Corp d'aérostiers

The compagnie d'aérostiers was the world's first air force, founded in 1794 to use balloons, primarily for reconnaissance and airborne invasion.

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.

Unable to create airships which were proven safe to transport French soldiers, the French Army ordered the invention of steam driven automatic soldiers who knew no fear nor pain. Several leading engineers were tasked with this almost impossible task but the Emperor granted the use of immense amounts of money and war material. Due to the unlimited resources, inventor Henry Coudé was able to reduce the size of a steam engine from immense to the size of a military bag pack!

This massive break through led to the development of the soldat mécanique, a steam driven automaton which was able to self propel himself but was unable to handle any kind of weaponry. To solve this problem, some military engineers strengthened the automatons arms which made enabled them to rip off men’s limbs or bend rifles! They also added a thick layer of metal armor which made them able to resist most rifle rounds.

Another problem which was needed to be solved was the commanding the mechanic soldiers into battle. Following the standard procedure of the French Army, the automatons were drilled to react onto the beat of the company drums. This reaction was made possible due to the invention of a small device called “l’oreille” by the engineers, that was placed into the automatons body.

With this device the automatons were able to react onto several commands such as march, forced march, charge and many others.

This new invention was viewed by leading figures of the Committee, who passed an Act creating the Aerostatic Corps on 2 April 1794. The first corps consisted of 2 companies each consisting out of 1 large balloon, 4 balloon handlers, drummer and 7 automatons.

The 5 corps d’aérostiers played a huge role during the invasion of England in 1812 because of their ability to cross the Royal Military Channel and create havoc in the British rear.