Caen, France, July 27th - August 2nd, 1910
A weather-troubled meeting on the north coast
Caen is the capital of the French department Calvados
in Normandie, located where the little river Odon joins
the Orne. It was a town already in Roman times and has a
famous castle, built by William the Conqueror, who was
buried in the town. The town is situated fifteen
kilometres from the coast, but it's still accessible
for ships of up to 5.7 metres of draught. In 1910 it had
around 50,000 inhabitants and apart from the harbour
mainly lived from fishery and textile industry.
When the sanctions for the 1910 aviation meetings were
granted by the French Aéro-Club, Caen was one of the
lucky towns that got a meeting. A committee headed by E.
Lanier was created and immediately started preparations
for the event, which was supported by the sports daily
"L'Auto". It would be held at the exercise
grounds at Cormelles some three kilometres southeast of
the city centre, normally used by the 36e Régiment
d'Infanterie. The organizers offered 200 free tickets
to the soldiers of the garrison of Caen, who undertook
the "service d'ordre". They also offered
half-price tickets for the wives of the officers. Road
traffic was organized and gravel roads were tarred.
Sixteen Bessonneau hangars were erected and grandstands
were constructed by the Cambronne company. Several bars
and restaurants were built and telephone lines installed.
The organizers had decided against using the usual big
mast with complicated signals to inform the ongoing
events, and would instead use flags of different colours
to inform about the different events. The hotels of the
town had agreed to keep their normal prices, while the
coach services certainly did not, leading to complaints
of the high prices charged - 10 francs for the short trip
between the town and the airfield!
With a prize fund of some 50,000 francs it was not one of
the richest meetings, but it still attracted a competent
field of eleven civilian pilots, among them some of the
most famous. The biggest name was Blériot pilot Léon
Morane, who had had been very successful at the meetings
of Rouen, Reims and Bournemouth. Other prominent names
were René Labouchère, who had flown more than 1,150
kilometres in his Antoinette at the Reims meeting, and
16-year old Marcel Hanriot, who piloted the monoplanes
built by his father's company. They were accompanied
by Émile Aubrun, Robert Martinet, André Crochon, Marcel
Paillette and Jean Daillens, who had all competed at the
Reims meeting. Daillens knew the exercise grounds of
Cormelles well, having served in the 36th regiment as a
"soldat de deuxième classe" (private). The
field was completed by three less experienced flyers:
Capitaine Médéric Burgeat (who competed under the
civilian pseudonym "de Chauveau"), Eugène
Renaux and Victor Rigal. Renaux would the first to fly a
Maurice Farman biplane at a meeting.
Military flyers had performed at a couple of previous
meetings, but this was the first time when more than one
or two would participate: Lieutenants Félix Camerman,
Paul Acquaviva and Joseph Maillols and Sous-Lieutenant
Jules Gronier. They were not allowed to compete against
civilians or for cash prizes, but they would compete with
each other for several trophies. The army would also be
represented by the man-carrying kite trains flown by
Capitaine Louis Madiot and Lieutenant Paul Basset.
Labouchère had planned to avoid the cost of transporting
his machine by road or railway by flying from Mourmelon
to Caen on the Saturday before the meeting, taking off at
three o'clock in the morning. The Saturday passed,
and the Sunday and the Monday, but nothing was heard of
him.
On the 26th, the day before the start of the meeting, the
prefect visited the hangars and had a meeting with the
organizers, and the organizers had a meeting with the
pilots. Almost everything was ready for the start of the
meeting when a violent windstorm hit the airfield. It
damaged 300 metres of fences, a couple of tents and a
couple of pylons, but they were quickly repaired.
On the evening of the 26th, Marcel Hanriot made the first
flight. In front of around a thousand visitors he flew
two laps of the course, reaching an altitude of 80
metres. The president of the meeting emptied a glass of
Champagne to celebrate the first flight in Caen. Soon
afterwards Daillens and Renaux also made test flights.
Wednesday 27 July
Action at the airfield started already at seven
o'clock in the morning, when Crochon made test
flight. Thousands of people visited the airfield already
during the morning to get a sight of the machines. At
half past eleven the organizers met the pilots during a
private luncheon. Somebody had amused himself by giving
the courses aviation names, like Lobster Maillolaise,
Veau Aviation, Entrecôtes Martinet, Haricots de Cormelles
and Glaces Hanriot. The "Entrecôtes Martinet"
played on the two "côtes" (ribs) that he broke
when he crashed at the Reims meeting three weeks earlier.
