Budapest, Hungary, June 5th - 17th, 1910
The most expensive aviation meeting of 1910
Budapest is the capital of Hungary, which in 1910 was
a kingdom and part of the Austro-Hungarian Habsburg
Empire. The town is situated on both sides of the Danube,
which in that area is a couple of hundred metres wide. In
1910 Budapest had around 750,000 inhabitants. Its
population had tripled during the last 50 years and it
was the undisputed centre of Hungary.
The Hungarian Aero Club was formed at the headquarters of
the Hungarian Automobile Club in Budapest on February
26th, 1910. Plans for an aviation meeting were
immediately announced, and the meeting was sanctioned by
the FAI. Ambitions were very high - the meeting was
planned for eleven days and the announced prize fund of
no less than 500,000 Kronen was the biggest of any
aviation meeting so far, by a broad margin. The meeting
was heavily marketed and large crowds were expected. Huge
grandstands and lavishly decorated entrance gates were
built at the airfield, which was located at the
Rákosmező cavalry exercise grounds some six
kilometres east of the city centre.
A large number of flyers were contacted, at great cost,
and several highly speculative and optimistic preliminary
lists of participants were published. In total more than
80 different names appeared on those lists! One of them
was veteran pilot Henri Rougier, who was tempted out of
his recent retirement, reportedly by an offer of the
enormous sum of 45,000 francs. Even completely unknown
pilots got generous deals for participating. One of them
was Austrian Paul Jaritz, who hadn't even flown under
power yet but was still offered free transport and hotel
rooms for appearing.
The final list of participants counted 49 entrants, more
than at any meeting before. It was certainly inflated by
the inclusion of more than a dozen optimistic Hungarian
novices who had achieved little or nothing before the
meeting, but it also contained several of aviation's
biggest names, like Hubert Latham, Louis Paulhan,
"Géo" Chávez, Michel Efimoff and Baronesse de
Laroche. The meeting would also be the debut of several
promising new designs, for example the Etrich
"Taube", the Hanriot and Pischof Autoplan
monoplanes and the Warchalowski "Vindobona"
biplane.
The program included all the usual contests, with the
addition of a 200,000 Kronen cross-country race from
Budapest to Győr (Raab in German) and back and a
"quality prize", where the flyers were awarded
points for the results in different contests.
Sunday 5 June
The meeting opened in beautiful sunshine. It was almost
too hot, which might have been the reason for the
disappointing attendance, only around 40,000. Many of
Budapest's high society were there, but the huge
grandstands were far from full. It was perhaps too hot
for machines too, because at half past two when the
official flying was supposed to start nobody moved.
The first one to come out of the hangars was Paulhan, but
he wanted to take advantage of the gusty winds to try for
the take-off prize before making any long flights. He
managed to jump off the ground in only 11.03 metres,
which was claimed to be a world record and would remain
unbeaten during the entire meeting. Efimoff also tried,
but could do no better than 15 metres. They then tried
for the speed prize. Efimoff landed soon again, but
Paulhan's effort of 8:25 over the three laps was good
enough to stand as the best result of the day. Both
pilots then flew several laps for the distance and
endurance prizes.
Apart from that, nothing very much happened until seven
o'clock, when Nicolas Kinet, Alfred de Pischof and
Louis Wagner took off. They were followed by Latham, but
before completing the first lap he had engine problems
and had to land in a sandy patch. The landing skid got
stuck and broke and the landing gear and the right wing
were rather badly damaged, but Latham escaped injuries.
Then Eugen Wiencziers, Juan Bielovucic, Jorge Chávez and
Adolf Warchalowski took off, making it seven machines in
the air at the same time! Alfred Frey was the last to
take off, competing with Chávez for the daily altitude
prize and winning it by reaching 184.5 metres. Efimoff
won the daily distance and endurance prizes by flying
59.840 kilometres in 1 h 01:17, before Kinet.
