The Lebaudy Patrie was a semi-rigid airship

Semi-rigid airship

Semi-rigid airships are airships with a partial framework. These often consist of a rigid, or occasionally, flexible, keel frame along the long axis under the aerodynamic hull envelope. The partial framework can also be located inside the hull...

 built for the French army

French Army

The French Army, officially the Armée de Terre , is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces.As of 2010, the army employs 123,100 regulars, 18,350 part-time reservists and 7,700 Legionnaires. All soldiers are professionals, following the suspension of conscription, voted in...

 in Moisson

Moisson

Moisson is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France.-History:On 12 November, 1903, the Lebaudy brothers made a controlled dirigible flight of from Moisson to Paris....

, France, by sugar manufacturers Lebaudy Frères

Lebaudy Frères

Lebaudy Frères was a French sugar producer based in Moisson, France. In addition to sugar, they also made a series of semi-rigid airships in the early years of the twentieth century, some of which saw service with several European armies.-Operation:...

. Designed by Henri Julliot, the company's chief engineer, the Patrie was completed in November 1906 and handed over to the military the following month, thus becoming the first airship ordered and taken on by the French army.

In 1907, from her base at Chalais-Meudon

Meudon

Meudon is a municipality in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is in the département of Hauts-de-Seine. It is located from the center of Paris.-Geography:...

 near Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, a successful series of military manoeuvres was conducted with the airship by the military command, before the Patrie was transferred to her operational base at Verdun

Verdun

Verdun is a city in the Meuse department in Lorraine in north-eastern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.Verdun is the biggest city in Meuse, although the capital of the department is the slightly smaller city of Bar-le-Duc.- History :...

, near the German border, in November 1907.

Due to a mechanical fault, the Patrie became stranded away from her base on 29 November 1907 in Souhesmes

Les Souhesmes-Rampont

Les Souhesmes-Rampont is a commune in the Meuse department in Lorraine in north-eastern France....

. During a storm on 30 November she was torn loose from her temporary moorings and was carried away by the wind. After crossing the English Channel

English Channel

The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...

 and passing unseen through English airspace during the night, the Patrie was sighted over Wales and Ireland on 1 December. She made a brief landfall near Belfast

Belfast

Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...

, before rising again to be blown out over the Atlantic Ocean. Following a sighting from a steamer off the Hebrides

Hebrides

The Hebrides comprise a widespread and diverse archipelago off the west coast of Scotland. There are two main groups: the Inner and Outer Hebrides. These islands have a long history of occupation dating back to the Mesolithic and the culture of the residents has been affected by the successive...

, she was lost without a trace.

Background

The Patrie was a semi-rigid airship manufactured for the French Army by the French sugar magnates Paul and Pierre Lebaudy and designed by their chief engineer, Henri Julliot. She was the second Lebaudy airship, and "surpassed her predecessor in both size and method of construction". The company's first airship, simply known as the Lebaudy, and dubbed by the French public "Le Jaune" ("The Yellow (One)") because of the yellow colour of the lead chromate

Lead(II) chromate

Lead chromate is a chemical compound, a chromate of lead. It has a vivid yellow color and is practically insoluble in water, and as a result, is used in paints under the name "chrome yellow"...

 paint on its cloth exterior, was considered the most successful airship then in operation.

Design and development

The main structural components of the Patrie, like those of its predecessor, were the envelope (or "gas-bag"), a nickel-steel

Steel

Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...

 frame or keel, and a gondola

Aerostat

An aerostat is a craft that remains aloft primarily through the use of buoyant lighter than air gases, which impart lift to a vehicle with nearly the same overall density as air. Aerostats include free balloons, airships, and moored balloons...

 suspended from the frame on steel cables. Contained within the envelope was a ballonet

Ballonet

A Ballonet is a air-filled flexible container that is located inside the envelope of a non-rigid or semi-rigid airship. Such an airship can have one or more ballonets, commonly one fore and one aft...