The weather was perfect when the meeting officially
started at two o'clock. Hanriot took off immediately
after the opening cannon shot. At the same time the
organizers received a message from the Antoinette
company, which informed them that Labouchère had injured
a leg during a crash landing at their airfield in
Mourmelon. He would need to rest for several weeks and
could not participate. At 14:20 Daillens made a short
test flight. Hanriot was still flying and stayed in the
air for around 45 minutes. Daillens made another flight
and landed close to the road that crossed the airfield.
The military flyers were preparing their machines and
Lieutenant Camerman took off at 15:10. He landed after a
superb flight of 45 minutes. Hanriot took off again at
15:55, followed by Crochon, who landed almost
immediately. Martinet took off at 16:25, followed 15
minutes later by Burgeat. The big crowds enjoyed the
spectacle of two monoplanes and one biplane in the air at
the same time. Hanriot's second flight lasted 50
minutes and he glided down to a perfect landing. At five
o'clock Crochon took off again, climbing to 200
minutes and going for the altitude prize.
Paillette took off at 17:10, starting a long flight,
during which he left the airfield towards the southwest,
then turned north to fly over the centre of Caen before
returning from the northeast after fifteen minutes. After
returning to the airfield he continued flying, for a
while accompanied in the air by five other machines,
those of Daillens, Martinet, Burgeat, Hanriot and Renaux.
He landed after an hour and a half, having reached an
altitude of 297 metres, the highest flight of the day.
After landing, relaxed and none the worse for wear, he
lit a cigarette and congratulated the mayor, M. Perrotte,
on having such a beautiful town to administrate. He said
that he had been surprised by the large number of
cemeteries that he had seen during the flight, and
declared that he didn't intend to land in one yet.
Between six and seven o'clock all the pilots made
flights except Rigal, whose new Sommer had been damaged
during the transport to the airfield, and Blériot flyers
Morane and Aubrun, whose machines were not ready. The
daily longest total flight time prize was won by Hanriot,
whose four flights totalled 2 h 55:55.0, which beat
second-placed Paillette by fifty minutes.
After the end of the official flights Morane made a test
flight in Aubrun's Blériot. It had a new Gnôme
engine, replacing his previous Clément-Bayard unit, and
was troubled by overheating engine. After a couple of
brief tests by Rigal the airfield went quiet. During the
evening the machines of the military pilots Gronier and
Maillols arrived, having been transported by road from
Paris. The Wright of Maillols had also been damaged
during the trip and would require some repairs.
Thursday 28 July
The second day of the meeting was sunny, but very windy.
A two o'clock, when the meeting officially started,
the wind speed was 10.5 m/s. The only ones who were
pleased with that was Capitaine Madiot and Lieutenant
Basset, who made a couple of flights in the army kites.
The first flyer to show any interest in flying was
Crochon. He rolled out his machine from the hangar at
four o'clock, but he changed his mind and withdrew.
Then Hanriot, Camerman and Paillette each made short
flights, but nobody stayed in the air for more than a
couple of minutes.
At 17:20 Morane finally took off, despite the strong
wind. He impressed the onlookers by leaving the airfield
to fly a circle, high above the villages east of the
airfield, before gliding down to perfect landing. He made
a second flight at 18:40, climbing to 500 metres and
gliding back towards the airfield against the wind.
Hanriot took off at 18:47 but got in trouble with the
wind and landed almost immediately.
It had been intended to contest the cross-country race
and the biplane speed prize during the day, but after
Hanriot's last effort the remaining events of the day
were postponed. The crowds left, many of them for the
Place de la République, which was decorated and
illuminated for a concert with the orchestra of the 36th
Regiment.
Morane's two flights totalled 10:09.6, the highest
total of the day, but the result didn't count for the
daily total flying time prize, since he hadn't flown
before five o'clock as required by the regulations.
That prize went to Hanriot, whose total was 9:17.2.
Friday 29 July
The committee had given the participants of the bicycle
Tour de France, which would finish two days later with
the last stage from Caen to Paris, free entrance to the
airfield. The start of the day was still windy. The first
flight was again made by Hanriot, who took off at 15:25.
He was followed fifteen minutes later by Burgeat, who hit
a wheat sheaf when he drifted out of the mown strip
during the take-off. The machine was brutally stopped and
slightly damaged, but the pilot was not injured and the
machine was towed back to the hangars by an automobile.
