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Meusnier’s Airship - October 2006

Jean-Baptiste Meusnier was a French soldier who designed the world’s first airship in 1784……only 6 months after the Montgolfier brothers first hot-air balloon ascent. Meusnier himself was killed in battle, so his ideas never became reality. But he was way ahead of his time….many of his technological ideas became an intrinsic part of the mammoth airships of the 20th Century. Expedition set out to turn his ideas into reality, engineering them into a plausible replica with experts including the doyen of ballooning, Don Cameron RDI. And then, after an intensive training regime, Chris flew it as part of a crew of 4 at Cardington, beginning with a trial flight indoors in one of the giant R101 hangars.