THE AIRSHIP

Some remarks to give you the background to the World Airship Championships.
 

A bit of history ...

The history of the French airship goes back to 1852 and the engineer Henri Giffard. He succeeded in creating the first dirigible gas balloon with a 44 metre long non-rigid envelope. In 1884 two French engineers designed and built the airship “La France” which was able to return to its take-off point in light winds.
The famous Zeppelin did not make an appearance until 1900 with Count Ferdinand Von Zeppelin perfecting his first rigid-framed airship. During the First World War many Zeppelins were built for military use, serving to bomb Paris and London. It was then the turn of the English with the R34 in 1920. It succeeded in crossing the Atlantic and flew from East Fortune (Scotland) to Minéola (New York State). The return trip took 183 hours and 15 minutes over a distance of 11,200 km.
Airships gradually disappeared from the skies, mainly as the result of being involved in accidents and their high flammability, but also with the advent of the aeroplane and helicopter – quicker and more reliable forms of air transport.

The airship, a unique aircraft

An airship is an aerostat* consisting of one or more ballonets containing a lifting gas (helium or hydrogen). It differs from the hot air balloon in its characteristic of directed flight; so that it can be steered (using fins & rudder). In order to move, the airship is equipped with a means of propulsion (engines), instruments for adjusting buoyancy and a gondola for passengers and crew. The balloon itself has an elongated form in order to be aerodynamic. The airship therefore requires a specific piloting technique. This is therefore a world championship in every sense.

Aerostat* also known as an object that is ”lighter than air” , its mass being less than the mass of air displaced. Lift is maintained thanks to the Archimedes pressure principle.