, the function of which was to ensure that sufficient gas pressure was maintained in the envelope at all times, irrespective of the degree of expansion or contraction of the lifting gas. Attached to both the gas-bag and the gondola were active and passive control surfaces to provide lateral and vertical stability and to give the pilot directional control over the airship.

Envelope and ballonet

The Patries envelope was composed of four alternating layers of cotton cloth and vulcanised

Vulcanization

Vulcanization or vulcanisation is a chemical process for converting rubber or related polymers into more durable materials via the addition of sulfur or other equivalent "curatives." These additives modify the polymer by forming crosslinks between individual polymer chains. Vulcanized material is...

 rubber (the envelope of its predecessor, the Jaune, comprised three layers). The outside layer was of cotton cloth, covered with lead chromate to prevent the actinic

Actinic light

Actinic light is either light that affects photographic film, or will facilitate photosynthesis or stimulate light sensitive species.-Photography Use:...

 components of sunlight from perishing the rubber skin which formed the second layer. This second layer prevented leakage of the hydrogen

Hydrogen

Hydrogen is the chemical element with atomic number 1. It is represented by the symbol H. With an average atomic weight of , hydrogen is the lightest and most abundant chemical element, constituting roughly 75% of the Universe's chemical elemental mass. Stars in the main sequence are mainly...

 lifting gas from the envelope. The third layer was of cotton, which was protected by the rubber fourth and final layer from damage caused by the hydrogen. This final rubber layer was thinner, and therefore lighter, than the second. The rubber sheeting for the second and fourth layers was supplied by the German company Continental AG

Continental AG

Continental AG, internally often called Conti for short, is a worldwide leading German manufacturer of tires, brake systems, vehicle stability control systems, engine injection systems, tachographs and other parts for the automotive and transport industries. The company is based in Hanover, Germany...

.
The lead chromate gave the envelope the same mustard-yellow colour as its precessor, "Le Jaune"; the remaining surfaces were coloured sky-blue, as is evident in a contemporary artist's impression of the Patrie.

The Patries design as a semi-rigid airship required that the pressure of both the lifting gas in the gas-bag and the air in the ballonet be sufficient to maintain the airship's overall shape. Sufficient hydrogen was pumped into the gas-bag to enable the airship to ascend to its intended maximum operating altitude of 1 miles (1,609.3 m), at which height the ballonet would occupy approximately one-fifth of the total gas-bag volume. Descent was made by releasing hydrogen from the gas-bag and then pumping air into the ballonet to take up the volume of the released gas, a process which was repeated incrementally until the desired rate of descent or altitude had been achieved.

To control the movement of the hydrogen and air within the envelope, the Patrie was equipped with five valve

Valve

A valve is a device that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically pipe fittings, but are usually discussed as a separate category...

s, some of which operated automatically, and others which could also be operated manually by the pilot via cords. The valves on the gas-bag released hydrogen automatically when the pressure exceeded two inches of water (inAq)

Inch of water

Inches of water, wc, inch water column , inAq, Aq, or inH2O is a non-SI unit for pressure. The units are by convention and due to the historical measurement of certain pressure differentials. It is used for measuring small pressure differences across an orifice, or in a pipeline or shaft...

 (500 Pa

Pascal (unit)

The pascal is the SI derived unit of pressure, internal pressure, stress, Young's modulus and tensile strength, named after the French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer, and philosopher Blaise Pascal. It is a measure of force per unit area, defined as one newton per square metre...

, 0.723 psi

Pounds per square inch

The pound per square inch or, more accurately, pound-force per square inch is a unit of pressure or of stress based on avoirdupois units...

