NAVIGATING THE AIR 



EARLY WAR-BALLOONS AND DIRIGIBLE BALLOONS 



Despite the fact that the "aviators" — the aeronauts 

 whose efforts were directed to flight by mechanical 

 means in imitation of birds, or by the use of what are 

 now called aeroplanes — weredn the field centuries before 

 the balloon was invented, from the time of the first 

 Montgolfier balloon until very recently, the balloonists 

 had shown their rivals a clean pair of heels in practical 

 results. A dirigible, man-carrying balloon that can be 

 guided under favorable conditions, and can maintain 

 itself in the air for any considerable length of time, was 

 an accomplished fact at least five years before the prac- 

 tical aeroplane flying-machine. Yet the majority of 

 scientists had become convinced several years before 

 their convictions were verified by actual demonstration, 

 that some type of mechanical flying-machine — a 

 machine that is heavier than the atmosphere and that 

 maintains itself by some mechanical means — was the 

 only one likely to solve the question of aerial flight. 

 Yet thus far balloons have rendered more actual service 

 to man than flying-machines. 



It will be recalled that balloons were used for making 

 military observations during the French Revolution; 

 and they were used for similar purposes in several of the 

 Continental wars during the first half of the nineteenth 

 century. After that time, however, interest in their 

 use for this purpose flagged somewhat until the time 

 of the Crimean War, when their usefulness was again 

 demonstrated, as it was in the American Civil War 

 which followed shortly after. 

 v»L. vn— 17 [257] 