Monday 6 June
The second day of the meeting was rainy and thundery, and
the grandstands didn't begin to fill until six
o'clock. Flights began around half past three, but
they were interrupted several times when rain-showers
blew in from the Buda Hills in the west. Kinet and Wagner
were first, followed by Rougier, but the latter landed
again after only a couple of minutes. Paul Engelhard made
a short flight to test his troublesome engine, and after
his landing Bielovucic and Henri Jullerot made flights of
some minutes. Chávez took off to go for the altitude
prize, but he made a bad turn and crashed, fortunately
escaping with minor bruises but damaging the landing
gear, propeller and lower wings. At half past five
Efimoff beat Alfred Frey to the daily altitude prize by
reaching 255 metres, before a breathtakingly steep
descent. Pischof also made a fine flight, but Wiencziers
had engine problems and hardly left the ground. Wagner
won the daily speed and distance prizes, while Efimoff
took the endurance prize.
On the second day it was decided to give up trying to
keep the spectators informed by hoisting signals in the
traditional signal mast. It was replaced by announcement
of the results on official blackboards in the spectator
areas. This proved to be a success and certainly made the
proceedings easier to follow for non-expert
spectators.
Tuesday 7 June
The weather was fine around noon, but very changeable
during the afternoon. The main event of the third day was
the first of the three chances to win the
Budapest-Győr-Budapest cross-country prize. This
event had the fabulous prize fund of 200,000 Kronen, of
which 100,000 to the the first to complete the course.
The prize money was less than for the famous Daily Mail
London-Manchester prize (won by Louis Paulhan less than
six weeks earlier), but the course was longer and more
difficult. The one-way straight-line distance was 116
kilometres, but it included several mountains and forests
that had to be circumnavigated.
Three pilots had entered for the first day: Engelhard,
Karl Illner and Pischof. Engelhard had found no solution
to his engine problems and had to withdraw. Illner also
decided against participating, since he still suffered
from injuries after a recent accident at Wiener-Neustadt
and didn't feel fit, particularly since it looked
like the weather would be windy. Pischof took off in his
monoplane at 14:56. Thanks to "Flugsport" we
have his account of the flight:
"My machine was only readied in the last minutes,
so I hardly had time to meet the fixed start time. I
started directly from the hangars towards the airfield
and got up immediately. After turning towards the
grandstands, I flew first to the east and then turned
again aiming towards the Buda Hills. I soon reached high
altitude, around 200 to 300 metres, and flew over the
suburbs, then over the Margaret Island.
I stayed at this altitude, and therefore the ground came
closer when I approached the higher areas around
Pilisvörösvár. I therefore decided to go higher,
especially since I had always observed that when flying
at high altitude the air currents are more uniform. When
I had passed this high area, I looked for the pursuing
cars and reduced the speed of my engine to 800 rpm in
order for them to catch up. Soon I noticed a large dust
cloud, which I guessed could only contain a speeding
automobile. In front of the military camp of Piliscsaba,
I could confirm that this presumption was correct. I
could see people who were waving at me and greeting me.
Then I saw a line of poplars, which I avoided, since my
experience is that they always cause turbulence. I heard
hurrahs from marching soldiers and turned to the left
without losing sight of the automobile.
I had only flown a few minutes more when a huge storm
appeared in front of me. At first I thought of going
higher to fly around it, but I soon realised I had to
take the safer option and think of landing instead. But a
violent gust of wind carried me upwards and I had to work
hard to keep my machine heading the right way. I
didn't try to fight the gusts, but just waited for
the machine to get steady again and demonstrate its great
stability. After I had flown some time against the rising
storm winds, rain and hail started coming down and forced
me again to look for a landing-place. I turned towards
the Danube and even though the rain whipped my face I
soon spotted a suitable place on the banks of the river.
I reduced the engine speed to idle and descended in a
glide to find an acceptable field. In the last minute I
had to make sure that I did not run into a herd of pigs
or into the river. The descent went completely smoothly,
although I could hardly see ten steps
ahead."
