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Balloon manufactory at Gare d'Orleans Paris France 1876
Balloon manufactory at Gare d'Orleans, Paris France 1876 Artist : A. Jahandier Original edition from my own archives - Source : Magasin Pittoresque 1872 The siege of Paris in the Franco-Prussian war is usually quoted as the beginning of the practical use of balloons for military purposes. In 1870, Paris was completely cut off from the Prussians so the government used balloons to get out and over the enemy lines. In Paris workmen and land-locked sailors, who were supervised by the veteran balloonist Eugene Godard, worked tirelessly to replenish the supply of balloons.Production lines had been set up in two Parisian railway terminals, the Gare du Nord and the Gare d'Orleans. Because the trains no longer ran, as the routes had been cut by the Prussians, these were ideal buildings to hold ranks of seamstresses and rope-makers along the silent platforms. Each completed balloon was filled with air and hung from the high station roofs to check for leaks. The balloons were made from cotton cloth, as cheaply as possible, as they had to make only one flight apiece. One of them carried the French politician Leon Gambetta, who was wounded in the hand by a shot from a Prussian rifleman, but nevertheless escaped to revive French spirits. In all, 66 balloons left Paris during the siege, but the chance winds sent many on long and sometimes fatal journeys. One balloon reached Norway after a flight of almost 2,000 miles; others landed in Holland and Belgium; and another one flew all the way to Munich in the heart of Germany, where its intrepid crew was arrested and imprisoned on landing.

Balloon manufactory at Gare d'Orleans Paris France 1876

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