*The First Lebaudy.* The interest evidenced by the German War Department in Zeppelin’s airship was more than duplicated by that aroused in French military circles by the success of the Lebaudy Brothers. Since 1900 these two brothers had been experimenting with dirigible balloons. Their first dirigible—built by the engineer Juillot—made thirty flights, in all but two of which it succeeded in returning to its starting point. This machine was somewhat similar to the later types built by Santos-Dumont and carried a 40-horsepower Daimler motor. A speed of 36 feet per second, or about 25 miles per hour, was obtained. During tests in the summer of 1904, the balloon was dashed against a tree and almost entirely destroyed. *Lebaudy 1904.* The next year the "Lebaudy 1904" appeared. This was 190 feet long and had a capacity of 94,000 cubic feet of gas. The air bag was divided into three parts and contained 17,600 cubic feet of air. It was supplied with air from a fan driven by the engine, and an auxiliary electric motor and storage battery were carried to drive the fan when the gas engine was not working. The storage battery was also used to furnish electric lights for the airship. A horizontal sail of silk was stretched between the car and the gas bag, which had an area of something over 1,000 square feet, and a sort of keel of silk was stretched below it. A horizontal rudder, shaped like a pigeon’s tail, was used at the rear, and immediately behind it were two V-shaped vertical rudders. A small vertical sail was carried, which could be used to assist in guiding the airship. The car was 16 feet long and was rigidly hung 10 feet below the bag. It was provided with an inverted pyramid of steel tubes meeting at an apex below the car to prevent injury in alighting. Sixty-three ascents were made in 1904 with this balloon, all of them comparatively successful, the longest being a journey of 60 miles in two hours and forty-five minutes. [Illustration: Fig. 9. La Patrie, French War Dirigible] The next year a new and larger balloon equipped with a more powerful motor was used. Many flights were made in tests for the French War Department. *La Patrie.* La Patrie was then built for the French government by the Lebaudy Brothers and was of the same design as their earlier airships. In speed it was nearly equal to Zeppelin’s, and its dirigibility was nearly perfect. Fig. 9 shows a view of this airship in flight. It was 200 feet long, and the 70-horsepower engine drove two propellers. It could carry seven people and one-half ton of ballast. It carried four people at a speed of 30 miles per hour. On its last trip it covered 175 miles in seven hours. A few days afterward, a heavy wind tore it away from its moorings and it was blown out to sea and lost.