); whereas the ballonet valves opened when the air pressure exceeded 0.78 inAq (195 Pa, 0.282 psi), thus ensuring that air was driven out of the ballonet before there was any loss of hydrogen from the gas-bag. The automatic operation of the valves was a factor in the duration of its final (unmanned) flight (see Final flight section below). The pressure in the ballonet was maintained by an engine-driven fan, for which an electrical back-up was provided so that the pressures could be maintained in the event of an engine failure or when the engine had to be switched off for maintenance purposes.

Since a partially-filled ballonet would cause longitudinal instability, due to the mass of air rolling fore or aft in the direction of pitch

Flight dynamics

Flight dynamics is the science of air vehicle orientation and control in three dimensions. The three critical flight dynamics parameters are the angles of rotation in three dimensions about the vehicle's center of mass, known as pitch, roll and yaw .Aerospace engineers develop control systems for...

, two cloth partitions were used to divide the ballonet into three separate compartments; small holes in the partitions allowed the air to permeate gradually throughout the ballonet without affecting the stability of the airship.

Keel and Gondola

The gondola, constructed of nickel-steel tubing, was suspended some 3.4 metres (11.2 ft) below an elliptical steel frame (or keel) attached to the bottom of the gas-bag, under the centre of lift. Between the frame and the envelope and linking the two was a small hemp

Hemp

Hemp is mostly used as a name for low tetrahydrocannabinol strains of the plant Cannabis sativa, of fiber and/or oilseed varieties. In modern times, hemp has been used for industrial purposes including paper, textiles, biodegradable plastics, construction, health food and fuel with modest...

 net. The net was attached by wooden toggles to a canvas band sewn directly onto the envelope, and the frame was attached to the net by further toggles. This permitted the easy removal of the frame from the envelope. The frame itself could also be dismantled for ease of transport.

The open gondola offered the crew and passengers little protection from the elements. It was common for there to have been two pilots, two engineers and two passengers on board during test flights and military missions; on at least one occasion there were seven people in the gondola. Ballast, in the form of 10- and 20-pound

Pound (mass)

The pound or pound-mass is a unit of mass used in the Imperial, United States customary and other systems of measurement...

 (4.5 and 9.1 kg) bags of sand, could be jettisoned through a pipe set into the floor of the gondola. Other equipment included "a 'siren' speaking trumpet, carrier pigeons

Carrier pigeon

A carrier pigeon is a homing pigeon that is used to carry messages. Using pigeons to carry messages is generally called "pigeon post". Most homing or racing type varieties are used to carry messages. There is no specific breed actually called "carrier pigeon"...

, iron pins, ropes for anchoring the airship, a reserve supply of fuel and water, and a fire extinguisher

Fire extinguisher

A fire extinguisher or extinguisher, flame entinguisher is an active fire protection device used to extinguish or control small fires, often in emergency situations...

".

Steering and propulsion

Directional stability was achieved by four fixed vanes, two vertical and two horizontal, attached at the rear of the gas-bag and by a long vertical vane running along the main axis of the gas-bag from the centre of the elliptical frame to its rear. Horizontal motion was controlled by the movement of a balanced rudder

Rudder

A rudder is a device used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft or other conveyance that moves through a medium . On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse yaw and p-factor and is not the primary control used to turn the airplane...

 at the rear of an empennage

Empennage

The empennage , also known as the tail or tail assembly, of most aircraft gives stability to the aircraft, in a similar way to the feathers on an arrow...

 on a long boom, mounted below the gas-bag and aft of the gondola (see lead image). The empennage consisted of vertical and horizontal vanes arranged like the fletching

Fletching

Fletching is the aerodynamic stabilization of arrows or darts with materials such as feathers, each piece of which is referred to as a fletch. The word is related to the French word flèche, meaning "arrow," via Old French; the ultimate root is Frankish fliukka...

 of an arrow

Arrow

An arrow is a shafted projectile that is shot with a bow. It predates recorded history and is common to most cultures.An arrow usually consists of a shaft with an arrowhead attached to the front end, with fletchings and a nock at the other.- History:...

