Vichy, France, June 17th - 19th 1910 (?)
Was it a meeting or not?
This is a provisional page, based on the very
incomplete information that we have been able to find. If
you know more, please let us know so that we can make the
coverage more complete!
In July of 1909 the Aéro-Club de Vichy, together with the
French Wright producers Ariel, organized one of the first
aviation meetings - the second multi-day meeting ever.
Despite the high winds that demolished hangars and
grandstands and caused an early end of proceedings it was
obviously considered successful enough to organize
another one. A national meeting at Vichy on June 5th -
12th, with an announced prize fund of 30,000 francs, was
sanctioned by the French Aéro-Club during the winter of
1910, and still appeared in lists of events that were
published in the aviation press as late as in May
1910.
The French aviation press, particularly
"L'Aérophile" and "L'Auto",
usually recorded almost every flight made in France. Only
one flight was recorded at Vichy on any of the announced
dates: André Taurin in a Blériot made a
"beautiful" flight on June 6th, but was caught
by a gust and somersaulted after landing.
In view of the lack of reports it must be concluded that
the originally scheduled meeting was cancelled. The Vichy
airfield was operated in partnership with Ariel, who were
in difficulties at the time, occupied with lawsuits and
finding it difficult to sell its old-fashioned machines.
Furthermore, the meeting clashed with four bigger
meetings in France and abroad, and it was perhaps
difficult to find qualified entrants.
There are, however, a couple of newspaper reports and
several postcards that indicate that a small meeting was
held one week after the end of the originally scheduled,
organized by "a committee of sportsmen"
consisting of MM. Noguier, Blanchonnet and Lacost of the
Aéro-Club of Vichy. It appears that four machines
participated; the Wright of Louis Gaubert, the Blériots
of André Taurin and Louis Kuhling and M. Pacchiotti with
his untested "PACC 1", an unusual tractor
monoplane with front elevator.
Friday 17 June
At a quarter to six, Taurin took off and made a flight of
two minutes, at an altitude of twenty metres. A quarter
later Gaubert also made a flight of two minutes in his
Wright, leaving the airfield and twice crossing the
Allier.
Saturday 18 June
Gaubert made a flight of seven minutes, flying on both
sides of the Allier and climbing to an altitude of 40
metres. Kuhling, who like Gaubert had Vichy as his home
airfield, made the required three flights to qualify for
his "brevet". Kuhling was no beginner, having
participated in his Blériot in meetings at Seville and
Palermo, and the flights were made with ease, in only
half an hour.
Sunday 19 June
In front of an "enormous crowd, coming from all
parts of the region", Gaubert took the prizes for
altitude, endurance, distance and speed. He flew 50
kilometres in 44:40, reaching an altitude of more than 60
metres. Kuhling also made impressing flights. At twenty
minutes past seven Gaubert made another flight, of three
minutes, reaching 30 metres. Taurin made a short flight
in a straight line.
Kuhling and Gaubert stayed after the end of the meeting
and made several flights during the following days. On 20
June Kuhling again crossed the Allier and flew over the
town of Vichy, reaching a height of 150 metres. On 23
June he made another flight of several minutes, leaving
the airfield and landing after a beautiful "vol
plané". Gaubert made a flight at a height of fifty
metres over Bellerive, on the other side of the Allier,
before landing in front of his hangar.
