902, having
been constructed by them together with a balloon manufacturer named
Surcouf and an engineer, Julliot. The Lebaudy airships were what is
known as semi-rigids, having a spar which ran practically the full
length of the gas bag to which it was attached in such a way as to
distribute the load evenly. The car was suspended from the spar, at
the rear end of which both horizontal and vertical rudders were fixed,
whilst stabilising fins were provided at the stern of the gas envelope
itself. The first of the Lebaudy vessels was named the 'Jaune'; its
length was 183 feet and its maximum diameter 30 feet, while the cubic
capacity was 80,000 feet. The power unit was a 40 horse-power Daimler
motor, driving two propellers and giving a maximum speed of 26 miles
per hour. This vessel made 29 trips, the last of which took place in
November, 1902, when the airship was wrecked through collision with a
tree.

The second airship of Lebaudy construction was 7 feet longer than the
first, and had a capacity of 94,000 cubic feet of gas with a triple air
bag of 17,500 cubic feet to compensate for loss of gas; this latter was
kept inflated by a rotary fan. The vessel was eventually taken over by
the French Government and may be counted the first dirigible airship
considered fit on its tests for military service.

Later vessels of the Lebaudy type were the 'Patrie' and 'Republique,'
in which both size and method of construction surpassed those of the
two first attempts. The 'Patrie' was fitted with a 60 horse-power engine
which gave a speed of 28 miles an hour, while the vessel had a radius of
280 miles, carrying a crew of nine. In the winter of 1907 the 'Patrie'
was anchored at Verdun, and encountered a gale which broke her hold
on her mooring-ropes. She drifted derelict westward across France, the
Channel, and the British Isles, and was lost in the Atlantic.

The 'Republique' had an 80 horse-power motor, which, however, only gave
her the same speed as the 'Patrie.' She was launched in July, 1908,
and within three months came to an end which constituted a tragedy
for France. A propeller burst while the vessel was in the air, and one
blade, flying toward the envelope, tore in it a great gash; the airship
crashed to earth, and the two officers and two non-commissioned officers
who were in the car were instantaneously killed.

The Clement Bayard, and subsequently the Astra-Torres, non-rigids,
followed on the early Lebaudys and carrie