The battle of Fleurus, 26 June 1794 sounded to mark the start of the air war. For the first time, soldiers climb to the heavens to defeat the enemy. It is not yet to fight, but to spy on the enemy’s movements from a hydrogen balloon. Is this the secret weapon that helped the French to defeat the Austrians, in numerical superiority ? Difficult to be affirmative.
The first flights in hot-air balloon dates from only ten years ago. In October 1793, the chemist Louis-Bernard Guyton de Morveau, a member of the Committee of salut public, convinced his peers to do…
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