HOW I BECAME AN AËRONAUT
ought to be the difference between its absolute speed and the velocity of the wind; and so, by going more slowly against the air-current, I should have plenty of time to rise and pass over the trees. Evidently it would be a mistake to place the air-ship at the point suitable for an ordinary balloon without motor and propeller. And yet it was there that I did place it, not by my own will, but by the will of the professional aëronauts who came in the crowd to be present at my experiment. In vain I explained that by placing myself ‘‘up-stream’’ in the wind with relation to the center of the open space, the speed furnished by the air-current, accelerated by the effort of the propeller, which had already been started, would inevitably precipitate it against the trees on the other side. The two speeds would be added to each other.
All was useless. The aëronauts had never seen a dirigible balloon start off. They could not admit its starting under other conditions than those of a spherical balloon, in spite of the essential difference between the two. As I was alone against them all, I had the weakness to yield. I started off with the wind; and, within a second’s time, I tore my air-ship against the neighboring trees, as I foretold. I had not time to rise above them before reaching them, so powerful was the impulse given by my motor. After this deny, if you can, the existence of a fulcrum in the air.
This accident at least served to show the effectiveness of the petroleum motor in the air to those who doubted it before. I did not waste time in regrets. My only idea was to repair the damage as soon as possible and to start again, this time under conditions that pleased me.
Two days later, on September 20th, I actually started from the same open space—this time, against the wind. I passed over the tops of the trees without mishap, and at once began sailing around them, to give on the spot a first demonstration of my principles to the great crowd of Parisians that had assembled in the beautiful satiate enclosure. I had their sympathy and applause then, as I have ever had since: the Parisian public has always been a kind and enthusiastic witness of my efforts.
Under the combined action of the propeller-impulse, of steering-rudder, of the displacement of the guide-rope, and of the two sacks of ballast sliding back and forward as I willed, I had the satisfaction of making my evolutions in every direction—to right and left, and up and down. Such a result encouraged me; and I mounted up to 400 meters (just a quarter of a mile). At this height I commanded a view of all the monuments of Paris, and I continued my evolutions in the direction of the Longchamps race-course, which from that day I chose as the scene of my aërial experiments.
So long as I continued to ascend, the hydrogen increased in volume as a consequence of the atmospheric depression; so, by its tension, the balloon was kept taut, and everything went well. It was not the same when I began descending. The air-pump, which was intended to compensate the contraction of the hydrogen, was of insufficient capacity. The balloon—a long cylinder—all at once began to fold in the middle like a portfolio, the tension of the cords became unequal, and the balloon envelope was on the point of being torn by them. At that moment I thought that all was over, the more so as the descent which had already become rapid could no longer be checked by any of the usual means on board, where nothing worked.
The descent became a rapid fall. Luckily I was falling in the neighborhood of the soft grassy pélouse of the Longchamps race-course, where some big boys were flying kites. A sudden idea struck me. I cried to them to grasp the end of my 100-meter guide-rope, which had already touched the ground, and to run as fast as they could with it against the wind! They were bright young fellows, and they grasped the idea and the guide-rope at the same lucky instant. The effect of this help in extremis was immediate, and such as I had expected. By this manœuver we lessened the velocity of the fall, and so avoided what would otherwise have been a terribly rough shaking up, to say the least. I was saved for the first time. Thanking the brave boys, who continued to aid me to pack everything into the air-ship’s basket, I finally secured a cab and took the relic back to Paris.
.jpg)
