French balloonist, the son of aeronaut Eugène Godard (1827-1890); Eugene II made his first ascent in a gas balloon in 1867, with his father, during the Universal Exhibition of 1867 in Paris. On 28 September 1873, Eugene II made his second ascent with his father, in the company of Jules Verne.
In 1878, he joined his father, his uncle Jules and his cousin Louis Godard II to operate Henri Giffard’s large captive (tethered) balloon of twenty-five thousand m2, installed at the Tuileries for the Universal Exhibition of 1878.
From 1888, Eugène II was associated with the Grands Ateliers Aérostatiques du Champ de Mars, located on rue Desaix in Paris, overseen by Gabriel Yon and Louis Godard II. One of the specialties of this great manufacturing company, the most famous in the world at that time, in addition to military balloons and balloons of all kinds, was the construction and operation of large captive balloons, imagined and designed by Giffard.
Eugene II began his career with captive balloons. In 1888, he directed the captive balloon of Barcelona and that of Paris in 1889, installed on avenue Kléber. In 1890 he went to Denmark as an aerostation teacher under Captain Edvard Rambusch, founder of Danish military aeronautics. In 1891, he was in charge of the Chicago captive balloon and was seriously injured when it caught on fire when struck by lightning.
In 1892, Eugene II made twenty-five day and night ascents in Philippopoli for the first Bulgarian Exhibition and returned with the officer’s cross of the Order of St. Alexander. In 1894 and 1895, he stayed in Egypt, flying to Cairo and Alexandria. This was the first time that a man ballooned over the land of the pharaohs. Despite the presence of the British army then occupying the country, the climbs were not without many dangers. Eugene II flew over the desert where the Bedouins were rampant on several occasions. The following year, Eugene II flew to Lisbon where he made a series of maritime ascents.
In 1900, Eugene II was appointed secretary of the Class 34 installation committee (aerostation) of the Universal Exhibition chaired by Commander Paul Renard and became a member of the Organizing Committee of the section of physical exercises which gave rise to the competitions. On 24 June 1900, he won the altitude competition with Jacques Balsan. On board the “Saint-Louis”, so named by Balsan in homage to its builder Louis Godard II, Eugène reached an altitude of 5,560 m.
Along with his cousin Louis II, Eugene II designed many balloons such as the “America-I” airships (1906), the “Belgique-I” (1909) and the “Belgique-II” (1910).
Suffering from an incurable mental illness, he did not fly after 1903. On 11 November 1910, Eugene II died by jumping into the river from the large bridge of Saint-Nicolas-de-Port, Art-sur-Meurthe near Nancy.
Link to Wikipedia biography (French)