When did the first dirigible fly?

  In 1852, almost seventy years after the first Montgolfier balloon rose over Annonay, a French engineer, Henri Giffard, built the first successful dirigible. Shaped like a cigar, it was 143 feet long and was powered by a 3-horsepower steam engine with a propeller attached to the gondola. Because of its low speed, under 5 miles per hour, this airship was pushed backward in a strong wind.
  The first dirigible which could be accurately controlled and guided was Airship Number One, built by Alberto Santos-Dumont, a Brazilian millionaire living in France. In 1901, he flew his airship around the Eiffel Tower in Paris.