Airship over Brussels – J.B. Stevens, c. 1860

ONE OF THE FIRST AIRSHIPS OVER BRUSSELS “L’Aéroscaphe a vapeur et a hélice, La Belgique, de la force nominale de…

ONE OF THE FIRST AIRSHIPS OVER BRUSSELS

“L’Aéroscaphe a vapeur et a hélice, La Belgique, de la force nominale de 10 chevaux” [the Aéroscaphe with steam and propeller “La Belgique”, with a nominal power of 10 horses] Lithograph made by J.B. Stevens around 1860. Coloured by a later hand. Size. (incl. text): approx. 31 x 41 cm.

The first airships emerged in the mid-19th century from the balloon. The Frenchman Henri Giffard built a steam-powered airship in 1852. Development continued steadily in the following decade.

They were elongated airships, a sort of envelope filled with hydrogen. Suspended from this was a long beam with a triangular, sail-like rudder at the rear and a platform for the pilot and steam engine underneath the beam. The steam engine drove a propeller. To prevent the engine from igniting the highly flammable gas in the balloon, the exhaust was redirected downwards through a pipe protruding from under the platform, and the area around the boiler’s firebox was surrounded by wire mesh.

Here, Aeroscaphe La Belgique flies above the Parc de Bruxelles in Brussels, with the Palace of the Nation visible on the right.

Price: Euro 875,-