, behind which the vertical rudder was mounted. During a refit in 1907 the vertical vanes of the empennage were modified, as is shown in the accompanying illustration.

During trials it was decided that a greater degree of control over vertical motion was required, which would also allow the pilot to compensate for "involuntary rising or falling of the airship due to expansion or contraction of the gas, or to other causes". For this purpose a movable horizontal plane was installed above the car and near the centre of gravity, which resulted in the loss of gas and ballast being reduced to a minimum.

At a later date this single plane was replaced by two movable planes mounted either side of and above the gondola, attached to the bottom of the elliptical frame, as shown in the plan view published in the German "Jahrbuch der Luftfahrt" ("Aviation Yearbook") in 1911. These "ailerons d'ascension et de descente" as they were referred to at the time, are clearly visible in the still photograph taken from the short film "Decollage d'un ballon dirigeable" ("The Take-off of a Dirigible Balloon"), made in Moisson by the pioneering French film-maker Alice Guy-Blaché

Alice Guy-Blaché

Alice Guy-Blaché was a French pioneer filmmaker who was the first female director in the motion picture industry and is considered to be one of the first directors of a fiction film.-Early years:...

 before her emigration to the United States in March 1907.
The pilot operated the controls at the bows of the gondola, forward of the engine, while the engineer controlled the engine from his position at the stern. A 52-kilowatt (70 hp) Panhard et Levassor

Panhard

Panhard is currently a French manufacturer of light tactical and military vehicles. Its current incarnation was formed by the acquisition of Panhard by Auverland in 2005. Panhard had been under Citroën ownership, then PSA , for 40 years...

 four-cylinder engine running at 1,000 rpm

Revolutions per minute

Revolutions per minute is a measure of the frequency of a rotation. It annotates the number of full rotations completed in one minute around a fixed axis...

, mounted centrally in the gondola, drove two 2.6-metre (8.5 ft) diameter, two-bladed steel propeller

Propeller (aircraft)

Aircraft propellers or airscrews convert rotary motion from piston engines or turboprops to provide propulsive force. They may be fixed or variable pitch. Early aircraft propellers were carved by hand from solid or laminated wood with later propellers being constructed from metal...

s that were mounted on cantilever arms, one on each side, rotating at 1,000–1,200 rpm in opposite directions to prevent torque

Torque

Torque, moment or moment of force , is the tendency of a force to rotate an object about an axis, fulcrum, or pivot. Just as a force is a push or a pull, a torque can be thought of as a twist....

 forces from twisting the airship. The exhaust pipe, below the rear of the gondola, was covered with metal gauze and pointed downwards to minimise the fire risk. The fuel tank, with a capacity in excess of 280 L (61.6 gal), was housed below the gondola within a pyramid of steel tubing that was designed to protect the gondola and the propellers during landing. The fuel tank is clearly visible in the photograph of the gondola in the previous section (click on the image to see more detail).

Military uses

The military uses of airships at the time were considered to be the dropping of bombs (from an altitude at which they were deemed to be out of range of ground-based weapons) and reconnaissance

Reconnaissance

Reconnaissance is the military term for exploring beyond the area occupied by friendly forces to gain information about enemy forces or features of the environment....

. M. Julliot, the designer of the Patrie, stated that "each of the French ships can carry thirty, and on short journeys, even fifty torpedoes of 10 kilogrammes (22 lb) each." For reconnaissance purposes the Patrie was equipped with "a mounting for a telephotographic apparatus, and for a 100-candlepower

Candela

The candela is the SI base unit of luminous intensity; that is, power emitted by a light source in a particular direction, weighted by the luminosity function . A common candle emits light with a luminous intensity of roughly one candela...

 acetylene

Acetylene

Acetylene is the chemical compound with the formula C2H2. It is a hydrocarbon and the simplest alkyne. This colorless gas is widely used as a fuel and a chemical building block. It is unstable in pure form and thus is usually handled as a solution.As an alkyne, acetylene is unsaturated because...

 searchlight". A contemporary author related that "from a height of 4000 feet (1,219.2 m) the Patrie observed the smallest movements of formed bodies of troops at the Satory

Satory

Satory is an area south of Versailles in France. It is mostly known for its military camp, housing:* Weapon-testing facilities of GIAT Industries* Barracks and facilities for gendarmerie including the GIGN headquarters and the gendarmerie armored squadron...

 camp and obtained very clear telephotographs of them."

