#lebaudy brothers

[flyingprivate]

"Le Jaune" Airship

The airship, Le Jaune, built by France’s Lebaudy brothers, glided past the Eiffel Tower in Paris at 11:15 a.m. on November 20, 1903.

The name Le Jaune (“The Yellow”) came from a coat of yellow lead chromate that was used to seal the airship envelope.

They constructed an airship hangar at Moisson, near the River Seine downstream from Paris and were instrumental in the development of airships, and a series of semi-rigid airships in the early years of the twentieth century.

[rooksmoor-manor]

The Engineers; or, A Dream of Spruce and Brass!

Through all of its history, the Manor has never been a neat and tidy place. Forgotten belongings, mementos, and memorabilia fill the cabinets, wardrobes, and bookshelves, from the attics to the basement, long after their owners have passed away. One of those items is the photograph shown above, which has a single sentence in the Founder's distinctive, angular penmanship, written in emerald ink on the back:

Lebaudy 'Le Jaune' - Thursday, November 13, 1903.

Although it may be nearly impossible to determine why the Founder might have kept this annotated photograph, it is not difficult to envision him that cloudy afternoon, darting through the wide promenades and narrow alleyways of Paris, immersed in his own thoughts while he pursued the enormous airship headed for the Eiffel Tower.

By the time he arrived at the Champ de Mars, the dirigible had already started its descent, and a crowd of curious onlookers was slowly forming around it. Between pushes, apologies, and the occasional toe-stomping, the Founder slowly made his way through the gaggle of sombrely dressed men towards that marvellous contraption. As he approached, he could discern three figures descending a ramp from the gondola, hurrying towards the impressive building of glass and steel located beyond the landing point.

Those three gentlemen were still deep in the long conversation they were having even before landing, as the gates of the Galerie des Machines closed behind them. "This will go down in history, I tell you!” one man exclaimed excitedly, wiping his glasses off on his waistcoat. “We left Moisson at noon, and as of just now, we have landed in Paris! Before suppertime! If we leave in the morning, tomorrow we might—"

"Nonsense!" interrupted another man, adjusting his top hat. "Until my brother and I decide otherwise, the dirigible will remain in Paris. Have you noticed the throngs?".

"This will be an excellent opportunity for some publicity, brother!" The third person spoke, grinning at the previous speaker. "It was quite a stunt to land the airship in the middle of the city; it will surely pique the interest of investors, who will undoubtedly see the potential our airship offers as a means of transportation; and, of course..."

"And, of course, its potentially endless military applications," interrupted the voice of the Founder from the mezzanine. "Such a shame," he continued, oblivious to the gentlemen's startled looks and wary glares. "Though undoubtedly not for all of you, I daresay that was one of the major driving forces behind this project. Am I in the wrong?"

The two brothers exchanged a quick look of disbelief before shouting angrily at the Founder, as if they had been deeply offended by his remarks in some way. After being politely ignored when they demanded that he identify himself, they hurled insults and accusations at him, claiming that he was nothing more than a rude interloper, possibly a spy from a rival company or even from a foreign power. Without even bothering to defend himself against such allegations, the Founder kept monologuing, now focusing his attention on the quieter gentleman, who simply looked at him puzzledly.

"What I am stating, gentlemen," he followed, "is that I simply refuse to believe that among the many factors that led to the creation of that wonderful machine parked outside, there was not even a hint of yearning involved. Someone here has dreamed of the day humanity could soar across the blue and see their own insignificance in the ground below, free as the proverbial bird in the sky. This person has felt the calling not of fame or wealth but of a dream. I am merely curious to know who among you has experienced such a thing and found the fortitude, the perseverance, to follow his dreams out up until this point."

"And why would it be like that? Why do you even care about such a thing?" asked the bespectacled man, clearly intrigued.

"Because," answered the Founder, "I do have an enterprise that only that person would be able to understand. I do believe they might even be able to consider it a potential act of atonement for their life's work, as soon as airships like this one you have outside start to rain fire on unaware civilians in the middle of the night."

"And what is this project of yours, this alleged chance for absolution?" One of the brothers retorted from behind the Founder's back.

"The building of a house," he replied nonchalantly.

