View source for French Aerostatic Corps

{{Short description|French air reconnaissance unit in Napoleonic War}}
{{infobox military unit
|unit_name= French Aerostatic Corps
|image= File:Bataille de Fleurus 1794.JPG
|image_size=
|caption= Aerostatic Corps balloon during the Battle of Fleurus
|dates= 1794&ndash;1799
|country= France
|type= Balloon engineers
|role= [[Reconnaissance]]
|size= Two companies of 26 soldiers
|colors= Blue with a black trim
|battles= [[Battle of Fleurus (1794)|Battle of Fleurus]],<br/>[[Battle of Mainz]],<br/>[[Battle of Würzburg]],<br/>[[Battle of the Nile]]
|notable_commanders= [[Jean-Marie-Joseph Coutelle]],<br/>[[Nicolas Lhomond]]
|aircraft_recon= ''L'Entreprenant'', ''Hercule'', ''[[L'Intrépide]]''
}}

The '''French Aerostatic Corps''' or '''Company of Aeronauts''' ({{langx|fr|compagnie d'aérostiers}}) was the world's first balloon unit,<ref>[[Jeremy Beadle]] and Ian Harrison, ''First, Lasts & Onlys: Military'', p. 42</ref> founded in 1794 to use [[balloon (aircraft)|balloons]], primarily for [[reconnaissance]].

==Experimentation==
[[File:Jean-Marie-Joseph Coutelle.jpg|thumb|right|Coutelle in 1794.]]
Numerous suggestions had been made for the use of balloons during the [[French Revolutionary Wars]], and in 1793 the [[Committee of Public Safety]] began testing their potential.  Initial tests of [[airship]] designs proved unsatisfactory.<ref name="haydon">F. Stansbury Haydon, ''Military Ballooning During the Early Civil War'', pp.5-15</ref>  However, experiments conducted near the [[Tuileries]] from September to October 1793 to produce the required [[hydrogen]] without the use of [[sulphuric acid]], which was in short supply, were successful, producing more than 20 cubic metres.<ref name="coulston">Charles Coulston Gillispie, ''Science and Polity in France: The Revolutionary and Napoleonic Years'', pp. 372-373</ref>  As a result, the Committee determined to use this technique to float tethered balloons.

At the end of October 1793, chemist [[Jean-Marie-Joseph Coutelle]] and his assistant, the engineer [[Nicolas Lhomond]], were sent to join the [[Army of the North (France)|Army of the North]],<ref name="coulston" /> with 50,000 [[French livre|livre]] to acquire equipment.<ref name="haydon" />  They were given a letter from [[Lazare Carnot]] commending them to General [[Jean-Baptiste Jourdan]] and representative [[Ernest Dominique François Joseph Duquesnoy]], which informed them that "Citizen Coutelle is not a charlatan".<ref name="coulston" />  However, on arrival, Jourdan ridiculed the project, ordering Coutelle back to [[Paris]], with the message that an Austrian attack was imminent, and a battalion was required, not a balloon.<ref name="haydon" />

==Formation==
Back in Paris, the Committee of Public Safety ordered further tests on the balloon technology,<ref name="haydon" /> to be conducted at the [[Chateau de Meudon]], where the Aerostatic Development Centre was founded.  [[Nicolas-Jacques Conté]] led the research, refining balloon shapes and materials, and also improving the [[hydrogen production]] process.  This culminated in a series of ascensions, viewed by leading figures on the Committee, who passed an Act creating the Aerostatic Corps on 2 April 1794.<ref name="coulston" />  The corps consisted of a captain and a lieutenant, a sergeant-major and sergeant, two corporals and twenty privates.  All these men were required to have skills relevant to ballooning, such as [[chemistry]] or [[carpentry]].  The Act creating the corps envisaged three roles: reconnaissance, signalling and the distribution of [[propaganda]].  Coutelle was created captain, and Lhomond lieutenant.<ref name="haydon" />