Semi-rigid airship

Semi-rigid airship

Semi-rigid airships are airships with a partial framework. These often consist of a rigid, or occasionally, flexible, keel frame along the long axis under the aerodynamic hull envelope. The partial framework can also be located inside the hull...

s were considered more suitable for military use because, unlike rigid airship

Rigid airship

A rigid airship is a type of airship in which the envelope retained its shape by the use of an internal structural framework rather than by being forced into shape by the pressure of the lifting gas within the envelope as used in blimps and semi-rigid airships.Rigid airships were produced and...

s, they could be deflated, stored and transported by land or by sea.

November – December 1906

The first flight of the Patrie took place on 16 November 1906, at Lebaudy's Moisson headquarters, lasting 2 hours and 20 mins. After eight further test flights from Moisson, the Patrie flew the 52 kilometres (32.3 mi) from Moisson to the French Aeronautical Department's centre at Chalais-Meudon near Paris on 15 December 1906 at an estimated speed in excess of 45 km/h (28.1 mph). A public relations flight over the centre of Paris was undertaken on 17 December 1906, passing over the Arc de Triomphe

Arc de Triomphe

-The design:The astylar design is by Jean Chalgrin , in the Neoclassical version of ancient Roman architecture . Major academic sculptors of France are represented in the sculpture of the Arc de Triomphe: Jean-Pierre Cortot; François Rude; Antoine Étex; James Pradier and Philippe Joseph Henri Lemaire...

, the Place de la Concorde

Place de la Concorde

The Place de la Concorde in area, it is the largest square in the French capital. It is located in the city's eighth arrondissement, at the eastern end of the Champs-Élysées.- History :...

, the War Ministry buildings and Les Invalides

Les Invalides

Les Invalides , officially known as L'Hôtel national des Invalides , is a complex of buildings in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France, containing museums and monuments, all relating to the military history of France, as well as a hospital and a retirement home for war veterans, the building's...

. Following this flight, Patrie was deflated until flights resumed in June 1907.

June – November 1907

During the summer of 1907, 21 further flights were undertaken between 27 June and 7 August, including one on 22 July 1907 in which the President of the Council (Prime Minister) Georges Clemenceau

Georges Clemenceau

Georges Benjamin Clemenceau was a French statesman, physician and journalist. He served as the Prime Minister of France from 1906 to 1909, and again from 1917 to 1920. For nearly the final year of World War I he led France, and was one of the major voices behind the Treaty of Versailles at the...

, and the Minister of War Georges Picquart

Georges Picquart

Marie Georges Picquart , was a French army officer and Minister of War. He is best known for his role in the Dreyfus Affair.-Early career:...

 were passengers. Although a pipe became detached, showering the Premier with hot water, he reacted nonchalantly, saying "I cannot sufficiently express my admiration for this wonderful contrivance".

The Patrie was then deflated for alterations that included the addition of a 500 cubic metre (17,660 ft³) cylindrical section to the gas-bag, a change to the empennage (as mentioned above) and provision of new propellers.

