Clément-Bayard Montgolfier

Type : non-rigid airship

Length : 73.5m diam.: 12.2 m

Volume : 6500 m3

Engines : 2x Clement bayard 90 hp

Speed : 60 km/u

First flight : 31 July 1913

Built at Levallois-Perret

The French army 08 August 1914 possesses seven airships, of which six were judged to be operational prior to the Éclaireur Conté’s being shot down. The other two operational machines are Dupuy de Lôme and Montgolfier, both based at Maubeuge. The seventh machine, Tissandier, is currently being readied at Toul.

These French airships are quite dissimilar from their German counterparts; they are considerably smaller (in the 60-metre to 90-metre range, as opposed to between 140 and 160 metres for German airships) and lack the rigid, internal skeletons pioneered by Graf Zeppelin. Power is generally supplied by two engines totalling around 250 horsepower.

Literature : They fought for the sky page 62