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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