==Battle of Fleurus==
[[File:Early flight 02562u (9).jpg|thumb|right|The corps transporting the balloon to Fleurus.]]
In May 1794, the new corps joined Jourdan's troops at [[Maubeuge]], bringing one balloon: ''L'Entreprenant''.  They began by constructing a [[Industrial furnace|furnace]], then extracting hydrogen.<ref name="coulston" />  The first military use of the balloon was on 2 June, when it was used for reconnaissance during an enemy bombardment.<ref name="haydon" />  On 22 June, the corps received orders to move the balloon to the plain of Fleurus, in front of the Austrian troops at [[Charleroi]].  This was achieved by twenty soldiers who dragged the inflated balloon across thirty miles of ground.<ref name="coulston" />  For the three following days, an officer ascended to make further observations.  On 26 June, the [[Battle of Fleurus (1794)|Battle of Fleurus]] was fought, and the balloon remained afloat for nine hours, during which Coutelle and [[Antoine Morlot]] took notes on the movements of the Austrian Army, dropping them to the ground for collection by the French Army,<ref name="haydon" /> and also signalled messages using [[semaphore]].<ref name="coulston" />

The French won the Battle of Fleurus, but reports of the usefulness of the balloon corps varied.  [[Louis-Bernard Guyton de Morveau]], who had been present throughout the battle, strongly supported it, but Jourdan believed that it had contributed little.<ref name="coulston" />  Guyton had already supervised the construction at Meudon of the ''Martial'', a cylindrical balloon, which was supplied to the corps soon after the battle, but it proved too unstable for use.  The corps followed the Army of the North into Belgium and was present at battles in [[Liège|Liege]] and [[Brussels]],<ref name="haydon" /> although they did not see action.<ref name="coulston" />  With winter approaching, they constructed a balloon depot at [[Borcette]] near [[Aachen]].<ref name="haydon" />

==Second company==
[[File:Early flight 02561u (1).jpg|thumb|right|Observations by the second company at the Battle of Mainz]]
On 23 June, an Act creating a second aerostatic company had been passed, to be trained at Meudon by Conté.  It was provided with two new balloons, ''Hercule'' and ''[[L'Intrépide]]'',<ref name="haydon" /> and in March 1795 it was attached to the [[Army of the Rhine]].<ref name="coulston" />  Coutelle was recalled in order to head the new company, Lhomond being promoted to captain of the first company, while Conté remained at Meudon.<ref name="haydon" />  In October, he was made head of a new school of ballooning, where replacement soldiers for the two companies were trained.<ref name="coulston" />

The second company conducted ascensions at the [[Battle of Mainz]], and were also active during the evacuation of [[Mannheim]].  For the winter, they established a base at [[Frankheim]], then followed the Army north and conducted observations at [[Stuttgart]], [[Rastatt]] and [[Donauwörth]].<ref name="haydon" />

==Decline and disbanding==
[[File:HGM L'Intrépide.jpg|thumb|upright|''L'Intrépide'' on display at the ''Heeresgeschichtliches Museum''.]]
Meanwhile, in 1795, the first company was transferred to the [[Army of Sambre-et-Meuse]], which was now led by Jourdan.  They were not directly involved in any action,<ref name="coulston" /> but Jourdan appears to have warmed to the balloonists, printing official correspondence forms depicting a balloon above his army.  In September 1796, they were at the [[Battle of Würzburg]] when the French Army was defeated, and the entire company was taken captive with its balloon ''[[L'Intrépide]]'', which is now on display at the ''[[Heeresgeschichtliches Museum]]'' in Vienna.

Following this disaster, the second company was attached to the reconstructed Army of Sambre-et-Meuse.  Coutelle withdrew to Meudon, overcome by fever, and new commander Delaunay was unable to work with the new General, [[Lazare Hoche]], who refused to let them participate in any action.<ref name="haydon" />

The first company were released in April 1797, under the terms of the [[Treaty of Leoben]], and petitioned for the reinstatement of Coutelle as their commander.  This was permitted; Coutelle was made a colonel, while Lhomond was promoted to major and permitted to remain second-in-command.  In 1798, the company joined the [[Napoleonic Campaign in Egypt]].  On arrival, they decided to initially leave the ballooning equipment on their ship.  This was destroyed in the [[Battle of the Nile]], and the company was assigned to other duties.  They were able to conduct a few demonstrations of more basic balloons for entertainment purposes.<ref name="haydon" />

On 15 January 1799, the [[French Directory|Directory]] passed an act disbanding the balloon corps.  The second company was immediately disbanded, but the first was still in action in Egypt and remained in existence until its return to France in 1802.<ref name="haydon" />

==References==
{{commonscat|French Aerostatic Corps}}
{{Reflist|30em}}

[[Category:History of aviation]]
[[Category:Ballooning]]
[[Category:French military units and formations of the Napoleonic Wars]]
[[Category:Military units and formations established in 1794]]
[[Category:Military units and formations disestablished in 1799]]
[[Category:1794 establishments in France]]
[[Category:1799 disestablishments in France]]