User:TheLongTone/Godard

Eugène Godard (1827 - 1890) was a celebrated French balloonist. He was born at Clichy 26 August 1827 and died in  Brussels in 1890.

Biography
The son of a stonemason, in 1841 he enrolled at the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers to train as an architect. His enthusiasm for balloning began in 1845, when he assisted in the launching of a balloon and constructed his first hot-air balloon, which never flew. In 1846 he sucessfully launched several balloons. In 1847 Eugène and his brother Louis moved to Lille. On 17 October 1847 Eugène made his first free ascent in a hot-air balloon, so starting his career as a professional aeronaut.

In 1849 he travelled to Bordeaux where he met the prominent English balloonist Charles Green, who persuaded him to experiment with balloons inflated with coal gas. Eugène construit alors le Ville de Bordeaux. In 1850 he was hired by the Hippodrome de l'Étoile in Paris, where he made many ascents between then and 1869. On 6 October 1850, flying the Ville-de-Paris, Eugène made his first long-distance flight, from Paris to Gits in Belgium. In 1852 he contructed the envelope for Henri Giffard's steam-powered dirigible. In 1853, starting from Vienna, and made the first aerial crossing of the Austrian Alps. In 1854, he made a number of ascents to celebrate the marriage of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria,  and as rewarded with the title of Aéronaute de l'Empereur d'Autriche. In 1854, Eugène left France with his wife and his brother Auguste for the United States, taking with him five balloon, the largest named Transanlantic. Advertised as "the most beautiful balloons in America" made many flights in New York, New Orleans, St. Louis, Louisville (Kentucky), Cincinnati, and San Francisco.

On 8 September 1856, Eugène made the first free flight in Québec and the first passenger-carrying flight in Canada with the specially-constructed le Canada. In August 1857 he made the first balloon ascent in Wales from Carnarvon l'Aurore ?? In 1859 Eugène returned to Europe participer the Second Italian War of Independence. L'empereur Napoléon III accepte ses offres de services et observation balloons. From 1860 Eugène resumed the construction of hot air balloons using a heater of his own invention. En 1863, Napoléon III awarded him the title oft d'"Aéronaute de l'Empereur". In 1863 Eugène constructed two enormous balloons: the gas-filled Le Géant for the photographer Felix Nadar and the hot-air balloon  l'Aigle, which had a capacity of 14000 m3. In 1864 he took this to England and made several ascents from Cremorne Gardens last flight,landed in Walthamstow, damaged by being blown into trees.

In 1864, his son, also called Eugene, was born: he too would also become a celebrated aeronaut and builder of balloons. In 1866 Eugène invented a new système de télégraphie optique, remarqué par les autorités militaires. In 1867 he made a series of ascents with Camille Flammarion to carry out scientific experiments.

In 1870 he was involved in the use of balloons to carry mail out of the city during the Siege of Paris, establishing a balloon manufacturing works in the Gare d'Orléans (Gare d'Austerlitz). Helped by his wife, his son and his brother Jules, he made 33 ballons between October 1870 and the end of January 1871. After the siege he moved to Nantes, since the city had both a good supply of gas and suitable topograhy for launching balloons. Il publie en 1872 un pamphlet : "De la Direction des ballons. Lettres à M. Dupuy de Lôme". On 28 September 1873, he made a flight at Amiens with Jules Verne as a passenger: this was Verne's first and only balloon ascent. In 1878 he was employed as the pilot of Henry Giffard's giant captive balloon flown from the Tuileries. In 1884, in collaboration with his nephew Louis and Gabriel Yon, he founded the Grands Ateliers Aérostatiques du Champ-de-Mars, the most important balloon manufacturer during the last years of the nineteenth century. In 1885, he organised the first balloon competition in France. In 1888 he moved to Brussells, where he died on 9 September 1890.

During his career, from 1845 to 1890, Eugène Godard built about 18 hot air balloons and 50 gas-filled ballons. he m ade around 1500 ascensions dans une dizaine de pays, sur deux continents (Europe et Amérique). Il est détenteur de plusieurs records du monde (altitude, distance, durée).