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.
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
Antoinette
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.
Please
send comments to
Bill Meixner