As you approach the town of Ecausseville and the airfield beyond it’s impossible not to be impressed by the huge airship hangar that seems to burst from the ground, headed skywards. It’s massive and the closer you get the more impressive it gets.
We stood gazing up, not sure what to expect as we entered the hangar for Rob’s adventure.
There is also a museum on site that you can either wander before your flight or after. We chose to visit it afterwards and it is full of interesting pieces of French aviation history and retraces the fascinating history of the building over the past century.
If you to the museum first it does give you an introduction to this special place in the French aviation history allowing you to immerse deeply in the fantasy world awaiting inside the hangar, straight out of the imagination of a man called Jean-Pierre David.
Who is Jean-Pierre David?
Jean-Pierre David has always dreamed of being a bird. Floating in the air has been the root of his art and work for more than 20 years.
Since the mid-1990s, he’s been designing all sorts of inflatable objects which he brings life in light installations or large air shows bringing together acrobats and musicians suspended under balloons and pyro-technicians performing all over the world.
What awaits inside the hangar is his vision and creation.
It is a bird?, is it a plane?, no it’s an aéroplume
Rob went up, up and away this week at the Écausseville’s airship hangar where he flew his very own Aéroplume.
What actually is an Aéroplume? I hear you ask –
An Aéroplume is a one-person, slightly mysterious flying machine that’s part airship/balloon/blimp, that enables you to fly yourself by flapping your ‘wings’ –
The gentle power of your own arm movement in turn powers the wings of the aéroplume so it’s as if you have your own wings.
When we arrived for Rob’s flight we were greeted by the truly impressive sight of the massive hangar that dominates the landscape and towers above you.
The fact that it still has an ancient look to it adds to the atmosphere of this old structure.
As we stepped inside we were equally impressed with the vast interior and beautifully curved roof structure.
Before Lift Off
At the start of his session, Rob had the place to himself and I loved that as part of the Normandie Impressionist Festival, the floor of the hangar had been painted with a colourful floor art piece called Hopeless Sky by artist Flora Moscovici.
Before his flight Rob had some instruction and was then strapped into a harness, that reminded me of a butterfly cocoon, suspended under the large white bubble of helium.
The instructor talked him through how moving his arms in a particular way would make the aéroplume turn and move.
Then he was off, as if released from gravity, he slowly drifted up into the roof space and floated out across the hangar.
Because the movements are almost in slow motion it all felt very relaxing to watch. I’m not sure how relaxing it was to be up so high looking down but Rob seemed to enjoy it.
I think we can now officially call him an Plumonaut.
The history of the hangar
In December 1916 the hangar was built to house the new airships of the era and from August 1917 French Navy airships were assigned to conduct coastal surveillance of German ships.
The Germans occupied the Hangar between 1940 and 1944 where they stored equipment for the construction of the Atlantic Wall (cement, wood, guns and ammunition).
It was later used by the Allied Forces to store and maintain equipment in WW2.
Because of it’s chequered history and multiple occupations, the site contains a large number of German, American, English and French graffiti. It was amazing to see them close up and imagine the people who had etched them into the walls in such significant times in history. These graffiti are classified as historical monuments and it is one of the sites with the highest number of graffiti (300 m) in France.
The hangar was even It was brought back into service during the Cold War (1967-1969).
This impressive building is the last of its kind, in the world!
Inside it’s 150 metres long, 24 metres wide and 30 metres high which allows the flight of 2 or 3 Aéroplumes.
The Museum
The museum is packed full of fascinating items telling the story of this amazing place.
It’s well worth a visit.
Flap your wings and fly away!
You can enjoy the unique sensation of being lighter than air.
If you’d like to go up, up and away then check out their website, Rob highly recommends it – www.aeroplume.fr