Jules Verne's novel predicted air warfare half a century in advance

Editor's Note

Military science fiction has a history of nearly a century and a half, and has become a lens for people to peek into the future of war. Behind those shocking and amazing plots, there is a wealth of scientific knowledge. For this reason, Popular Science Times has opened a column called "Military Science in Science Fiction" to popularize scientific knowledge in science fiction through scientific interpretation of cutting-edge weapons for future air and naval battles described in military science fiction works, so that readers can feel the infinite charm of science while understanding the development of military science fiction.

Flying freely in the sky like a bird has been a dream of mankind since ancient times. In 1783, the French brothers Montgolfier made the most primitive hot air balloon and risked their lives to complete the first documented human feat of flying in a hot air balloon. Since then, the "lighter than air" hot air balloon and the inflatable airship derived from it have been regarded as the magic weapon for mankind to conquer the sky.

With the advent of the Industrial Revolution, some people wanted to create a "heavier than air" flying machine to replace the hot air balloon. This idea was considered a pipe dream at the time, so much so that there was a long-term debate and confrontation between the "balloon school" and the "airplane school" in the early field of aeronautics.

In 1863, Jules Verne, the "father of modern science fiction", was invited to serve as the inspector of the "French Association for the Promotion of the Sport of Flying Machines", and he developed a strong interest in powered flight. In 1866, he wrote the novel "Robil the Conqueror" based on the scientific debate between the "balloon school" and the "airplane school", and successfully predicted "aerial bombing", air combat and terrorist attacks against aircraft. At this time, it was still 37 years before the American Wright brothers' "Flyer 1" was first launched into space, and 48 years before the first real air battle in human history.

Image source: Douban Reading

Who is more suitable for flying: the "balloon faction" or the "airplane faction"

In the history of the development of aeronautical engineering, the debate between the "balloon school" and the "airplane school" is real.

The reason why balloons can fly into the sky is the buoyancy generated by the pressure difference inside and outside the balloon. Therefore, if you want the balloon to fly high and far, you must fill the airbag with a gas that is much lighter than the external atmosphere, such as hydrogen or helium. In addition, the pressure difference inside and outside the airbag must be strictly controlled during the flight, otherwise accidents are very likely to occur.

The flight of an airplane is mainly based on the principles of aerodynamics to "lift" the airplane into the sky. During the flight of an airplane, air flows to the leading edge of the wing and is divided into two streams, upper and lower, which flow along the upper and lower surfaces of the wing respectively, and then reunite at the trailing edge of the wing and flow backwards. Since the upper surface of the wing is relatively convex, the air flow speed increases and the pressure decreases; while on the lower surface of the wing, the air flow is blocked, the flow speed slows down, and the pressure increases. This pressure difference between the upper and lower surfaces generates the lift that allows the "heavier than air" airplane to soar into the sky.

From the Wright brothers' "Flyer One" to today's advanced F-22 "Raptor" fighter jet, although aviation technology has advanced by leaps and bounds, the flight principles of aircraft have not changed at all.

Airship crash changes plane's fate

In fact, even in the first 20 to 30 years after the birth of the airplane, people still thought that airplanes were just a tool for flying adventurers. This is because previous airplanes were generally small in size, light in load, and had no obvious speed advantage. At that time, there were "super luxury cruise ships" like the Hindenburg airship, which was more than 240 meters long and had a speed of 290 kilometers per hour. Therefore, almost everyone was optimistic about the broad future of airships. However, an air crash in 1937 completely changed the fate of airships and airplanes. Due to the explosion of hydrogen leakage in the airbag, the Hindenburg airship crashed in New Jersey, USA.

The subsequent World War II brought aviation technology to an unprecedented new height, thus laying the groundwork for the post-war "aircraft age".

Today, as we enjoy comfortable and safe air travel, we should not forget the great scientific pioneers and great dreamers who painted these magnificent scenes earlier.

Further reading:

Albatross puts an end to the dispute between the two factions

In Philadelphia, the famous "balloon flight research academic group" Weldon Society was holding its annual meeting. At this time, a middle-aged man who called himself Robill jumped onto the podium and declared that only a flying machine "heavier than air" was the best choice to conquer the sky. Before his speech was over, the audience rushed to the podium and tried to beat up this "heretic". But Robill disappeared without a trace in a puff of gunpowder.

After the meeting, Uncle Prudant, the president of the Weldon Society, and his loyal servant Fricolan and Secretary Phil Evans were tied up and blindfolded by several strong men on their way back to their residence. When the three of them saw the light of day again, it was Rober who stood in front of them to welcome them. Rober took them on the Albatross, which he designed and built himself and could be called an airship, and started an aerial journey around the world.

Obviously, Robel wanted to force the two leaders of the "balloon faction" to admit their failure by showing them his flying machine. However, they were extremely hostile to Robel and were always thinking about escaping. Finally, the Albatross overcame many difficulties and finally completed the feat of flying around the world, landing on Island X, the base of Robel and his friends.

Surprisingly, this journey not only did not change the rigid minds of the two leaders of the Weldon Society, but increased their hatred for Robir. The two conspired to blow up the Albatross, and Robir and others were missing.

Seven months after Uncle Prudant and his team returned to Philadelphia, the "Balloon Party" built their ideal flying machine, the Fram, and began its maiden voyage. At first, everything went smoothly, but as Fram was flying, a flying machine quickly approached it. People on the ground exclaimed: "Albatross!"

Indeed, the ship that attacked the Fram was the Albatross piloted by Robbie. Although a large hole was blown in the Albatross, Robbie and his crew managed to make a successful forced landing at sea. Afterwards, Robbie rebuilt the Albatross on Island X. This time, Robbie came for revenge.

In order to avoid the pursuit of the Albatross, the Fram climbed up to the sky with all its strength. As a result, due to excessive pressure, the airbags burst and the airship fell straight to the ground. At the critical moment, Robier gave up revenge out of humanitarian spirit, rescued the members of the airship, and sent them back to the ground safely. When the Albatross landed, the debate about who would become the future master of the sky also came to an end.

Source: Popular Science Times

Author: Liu Jian (Associate Professor of Tianjin Vocational College of Art, Distinguished Expert of China Science Fiction Research Center)

Editor: Wu Tong

Review: Wang Fei

Final judge: Chen Lei