41 min. 2 hr. 46 min. 38£ miles. 60 miles. 99 99 1905. July 3. 99 Moisson—Meaux. 99 2 hr. 37 min. 89 miles. First stage on journey to eastern frontier. July 4. July 6. 99 99 Meaux—Sept Sorts. Sept Sorts— Chalons. 99 99 47 min. 3 hr. 25 min. 11 miles. 61 miles. Second stage on journey to eastern frontier. Third stage on journey to eastern, frontier. Bal- loon collided with a i Nov. 10. Toul, France. 99 tree, and was destroyed. Reached height of 4,500 ft. 1906. Oct. 10. Zeppelin III. Friedrichshafen. Rigid. 2 hr. 17 min. 69 miles. 1907. Sept. 30. Oct. 5. Oct. 28. Oct. 28 Nov. 23 99 Nulli Secundus. Parseval I. Grosa I. La Patrie. Al dershot—London. Berlin. Paris—Verdun. Non-rigid. Semi-rigid. 99 8 hr. 3 hr. 25 min. 6 hr. 25 min. 8 hr. 10 min. 6 hr. 45 min. 211 miles. 50 miles. 146 miles. Velocity, 35 miles per hour. Velocity, 12 miles per hour. Velocity, 26 miles per hour. 1908. Jan. 15. July 1. Ville de Paris. Zeppelin IV. 99 Friedrich sb af en. Non-rigid. Rigid. 7 hr. 6 min. 12 hr. 146 miles. 236 miles. Circular journey over Swit- zerland. Aug. 4. Sept. 11. Sept. 15. Oct. 6. 99 Gross II. Parseval II. Lebaudy. Friedrichshafen— Oppenheim. Tegel—Magdeburg —Tegel. Moisson. 99 Semi-rigid. Non-rigid. Semi-rigid 11 hr. (first stage only). 13 hr. 15 min. 11 hr. 32 min. 258 miles. 176 miles. 157 miles. Destroyed at Echterdingen on way back to base. Reached height of 4,000 ft. Reached height of over 5,000 ft. Oct. 22. Parseval II. Tegel. Non-rigid. Maintained height of 5,000 ft. for over an hour. 1909. May 29-31. Zeppelin IL (New). Friedrichshafen— Bitterfeld—Göp- pingen. Rigid. 37 hr. 40 min. 603 miles. Record duration and dis- tance. On landing, the dirigible was damaged, but continued its jour- ney to Friedrichshafen. Aug. 4. Aug. 23. Gross II. Clément-Bayard. Berlin—Apolda —Berlin. Sartrouville, France. Semi-rigid. Non-rigid. 16 hr. 290 miles. Remained for two hours at height of over 4,000 ft. [We have pleasure in acknowledging the help given in the preparation of these articles an aeronautics by the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain ; Mr. T. If. Clarke; and Mr. H. Ledeboer, Editor of “Aeronautics:’]