He landed at 16:10, only metres from the river. After
some 40 minutes the rain reduced and when Pischof had
dried out his engine with the help of bypassing
automobile drivers he decided to continue, in the hope of
completing the course. He took off again from the wet
field without any problems, his engine at full throttle
and water and mud spraying off the wheels:
"For the second time I flew over the Danube, and
I may have travelled 12 or 15 kilometres when I noticed
that my engine wasn't running regularly. Therefore I
had to decide to give up the journey and land. But once
again a gust caught me, so I couldn't land at once. I
finally managed to land from a height of 50 meters in a
beautiful glide onto a farm field. The reason for the
engine problems was that the ignition system had got
wet.
I walked around 300 meters until I got to the main road,
sat down on a milestone, and when an automobile came I
started to whistle. The people in it did at first not
want to help the dirty wanderer. It was not until I
presented myself that they were kind enough to offer to
drive me to Komárom, so that I could call my friends who
could retrieve the machine. However, I met my friends
already at Dunaalmás and returned with them. During the
trip to Budapest, we met my wife, who had come to meet me
by car. She hugged me, in tears because I had been
reported to be in danger."
He didn't return to his hotel until after midnight,
where his fiends were greatly relieved since they
hadn't had any information about his whereabouts. His
plane was dismantled at the Süttő railway station,
from where it was driven back to Budapest.
When Pischof had left, normal proceedings started at the
airfield. Illner, Wagner, Kinet, Efimoff, André Frey,
Latham, Ernest Paul, Stefano Amerigo and Rougier made
flights. Flying was interrupted around five o'clock
when a thunderstorm arrived, which made archduke Josef
postpone his plans for a passenger flight. Around six
o'clock the rain stopped and Wagner and Latham took
off, followed by de Laroche, who was congratulated by the
archduke for her fine flight.
Around 19:10 Efimoff was caught by a gust, crashed
heavily and was thrown off the machine. He was concussed
and early reports stated that he had broken an arm or a
foot and suffered internal injuries, depending on which
report you trusted. He had to spend six days in hospital,
but things were obviously not as bad as reported, since
he was back at the airfield and flying again immediately
after being released. Wagner won the daily distance prize
in front of Kinet, Jullerot won the speed prize and
Illner won the endurance and altitude prizes, the latter
by reaching 449 metres, the highest so far during the
meeting.
Wednesday 8 June
The fourth day of the meeting was thundery and there
wasn't much flying during the early afternoon. The
organizers had decided that efforts for the
Budapest-Győr-Budapest race could now be made on
any day, not just on the three previously announced days
(7th, 10th and 13th). Illner declared that he would make
an effort, but changed his mind when he learned that
Pischof had protested against the decision. Pischof's
protest was quite justifiable, since he had made his
effort, in rather bad weather, on the previously
announced day. Therefore his plane had been dismantled
for the road transport and couldn't be flown in
competition with Illner.
Archduke Josef, who followed the meeting every day, used
the bad flying weather to be taken on a tour of the
hangars of Pischof, Warchalowski, Rougier, Latham, Illner
and de Laroche. In the late afternoon Wagner made a
flight, which was cut short by engine trouble but still
long enough to win the distance and endurance prizes.
Latham and Bielovucic also had engine problems, the
latter only completing one lap but Latham managing to win
the speed prize. Chávez took the altitude prize with the
result of 442 metres while Kinet and one of the Freys
also took to the air. János Adorján was the first of the
Hungarians to try his luck, but couldn't get off the
ground.
Thursday 9 June
This day, another windy day, was remembered for several
accidents, but there were also some good results. Illner,
Wagner and Kinet were first to take off, around 17:15,
followed by Latham, Chávez, André Frey, Paulhan and
Engelhard. The latter two soon landed, but Latham took
off again soon after and was the first accident victim.
He crashed at 18:28 from an altitude of twelve metres
when his engine blew, but he again escaped injuries. The
next accident happened to Bielovucic, who clipped a pylon
and crashed to the ground. His machine was badly damaged,
but he too escaped unharmed. Kinet, de Laroche,
Warchalowski, Rougier, Paulhan, Amerigo, Jullerot and
Illner also flew.