The Patrie was reinflated and made ready for operational duty on 15 October 1907. Nine flights, totalling 18 hours, were undertaken from Chalais-Meudon between 21 October and 16 November, during one of which the left propeller was lost, causing the Patrie to ascend rapidly into the low clouds before returning safely but slowly to Chalais-Meudon under her own power, arriving long after nightfall. On 23 November 1907, the Patrie was flown to her operational base at Belleville-sur-Meuse

Belleville-sur-Meuse

Belleville-sur-Meuse is a commune in the Meuse department in the Lorraine region in north-eastern France.-See also:*Communes of the Meuse department...

 near Verdun

Verdun

Verdun is a city in the Meuse department in Lorraine in north-eastern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.Verdun is the biggest city in Meuse, although the capital of the department is the slightly smaller city of Bar-le-Duc.- History :...

, close to the Franco-German border, a journey of 240 km (149 mi) in 6 hours 45 minutes, at an average speed of 36 km/h (22 mph) and a height of 850 metres (2,788.7 ft).

Final flight

While based at Verdun, the Patrie was stranded on Friday, 29 November 1907, at nearby Souhesmes

Les Souhesmes-Rampont

Les Souhesmes-Rampont is a commune in the Meuse department in Lorraine in north-eastern France....

 due to a mechanical problem caused by the clothing of one of the mechanics, Adjutant Girard, becoming caught in the distributor

Distributor

A distributor is a device in the ignition system of an internal combustion engine that routes high voltage from the ignition coil to the spark plugs in the correct firing order. The first reliable battery operated ignition was developed by Dayton Engineering Laboratories Co. and introduced in the...

 drive gear. On-the-spot repairs were made but the lack of a spare magneto

Magneto (electrical)

A magneto is an electrical generator that uses permanent magnets to produce alternating current.Magnetos adapted to produce pulses of high voltage are used in the ignition systems of some gasoline-powered internal combustion engines to provide power to the spark plugs...

 on board meant that the motor could not be used for the return flight. The decision was made not to drag the airship back to Verdun but to tether her overnight in the open at Souhesmes.

During the night a storm blew up and approximately 200 soldiers were assigned to the task of restraining the airship in the gale-force winds. On Saturday morning, the wind was strong enough to pull some of the iron pickets anchoring the airship out of the ground so that she swung broadside to the wind, causing her to tip on her side, which in turn caused sacks of ballast to be released. Even then the Patrie could have been saved; had the release cord been attached to the gas-bag, a single tug on the cord would have been enough to release the hydrogen and save the ship. By an oversight, this had not been done and the troops were unable to control her. Eventually the order "Lâchez tout" had to be given to release her.

Relieved of her ballast of 750 kilograms (1,653.5 lb) and without a crew, she shot up to a great height (calculated by the constructor to have been some 2000 metres (6,561.7 ft)), and was carried away in a north-westerly direction.
In an interview given on 3 December 1907,"Tout ce que je puis vous dire, c'est que, connaissant le fonctionnement des soupapes hermétiques, par suite de l'énorme pression qui les maintiens, je suis convaincu que l'aerostat ne se dégonflera que peu à peu, très lentement. Il peut donc voguer ainsi pendent un temps relativement très long. En tous cas, je considère qu'il est perdu et qui'il n'y a plus d'espoir de le retrouver actuellement". M. Lebaudy said:

"All that I can say to you is that, knowing how the hermetic

Hermetic seal

A hermetic seal is the quality of being airtight. In common usage, the term often implies being impervious to air or gas. When used technically, it is stated in conjunction with a specific test method and conditions of usage.-Etymology :...

 valves work, as a consequence of the enormous pressure which they maintain, I am convinced that the airship will only deflate bit by bit, very slowly. She could therefore float about for a relatively long time. In any case, I consider that she is lost and that there is now no longer any hope of recovering her."

Two days later there was still no news. In 2007, the French newspaper Journal l'Alsace / Le Pays reprinted a news item from 5 December 1907, which spoke of the "anxiety" caused in Paris by this "disaster". It was feared that the Patrie could have risen into an eastward air current, crossed the nearby Franco-German border and fallen into "Prussian" hands, so news reports of her whereabouts were eagerly awaited.

