Godard family
Many of the persons named Godard who registered patents were related to one another.
The first generation of Godards in aeronautics were three brothers, Eugène, Louis, and Jules—known for working together and making numerous ascensions.[1][2]
The Godard dynasty was widely celebrated; according to Wilfrid de Fonvielle, "les paysans avaient fait de Godard un synonime du nom d'aéronaute; il était unutile de lutter contre un habitude invétérée."[3]
The Godard family have made very many ascents in France, and are well known in all countries in connection with aeronautics. It was to two of the Godards that the management of the military balloons in the Italian campaign was entrusted; it was M. Jules Godard who succeeded in opening the valve in the dangerous descent of Nadar's balloon in Hanover in 1863, and it was Eugene Godard who constructed perhaps the largest Montgolfier ever made, an account of the ascensions of which has been given above.[4]
Hildebrandt, 1908, Airships Past and Present, (p. 172) describes Sweden purchasing balloon materials from the Godard and Surcouf "firms" in Paris; perhaps the Godard family had one or more corporate identities which we can discover.
References
- ↑ Surcouf, 1895, Portraits d'aéronautes contemporains. M. Louis Godard.
- ↑ airspacemag.com
- ↑ Wilfrid de Fonvielle, "Eugène Godard II", L'Aérophile 8(2), February 1900; pp. 13–15.
- ↑ "Aeronautics", Americanized Encyclopedia Brittanica (1890), pp. 58–68 (p. 63).
Links
- Une famille illustré: les Godard, L'aérostat nantais... des années 1783 à nos jours