The third and by far worst accident happened at 18:54,
when André Frey had flown around 42 minutes. He arrived
at a pylon in front of the 10-Kronen grandstands together
with Illner and suddenly lost control of his Sommer. He
crashed immediately inside the barriers in front of the
grandstands and his machine hit several people. Frey was
unharmed, but nine spectators were injured. The injuries
ranged from minor cuts and bruises to broken arms, feet,
ribs and collarbones and to concussions, head and ear
injuries and life-threatening internal injuries.
Volunteers took care of the injured and in the airfield
hospital archduchess Augusta assisted the doctors.
As could be expected, opinions differed about who was to
blame. Frey claimed that Illner hadn't kept proper
distance when overtaking him and made him fly into his
propeller wash, and that his elevator was damaged when
the plane was upset. Illner stated the he too was
surprised by the amount of turbulence at the turn and
blamed the accident on the high winds and the turbulence
set up by the nearby grandstands. A commission
investigated the accident. The pilots were not blamed,
even though there were complaints that particularly
Illner had repeatedly flown above the spectators. The
commission put the blame on the airfield installations,
and prescribed that future rules for airfields should
only allow grandstands to be arranged along the straights
of the course and not on the outside of turns. The simple
conclusion is probably that the airfield wasn't big
enough for the three-kilometre course used.
Illner went on to beat Chávez to the daily altitude
prize, by reaching 417 metres, and the speed prize.
Wagner won the endurance and distance prizes. His
distance of 137.385 kilometres would stand unbeaten
during the meeting, while the time of 2 h 02:43 would be
the second best.
Friday 10 June
Illner and Pischof had entered for the
Budapest-Győr-Budapest prize, but only Illner
actually tried, at around half past two, despite the high
winds. Alfred Montigny had already crashed during the
morning and damaged his Blériot. Illner's flight also
ended in tears, already on the airfield, when a gust
caught the plane and drove it into the ground from around
15 metres. The propeller, landing gear and left wing were
destroyed, but Illner was not hurt. None of the other
pilots was to make an effort to win the probably somewhat
over-ambitious cross-country prize.
Because of the high winds there were no other flights
until half past five, when Latham, reportedly in a brand
new machine, Paulhan, Engelhard, Wagner and Chávez took
off. The latter two were soon driven down by the winds.
Wagner's machine flipped inverted during the landing
and trapped the pilot below, fortunately without much
harm to pilot or machine. Chávez's machine was
man-handled back to the hangars when the wind lifted it
out of the hands of his mechanics and flipped it inverted
in front of the twenty-kronen grandstands, damaging
particularly the upper wings.
Wagner still won the distance, endurance and speed
prizes, in front of Engelhard, but the results were
hardly impressive. Nobody qualified for the altitude
prize.
Saturday 11 June
The winds were very strong, so all contests were called
off. Amerigo, Warchalowski and Pischof still made some
short test flights. Hungarian pilot Ernő
Herczegh-Grünbaum also tried his machine, but
couldn't get it off the ground.
The organizers announced new prizes for an obstacle
course contest, for the best time above and below wires
stretched 25 metres above the ground, separated by 150
metres. There are no reports of any efforts for this
contest though, so it seems it never came off.
Sunday 12 June
The second Sunday of the meeting was the best flying day,
and for once really big crowds were attracted. Many
racing enthusiasts had visited the Derby Week of Vienna
and then travelled to Budapest to watch the flying.
Fifteen different pilots made flights, without any
accidents or incidents. There were also fifteen passenger
flights by Paulhan, Engelhard and Kinet. The passenger
flights were very lucrative business for the flyers.
Paulhan could charge 5,000 Kronen, an unskilled working
man's salary for two or three years, for a short
flight around the airfield with a rich nobleman or
businessman aboard.
Several pilots who had not flown much before were also in
the air after around five o'clock, when the winds had
reduced, for example de Laroche, who was in the air for
more than 40 minutes, and Ernest Paul. Hungarians János
Adorján and Ernő Horváth made short flights of 40
and 18 seconds respectively, and Morris Bokor finally
arrived to the airfield to boost the Hungarian hopes.