[grantmkemp]

116 years ago today, at 11.15am, November 20th 1903, the airship, Le Jaune, built by France’s Lebaudy brothers, glided past the Eiffel Tower in Paris .... Read much more below

The first experimental Lebaudy airship was built in 1902 in their specially constructed airship hangar at Moisson, near the River Seine downstream from Paris. The name Le Jaune (“The Yellow”) came from a coat of yellow lead chromate that was used to seal the airship envelope. The Lebaudy airships were what is known as semi-rigids, having a spar which ran practically the full length of the gas bag to which it was attached in such a way as to distribute the load evenly. The car was suspended from the spar, at the rear end of which both horizontal and vertical rudders were fixed, while stabilising fins were provided at the stern of the gas envelope itself. Le Jaune was built by the engineer Henri Juillot, it made thirty flights in 1902, in all but two of which it succeeded in returning to its starting point. The length was 183 feet and its maximum diameter 30 feet, while the cubic capacity was 80,000 feet. This machine carried a 40-horse-power Daimler motor driving two propellers. A speed of 3G feet per second, or about 25 miles per hour, was obtained. Six months after this crowd gathering flight, during tests in the summer of 1904, the balloon was dashed against a tree and almost entirely destroyed. Later vessels of the Lebaudy type were the 'Patrie' and 'Republique,' in which both size and method of construction surpassed those of the two first attempts. The next year a new and larger balloon, equipped with a more powerful motor was used. Many flights were made in tests for the French War Department. In some of these, the Lebaudy Brothers were accompanied by the minister of war. Various methods of anchoring a dirgible in the open and keeping its head into the wind had been tried, but at best it will always be a decidedly hazardous undertaking. In November, 1907, the French dirigible 'La Patrie' was anchored at Verdun, caught away from its house, and encountered a gale which broke her hold on her mooring-ropes. She broke loose in the storm, and in spite of the two hundred soldiers holding on, she drifted derelict westward across France, the Channel, and the British Isles, Ireland and Scotland, floated over the North Sea and disappeared in the Atlantic! Paul and Pierre Lebaudy were the owners of a sugar refinery who, with the assistance of their engineer Henri Julliot as designer were instrumental in the development of airships in the first decade of the twentieth century. Their semi-rigid airships were considered useful for military purposes and several were ordered by the French War Ministry. These are my colourised versions of: Le Jaune, gliding past the Eiffel Tower, 11:15 a.m. 20th November, 1903, Pierre Lebaudy, and engineer Henri Julliot in the hangar at Moisson on the day of the flight, and Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, taken in November 1889, but I have posted the original photographs at the top of the comments.

Read on for just a little of the history created by "la tour Eiffel"........

Completed on March 31, 1889, the tower was the world’s tallest man-made structure for 41 years until the completion of the Chrysler Building in New York in 1930.

It is 324 metres tall (including antennas) and weighs 10,100 tonnes.

It is possible to climb to the top, but there are 1,665 steps.

The lifts travel a combined distance of 103,000 km a year – two and a half times the circumference of the Earth.

Victor Lustig, a con artist, "sold" the tower for scrap metal on two separate occasions.

During cold weather the tower shrinks by about six inches.

Eiffel also designed interior elements of the Statue of Liberty.

Since its opening more than 250 million people have visited the tower.

Its construction took two years, two months and five days - 180 years fewer than Paris's other great attraction, Notre Dame.

Repainting the tower, which happens every seven years, requires 60 tonnes of paint.

The tower comprises 18,000 metallic parts, joined together by 2.5 million rivets.

The tower sways around six to seven centimetres (2-3 inches) in the wind.

Gustave Eiffel kept a small apartment of the third floor for entertaining friends. It is now open to the public.

In 1960 Charles de Gaulle proposed temporarily dismantling the tower and sending it to Montreal for Expo 67. The plan was rejected.

There are 20,000 lightbulbs used on the Eiffel Tower to make it sparkle every night.

Pierre Labric cycled down the stairs of the tower in 1923. He won a bet, but was arrested by local police

Restoring Your Past  … Website Restoring Your Past … on Facebook

[louischangeur]

Le Jaune

"LE JAUNE des Frères Lebaudy"

"Bande dessinée" pas dessinée que j'ai faite avec des photomontages d'anciennes photos, de cartes postales d'époque et de photos prises par Maëlle Launay de mon ami Jamie Roberts et moi.

Ça raconte l'histoire d'un ballon dirigeable que j'aime beaucoup.⛅🎈

ENGLISH :

"Lebaudy Brothers' LE JAUNE"

Comics made of photomontage of old photographs, old postcards and recent pictures.

It tells the story of an old dirigible balloon that I love

[aviationhistory]

Birth of Marie Paul Jules Lebaudy, French industrial and politician, early dirigible pioneer along with his brother Joseph Marie Pierre Lebaudy.