Finally news of sightings filtered back to France and spread around Europe and the United States. As was reported in The New York Times

The New York Times

The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

the following day, the Patrie had been observed on the morning of Sunday, 1 December 1907, over Cardigan (Wales)

Cardigan, Ceredigion

Cardigan is a town in the county of Ceredigion in Mid Wales. It lies on the estuary of the River Teifi at the point where Ceredigion meets Pembrokeshire. It was the county town of the pre-1974 county of Cardiganshire. It is the second largest town in Ceredigion. The town's population was 4,203...

. On the afternoon of the same day she made landfall at Ballysallagh, near Holywood

Holywood

Holywood is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies on the shore of Belfast Lough, between Belfast and Bangor. Holywood Exchange and Belfast City Airport are nearby. The town hosts an annual jazz and blues festival.-Name:...

, County Down

County Down

-Cities:*Belfast *Newry -Large towns:*Dundonald*Newtownards*Bangor-Medium towns:...

 in northern Ireland, where a propeller and Bevel gear

Bevel gear

Bevel gears are gears where the axes of the two shafts intersect and the tooth-bearing faces of the gears themselves are conically shaped.Bevel gears are most often mounted on shafts that are 90 degrees apart, but can be designed to work at other angles as well...

 assembly were broken off (see photo). With the loss of this weight the Patrie once more ascended and was spotted by a Lloyd's

Lloyd's of London

Lloyd's, also known as Lloyd's of London, is a British insurance and reinsurance market. It serves as a partially mutualised marketplace where multiple financial backers, underwriters, or members, whether individuals or corporations, come together to pool and spread risk...

 signal station at Torr Head

Antrim Coast and Glens

The Antrim Coast and Glens is an area of County Antrim in Northern Ireland, designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in 1988.The designation takes in the coastline from Ballycastle in the north to Larne in the south of County Antrim, and includes Rathlin Island...

 on the Antrim

County Antrim

County Antrim is one of six counties that form Northern Ireland, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of 2,844 km², with a population of approximately 616,000...

 coast. The next sighting came soon after, over islands in St. Patrick's Channel, between Ireland and Scotland. The Patrie continued northwards, where the last sighting was reported by Captain Buchanan of the steamer Olivine at latitude 58°N

58th parallel north

The 58th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 58 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Europe, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America, and the Atlantic Ocean....

 near the Hebrides

Hebrides

The Hebrides comprise a widespread and diverse archipelago off the west coast of Scotland. There are two main groups: the Inner and Outer Hebrides. These islands have a long history of occupation dating back to the Mesolithic and the culture of the residents has been affected by the successive...

, after which she was lost without a trace.

Epilogue

Despite the loss of the Patrie, the French army did not lose faith in the Lebaudy/Julliot design: A sister-ship to the Patrie, the République, was already under construction at Lebaudy's Moisson works, and another airship of the same type (La Liberté) was ordered in August 1908. In addition, two more airships of essentially the same design were ordered by the Russian

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

 and Austro-Hungarian Empires. The former, initially called La Russie and reported as being "an absolute copy of the French 'République'", flew for the first time in 29 May 1909.. Following successful trials it was deflated and shipped to St. Petersburg, arriving on July 10, and subsequently saw service with the Russian army under the name Lebed. In its June 26, 1909 issue, Flight Magazine reported that the Austrian Government had ordered from Lebaudy "what appears to be a duplicate of the "Russie". This airship entered service with the Austrian Army in 1910.

Specifications

• Ballonet volume: 670 m³ (22,958 cu.ft)

name=pc_2>

See also

External links

1. Short film of the Patrie in 1906 by the pioneering French film-maker Alice Guy-Blaché
   Alice Guy-Blaché
   Alice Guy-Blaché was a French pioneer filmmaker who was the first female director in the motion picture industry and is considered to be one of the first directors of a fiction film.-Early years:...
   
   (effective length one minute) -->