Henri Giffard

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Henri Giffard (1825-1882) was a French engineer who invented the injector and the powered airship with a steam engine weighing over 400 lb. It was the world's first passenger-carrying airship, called a dirigible. Both practical and steerable, the hydrogen-filled airship was equipped with a 3 hp steam engine that drove a propeller. The engine was fitted with a downward pointing funnel. The exhaust stream was mixed in with the combustion gases and it was hoped by these means to stop sparks rising up to the gas bag. He also installed a vertical rudder. On 24 September 1852 he made the first powered and controlled flight traveling 27 km from Paris to Trappes. The wind was too strong to allow him to make way against it, so he was unable to return to the start. However he was able to make turns and circles, proving that a powered airship could be steered and controlled.

Giffard committed suicide in 1882, leaving his estate to the nation for humanitarian and scientific purposes.