Hanriot landed after 21 minutes. Crochon took off and
made a flight of seven and a half minutes, but then the
wind increased again and there was no flying for an hour.
The popular Morane was loudly cheered and applauded when
he took off at 16:55. He flew two laps and then started
to climb, higher and higher. In less than four minutes he
reached 908 metres, three times higher than anybody else
had flown during the meeting. While he was flying Hanriot
took off, followed by Gronier, who made two passenger
flights. Between five o'clock and seven o'clock
almost all the remaining pilots were in action. Hanriot
and Crochon circled the airfield, the former adding to
his lead in the total time contest and climbing to 284
metres. Paillette, Martinet and Renaux all left the
airfield and flew around the different villages and
suburbs, later followed by Crochon. Daillens took off but
had to land due to a broken fuel pipe.
At six o'clock the postponed first efforts for the
cross-country race were made. The race was held over a
course of around 21 kilometres, from the start/finish
line of the airfield to Bellengreville around nine
kilometres to the southeast, where the turning point was
the tower of the Église Nôtre Dame. The flyers then
returned to the start/finish line via the last three
pylons of the airfield course. The planes were released
at five-minute intervals, beginning at six o'clock.
Three of the pilots decided to try. The first to take off
was Morane, followed by Hanriot and then Renaux. They
landed in the same order, with Morane taking a clear
lead. His time of 13:56.0 was more than four minutes
better than Hanriot's, while Renaux's flight took
almost 24 minutes, because he lost his way. The intention
was that the pilots would have two more days to contest
the event, but both were eventually cancelled because of
bad weather so this turned out to be the final results.
Towards half past six Lieutenant Paul Acquaviva tried to
take off in his two-seat Blériot, but the engine stopped
after only a couple of seconds. Someone explained that
this was only what could be expected with the number 13
machine on a Friday… Immediately before the end of the
official flights Aubrun proved superstition wrong by
making a successful fast flight in Acquaviva's
machine, with the lieutenant as passenger. Aubrun's
own machine was still not ready. Daillens made a flight
with a lady passenger, the wife of an officer of the 36th
regiment. Hanriot had again spent most time in the air, 1
h 30:01.4, nine minutes more than Martinet. Hanriot's
lead the total time contest was now more than an hour,
with Martinet second.
Saturday 30 July
Already at five o'clock in the morning Maillols made
a test flight with his French-built Wright. The necessary
spare parts had finally arrived, so the transport damages
could be repaired.
Hanriot was, as usual, first to take off when official
flights started, immediately after two o'clock. He
was followed a quarter later by Crochon and by Renaux,
who landed after two laps. During the following hour
Martinet, Paillette, Daillens, Morane and Camerman also
took off, as did Renaux for a second flight. At 15:45
Crochon crashed. He had been forced low by another
machine flying above him and hit a haystack. He was
thrown off his seat and dislocated a shoulder when he hit
the ground. He was driven back to the hangars by an
ambulance and the injury was set right by the airfield
doctors within forty minutes. They claimed it was a
difficult operation since Crochon was so muscular,
"a real Hercules". Later in the afternoon he
was walking around in the hangar area again.
It had been intended to run the second efforts for the
cross-country contest, but it was cancelled because the
first efforts had been postponed. This meant that the
day's main event was the speed contest for the
military pilots. This was won by Camerman, who flew the
six laps in 13:06.4, beating Gronier and Acquaviva.
Maillols' Wright was still not in full trim after the
transport damages and couldn't participate.
Apart from Crochon's crash, there were no incidents
during the day and the pilots just kept flying. The busy
timers counted 350 laps around the course and timed
almost ten hours of official flights. Paillette was the
most active pilot, clocking a total of 3 h 13:56.4 and
beating Hanriot by eleven minutes. Hanriot now lead the
total endurance contest by almost two hours.
After the end of official flying, which had been
postponed to half past seven on request from the press
and the pilots, Camerman took Octave Lapize, the leader
and eventual winner of the bicycle Tour de France and two
of his competitors for flights, and then the reporter M.
Le Grand from the sports daily "L'Auto".
All in all, the military fliers made more than ten
passenger flights, gaining the fledgling flying service a
lot of goodwill. Daillens tried to give the meeting's
press commissioner a ride, but he had to give up after a
500-metre take-off roll. The extra weight of the
106-kilogram passenger proved too much for the machine!
Sunday 31 July
A fine rain fell during the morning, but when official
flights started at two o'clock the sun was shining.
