France - Hangar Y

The aeronautical activities of the Chalais-Meudon site began in 1877 with this brilliant inventor, Charles Renard; the latter makes the equipment necessary for the equipment of the military balloon companies. For this purpose, Renard made ready to move from the Chalais basin, to serve as a hangar to airships, metal porticoes from galleries annexed to the "gallery of machines" of the Universal Exhibition of 1878, work attributed to Henri de Dion, engineer chief of the exhibition. This is where the airship "La France" was created, making in 1884, the first closed-circuit flight of the world, over the forest of Meudon and Villacoublay. The event had such a resonance that part of this dirigible electric balloon was exposed in the flag of Military Aeronautics during the Universal Exposition of 1889. The Y hangar which formed in the Champ-de-Mars a single vessel with gantry farm without entry present at Meudon this same central vessel but doubled with low wings. It consists of a volume of 70 meters long, 24 meters wide and about 26 meters high.