1909 Reims Air Race
1909 Poster
In 1903 the Wright Brothers
introduced the world to powered flight,
however they did little to improve their invention.
The French and
other European Countries had a great interest in the development of
flying machines and were making a lot of progress improving them.
In 1909 the French decided to hold the first ever air race. The wine
producers of the Champaign region and the city of Reims
offered
200,000 Fr. The week-long event was held on the
Bethany plain.
Stands were built to include a
600 seat restaurant, barbershop,
beauty shop, flower shops, telegraph, phone
lines connected to
major European Capitols. An elaborate system
of flags to keep
the public informed was also installed. The course was 6.2
miles
long. This was to be an International event, pilots
from England,
Germany, Italy and the United States were
invited. An American
newspaperman living in France offered the Gordon Bennett
trophy.
There would be speed events, altitude, distance
and passenger
carrying events. All speed events would race
against the clock.
All available hotel rooms were sold out, temporary housing
had to
be built and Inn keepers doubled & tripled their rates and than some.
Pilots & their aircraft
France had produced a number of accomplished
pilots.
Lois Bleriot had just crossed the English
channel
Hubert Latham also attempted the crossing but had to ditch.
Louis Bleriot FRANCE Bleriot’s
Hubert
Latham FRANCE Antionette monoplane
Paul Tissander FRANCE Wright biplane
Henry Farman FRANCE Voisin biplane
Louis Paulham FRANCE Voisin biplane
G B Cockburn ENGLAND Wright biplane
Glen Curtiss USA
Curtiss biplane
The Wright
Brothers were invited but declined, which annoyed the French.
Cortland Bishop, president of the Aero Club of America invited Glen Curtiss
to
represent the US.
Curtiss who worked with Alexander Graham Bell’s group was
also an accomplished
pilot had only a few weeks to build
an airplane and an engine for the competition.
Aircraft
entered
9 Voisins
4 Bleriots 4 Antoinetts 4 Farmans 6 French owned Wrights
Bleriot
Voisin
Wright
Antionette
Gordon Bennett Trophy
Opening day: Rained all morning
Qualifying for the Gordon Bennett and
demo flights. Three qualified for the French; Bleriot, Latham and LeFebvre.
Monday: Good weather, Bleriot was first one up followed by several others.
Curtiss set a record for the day. Afternoon brought hi winds and several
who braved it suffered crashes.
Tuesday: The weather was no
better. All flights cancelled due
to winds of
25-30mph. It was President’s day and he arrived at 4:00 visited the
hangars and
was impressed by Curtiss with his American flag draped over the hangar
door.
Curtiss hangar
Wednesday; Latham won the daily speed
test and Paulham broke the
Wright’s endurance record.
Thursday; Bleriot won the daily speed race,
a French pilot suffered an
engine failure and landed in the crowd although frightened, no one was
hurt.
Friday; The day of the endurance race, several
contenders set records only
to be broken. Henri Farman took off late
and won the competition
at
118.06 miles finishing after dark. He landed with the help of automobile
lights.
Friday; The day of the endurance race, several
contenders set records only
to be broken. Henri Farman took off late and
won the competition at
118.06 miles finishing after dark.
He landed with the help of automobile lights.
Saturday: The day of the Gordon Bennett. Contenders were,
Bleriot, Latham,
Lefebvre, Cockburn and Curtiss. Times were
from 10:00 am to 5:30 pm.
As many practice laps as they wished. Two monoplanes
and three biplanes.
Curtiss was first up and set the pace. One by one they failed to better his
time.
At last Bleriot waiting till the last minute was up. His first lap was
faster but for
whatever reason slower on the second. As soon as he crossed
the finish
line the signal went up that Curtiss had won! The crowd was in utter
disbelief.
The American flag went up and the band
played the National Anthem.
Curtiss Racer
Sunday: There were
two races left; The Prix de la Vitesse, three laps
and the
Pre de Tour de Piste one lap. First race
was won by Bleriot 1.6 seconds faster.
Second race shorter one lap, Curtiss set the pace and it was
again up to Bleriot.
Now Bleriot was flying his largest machine, which was somewhat difficult
to handle.
He suffered a rudder failure at the first turn and crashed
and burned. Curtiss had
won 38,000 francs and Bleriot 7,000 francs. Louis
Latham won the Prix de la
Altitude carrying two passengers for 11 minutes.
If Reims did one thing, it brought out the
spirit of friendly competitiveness among
those taking part. There was order, not interference and this helpful
attitude
enabled the officials to keep the
meeting going smoothly. Even the
press and photographers saw this and responded accordingly.
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Bill Meixner
You are the
th
person to pop in on us since December, 17th 2011. Thank You for the
touch & go,
please take an early flight back soon...