Wagner made the longest flight of the meeting, 2 h
03:46.8. Latham's temperamental Antoinette engine for
once worked well, enabling him to make the fastest flight
of the meeting, with an average of 75.5 km/h over the
three laps. Alfred Frey won the altitude prize with a
flight of only 198 metres, before making a detour outside
the airfield. This was frowned upon by the officials, but
Frey blamed it on rudder problems. Warchalowski took the
lead in the slow flight prize and Engelhard in the
passenger prize. Efimoff had been released from the
hospital and was back at the airfield.
Monday 13 June
The weather was very bad, with high winds and lots of
rain. No flights were possible.
Tuesday 14 June
The early afternoon was very gusty and there were no
flights until half past three, when Latham rolled his
machine out of the hangar, followed by Kinet and Wagner.
They were joined by Rougier, Efimoff, Alfred Frey,
Jullerot, de Laroche and Pischof, but the latter had
eaten some dodgy fish and suffered from food poisoning,
so he landed after only three minutes. All in all
seventeen pilots made flights.
The day's best performance was made by Paulhan. The
world altitude record holder had made a bet that he would
fly above 1,000 metres during the meeting, and after
climbing for more than a quarter of an hour he won his
money by reaching 1,060 metres. His quick climb and steep
descent were applauded enthusiastically in the
grandstand. This result would remain unbeaten during the
meeting and of course also won him the daily altitude
prize, far in front of Efimoff's 256 metres. Latham
had reached 260, but his result was disallowed since he
had taken off after the allowed time.
Five of the Hungarian pilots were out, but didn't
achieve much. Adolf Hirsch and Károly Csermely flew
distances of 200-300 metres and Mihály Székely flew 100
metres, while Adorján crashed and Horváth had engine
troubles and couldn't get off the ground.
Wednesday 15 June
This was the last of the originally scheduled days of the
meeting, but the organizers had already from the
beginning of the meeting stated that it would last for
eleven days and that spectators would be compensated for
days when there was no flying, so it was extended for two
days. Paulhan, Latham and de Laroche had to go home
already on the 16th, but the last days still counted for
the final results. This was a somewhat controversial
rule, since it reportedly hadn't been mentioned in
the French translation of the regulations...
The day started slowly, with a couple of rain showers,
but in the end the crowd got to see quite a lot of
flying. Two of the Hungarian machines, the
Herczeg-Grünbaum and the Grusz monoplanes, were put out
of action in the morning, when they collided on the
ground during test runs. The best performance of the day
was made of Latham, who reached 858 metres and thereby
secured second place in the altitude prize. He started
his flight at a quarter to five, after one of the rain
showers. He didn't climb as quickly as Paulhan the
day before, but circled slowly and methodically, both
during climb and descent. Before landing he caused some
excitement when he briefly disappeared out of view behind
a hill and then suddenly appeared at low altitude and
landed. He gave the reason for the unusual approach that
he was running out of fuel and had to take the quickest
way down. After the landing he got out of the plane and
called for more fuel from a pylon station. Baronesse de
Laroche heard the call and drove out with a canister of
fuel, which enbled him to taxi back. Latham then made two
further flights of in total around 50 minutes, also
winning the daily endurance and speed prizes.
The baronesse herself made a flight at around seven
o'clock, to the background of a rainbow and elegantly
dressed in blue, according to a magazine report. Alfred
Frey made three flights for the altitude prize and was in
the air for around an hour, but couldn't reach any
higher than 152 metres, which was still good enough for
second. Wagner only flew two laps before a cylinder
exploded. He had to make a quick emergency landing and
his damaged machine had to be towed to the hangars.
Montigny had repaired his machine after his crash on the
Friday and made a couple of flights, reaching 20 metres
of altitude and regaining some honour for the Blériots,
who had been notable for their absence from the results.
Engelhard secured the win in the passenger prize with a
flight of more than one hour, which was also the
day's second longest. Efimoff made four or five
passenger flights. Kinet also made several passenger
flights, but Paulhan only made one. Illner had also
repaired his machine, but it was obviously not correctly
rigged and he hit a pylon and crashed. The damages put
him out of action for the rest of the meeting. Pischof
made four efforts, but his engine didn't run well.