By now the meeting had reached the point where the local
press could no longer be bothered with recording single
flights unless a record was beaten or there was some
exciting incident. Instead, they wrote long rants about
the incompetent, autocratic and bureaucratic officials
who jealously guarded the gates to the hangar area…
The day's main event was the qualifications for the
speed contest. This was separated in two events, one for
monoplanes and one for the slower biplanes. In the
monoplane event Morane, as expected, qualified first, in
front of Aubrun, who had finally got his machine in
working order after the engine change. Morane's time
over the three laps was 4:27.2, almost two minutes better
than Renaux, who won the biplane qualifications with a
time of 6:09.4, beating Martinet.
Burgeat crashed Maillols' Wright during a test
flight, so the troublesome machine was now definitely out
of action, but the pilot was not injured. Hanriot again
topped the list of total flight times, having been in the
air 2 h 19:49.6. This was only eight minutes better than
the sensation of the day, Burgeat, whose Antoinette was
obviously well prepared and maintained.
Monday 1 August
The big news of the day was the visit of M. Sarraut, the
"sous-secretaire d'État à la Guerre". He
was received by an orchestra playing the Marseillaise and
was taken on a tour of the hangars, where he had
champagne and sandwiches in one and ice-cream in another.
The weather was miserable, with rain and wind. When it
calmed down a little, Morane took off, so that the
visitors could see at least some flying. He was followed
by Camerman and Gronier, but the wind was dangerously
strong and they all landed almost immediately. As usual
when the wind was too strong for airplanes, only kite
flyers Madiot and Basset were happy.
Towards seven o'clock, when the wind had calmed down
somewhat, Camerman and Gronier contested the
officers' prize for endurance. Camerman took the win
with a flight of 22:40.2, beating Gronier by two and a
half minutes. Conditions were still difficult, and the
worried spectators were relieved when they landed. Nobody
else made any officially timed flights during the day.
It was announced that aviation benefactor Henri Deutsch
de la Meurthe had donated a trophy for a cross-country
contest for the officers. It was to be held on the day
after, over a 35-kilometre course with the church towers
of Cintheaux and Bellengreville as turning points.
Tuesday 2 August
The morning of the last day started rainy and with few
visitors, but the weather improved towards five
o'clock. There were still several prizes to compete
for. Morane secured the win in the altitude contest by
"taking the elevator of the Grand Hôtel" and
reaching an official altitude of 1.250 metres, though
many observers stated that the actual altitude was much
higher.
The final of the speed contest ended in the same order as
the qualifications, with Morane beating Aubrun in front
of the two slower biplanes of Renaux and Martinet.
Morane's time was 4:33.4 and Aubrun took 19 seconds
longer.
The three officers contested the "Prix Henri Deutsch
de la Meurthe". Acquaviva took yet another win for
Blériot. His time was 30:23.6, beating Camerman's
32:39.8, with Gronier another almost five minutes behind.
Rigal had finally got his damaged machine in working
order and clocked almost twelve minutes. Martinet was the
day's busiest pilot. He spent 1 h 02:03.2 in the air,
which was enough to move him into second place in the
total endurance contest, ahead of Paillette. He was still
beaten by a large margin by Hanriot, who had a lead of
around four hours since the day before and didn't
have to fly during the last day. Hanriot's total time
during the meeting was almost ten hours, without even the
smallest incident - an amazing performance by someone who
had celebrated his sixteenth birthday less than two
months before the meeting! Martinet's performance was
also impressive, considering that he was still recovering
after breaking two ribs in his crash at Reims only three
weeks before. After the end of the official flights there
were around ten passenger flights. Camerman was again the
most active pilot, but Gronier and Daillens also made
flights.
Conclusion
From a sporting point of view the meeting was satisfying,
but hardly spectacular. No records had been beaten, but
on the other hand, in contrast to the recent meetings of
Reims, Bournemouth and Stockel, the meeting had been
safe. There had been only one major accident, resulting
in only minor injuries.
Just as with many of the meetings of 1910, the financial
results were disappointing. The cost of organizing the
meeting had been high and the gate receipts, totalling
123,000 francs, had been lower than expected, probably
because of the difficult weather. The local businesses
complained that there were few out-of-town visitors. The
visitors from the local area had just gone to the
airfield in the afternoons and back home again
afterwards, instead of staying in town and spending their
money there. The local press was of the opinion that the
town had been overambitious, and that the organization of
such big events should be left to bigger and richer
towns.
Back to the top of the page