Gelatine was an airship piloted on September 19, 1905 by a pioneer American aviator and what?
Gelatine (airship) Gelatine was an airship operated by the United States Army Signal Corps. "Gelatine" was built by Thomas Scott Baldwin's company Baldwin's Airships, Balloons, Aeroplanes of New York City. On the morning of September 19, 1905, the "Gelatine", piloted by Lincoln J. Beachey, ascended from the grounds of the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition on the shores of Guild's Lake in Portland, Oregon, landing 40 minutes later at the Vancouver Barracks in Vancouver, Washington. The flight is considered as the first aerial crossing of the Columbia River and the first account of controlled powered flight in Washington.
America (airship) The America was a non-rigid airship built by Mutin Godard in France in 1906 for the journalist Walter Wellman's attempt to reach the North Pole by air. Wellman first conceived of using a balloon to fly to the pole during a failed polar attempt by boat and sledge from Svalbard in 1894. He then visited Paris to review the state of balloon technology but left disappointed by the lack of acceptable steering and propulsion capability. A decade later while at the 1905 Portsmouth Peace Conference he learned of recent innovations in French dirigible design and believed a solution might be at hand for his Arctic aerial plan. After receiving the backing of newspaper publisher Victor F. Lawson, the Wellman Chicago Record-Herald Polar Expedition was announced, and Wellman traveled to Paris in search of a suitable design and manufacturer. In the meantime a public company was established to raise the $US 250,000 required for the expedition and airship (to which Lawson contributed $60,000).