Warchalowski made two passenger flights, with archduke
Josef and archduchess Augusta as passengers, while
Jullerot, Paul and Wiencziers also flew, the latter with
a Gnôme engine instead of the troublesome Antoinette
engine. At half past seven it started raining again, and
that was the end of the day's flying.
Thursday 16 June
Rougier took off, but landed after only half a lap, like
he had done several times before. His performance during
the meeting had been very disappointing. He had
officially retired after the Nice meeting, claiming that
his nerves needed a rest, and it was speculated that he
only went to Budapest to be able to cash in a last time
on his past reputation. He had reputedly been paid the
huge sum of 45,000 francs for his appearance, so he
certainly didn't have to chase any prize money!
Warchalowski took the day's endurance and distance
prizes, flying for more than an hour. Adorján and Székely
made ground rolls, but didn't manage to lift off.
Hirsch and Csermely made a short test. Kinet, Amerigo,
Wiencziers, Jullerot and Engelhardt also flew, the latter
with a passenger. Things were a bit lack-lustre, the
three pilots who had left were missed. Chávez was also
reputed to be out of town, nobody knew where. His
machine, which should have been repairable after the
incident a week earlier, had not been seen again. Efimoff
was, like Latham, de Laroche and Chávez, entered at the
Rouen meeting, which started on the 19th, and didn't
fly during the last two days. There wasn't much to
cheer about until the last flight of the day, when
Jullerot took off in relatively hard wind and reached 137
metres before diving down to a perfect landing, thereby
securing the daily altitude prize in addition to the
speed prize that he had already won.
Friday 17 June
This was the day for the Hungarian national contest. It
was preceded by controversy, since the other Hungarian
flyers had filed a protest, claiming that the Voisin of
Hirsch and Csermely wasn't eligible since it
wasn't designed in Hungary. The protest was
disregarded, since the regulations only stated that the
pilots had to be of Hungarian nationality. Székely was
first to try. His take-off went well and everything
looked promising until the nose suddenly started to rise.
It finally reached vertical and the machine fell on its
tail, which was crushed under the weight and the force of
the impact. Székely was buried in the wreckage, below the
engine and the still rotating propeller. Assistance came
running and riding from all directions, but he could
fortunately make his way out of the wreckage unaided. The
distance between the starting line and the accident site
was measured to be 68 metres.
Wiencziers made a successful flight, obviously much
happier with the Gnôme engine than with the Antoinette.
Kinet, Jullerot, Paul, Engelhard and Montigny also flew,
and at 17:15 Wiencziers took off for a second flight. It
was soon noticed by people on the ground that two rigging
wires were hanging loose below Wiencziers' left wing.
They tried to shout and signal that he should land
immediately. Kinet, who was still in the air and flying
nearby, flew close and also made signals with both hands,
but Wiencziers didn't notice anything. Suddenly the
wings folded upwards above the fuselage and the machine
fell to the ground from 35 metres. The engine and the
fuel tank were thrown several metres from the front
fuselage, which crumpled completely. Policemen,
ambulances and spectators once again came rushing to the
wreck, fearing the worst. It took ten anguished minutes
before a car drove back to the hangars with the good news
that Wiencziers was in relatively good shape. He had
managed to jump off immediately before the machine hit
the ground. His clothes were torn, he had cuts and
bruises and he stated that he had got his mouth and eyes
full of sand and dirt, but nothing was broken. The same
could not be said about the machine, the parts of which
which were eagerly collected and carried off as
souvenirs.
Kinet, Amerigo, Jullerot, Warchalowski and Engelhard took
off. The crowds in one of the enclosures had a fright
when Warchalowski lost his course and headed towards them
at an altitude of less than ten metres. They had learned
from André Frey's accident and rushed for cover, but
Warchalowski managed to turn away at the last moment.
Adorján took off and took the lead in the national
contest by reaching 85 metres. The next to fly, around
18:30, were Montigny and Jullerot, who both flew a couple
of laps. Around 18:45 Hirsch took off and made a flight
of 1,500 metres, which would easily have been enough to
win the national prize, but since he hadn't made his
flight within his prescribed time the result was
disallowed.
At seven o'clock Horvath took off after a long ground
roll and flew 108.30 metres, which was enough to win the
national prize! The audience welcomed him
enthusiastically and he was brought to the jury's box
after landing. This kind of results was of course not
what the Hungarian aviation enthusiasts had hoped for,
but most of the Hungarian machines were untested and
underpowered. The only Hungarian who had achieved any
flights to speak of before the meeting was Aladár Zsélyi,
but he crashed badly only four days before the start of
the meeting. He was actually reported as killed in
several aviation magazines, and still features in some
lists of the first victims of aviation, but he recovered
to fly again.
Kinet was the last one to fly. He flew a couple of laps
before going for higher altitudes, eventually reaching
193 metres to claim the altitude prize, in addition to
the time and distance prizes that he had already won,
before gracefully descending to a perfect landing. This
was the last action before a cannon-shot marked the end
of the meeting. Jullerot had already won the speed
prize.
In the final summary, Wagner won the endurance and
distance prizes, Paulhan the altitude prize and the
take-off prize, Latham the speed prize, Kinet the total
flight time prize, Engelhardt the passenger prize and
Alfred Frey the slow flying prize. Wagner also won the
"quality prize", a novelty for this meeting,
which was based on points awarded for placement in the
different contests. It's interesting to note that
Wagner and Kinet, who won most money and flew by far the
most during the meeting, both formally were debutants and
qualified for the "beginners' prize"!
Conclusion
The arrangements at the airfield and the running of the
event were praised. The organizers did manage to deliver
the biggest aviation meeting so far, and the total
distance flown beat all previous meetings. From a
sporting point of view the results of the meeting were
respectable, but not overwhelming. The prestigious
cross-country prize was not won, and the only record
broken was the relatively insignificant take-off distance
record. The meeting was thoroughly analysed in the
Austrian and German aviation press and one of the
conclusions was that eleven days was too long and that
the novelty of seeing airplanes circulating slowly and
safely around a course in order to win distance prizes
wore off after a couple of days. Several reporters
complained that the famous well-paid French pilots
didn't take any risks and were more interested in
counting their money and making profitable passenger
flights. Fingers were particularly pointed at Henri
Rougier, who only made some short flights of in total
twenty-one minutes during the entire meeting.
From a financial point of view the meeting was a
disaster, leaving piles of unpaid bills. The organizers
had of course been unlucky with the bad weather that
reduced the attendance, which was far from the optimistic
forecasts, but they had also spent far too much money,
particularly on expensive contracts with foreign pilots.
To make things worse, they also got a couple of nasty
surprises. During the last days of the meeting it was
found out that an employee who was tasked with numbering
of the tickets that were received from a printing company
had kept tickets for himself and sold them, with the help
of several accomplices, at a lower price. He had received
tickets worth 1,200,000 Kronen, but only delivered
tickets for 1,100,000.
The transport arrangements for the participants also
turned into an expensive mess. The organizers had made a
fixed-price agreement with a transport company for
bringing the airplanes to the meeting and back. During
the meeting the company made additional demands, which
the organizers refused. As a consequence Paulhan's
machine, one of the first to leave, was delivered
together with a "cash-on-delivery" charge of
10,500 francs. The transport company also pocketed a
customs deposit of 33,500 Kronen that the Aero Club had
made. The organizers had no choice but to seize eleven
planes from the company and arrange their transport
themselves. This of course led to further expenses, and
to delays that made some flyers miss following
appointments.
In October it was reported that it had cost 976,557
Kronen to organize the meeting, which was around three
times as much as the 1909 Reims meeting, while the income
was only 431,691. The municipality of Budapest had
guaranteed 250,000 Kronen, but they would have to pay a
lot more...
(In Hungary, names are usually given with the family
name before the given name. To avoid confusion, all names
are presented with the family name last.)
Back to the top of the
page