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Title: 2nd Great Aviation Week of
Champagne |
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Description: 2nd Great Aviation Week of Champagne. Total prizes: 250,000 francs. July 3-10, 1910. The French elimination trials for the Gordon-Bennett Trophy. One of the high points of every flying season from 1909 to 1914 was the "Great Aviation Week of Champagne" held in Reims, France. The original 1909 event was the first significant aviation meet to be held anywhere in the world and was a great success, thrilling spectators and setting many new world’s records. This poster announces the second annual meet of July 1910, a bittersweet mixture of triumph and tragedy. On opening day Charles Wachter was killed when he crashed from a height of 500 feet, reportedly because of a broken bolt. Baroness Raymonde de Laroche, the first certified woman pilot and sole female contestant, also crashed and was seriously injured when another plane cut in front of her. The world’s records for distance and duration were broken three times here, first by Belgian pilot Jan Olieslagers who stayed in the air for 3 hours and 39 minutes, covering 225 km. Another pilot stole the records a few days later with a 4 hour, 37 minute flight of 340 km. But just as the meet ended, Olieslagers won the titles back, remaining aloft for 5 hours and registering 392 kilometers on his odometer. Hubert Latham, star pilot for the Antoinette Company, also set a world’s record by climbing to an official altitude of 4,485 feet, beating the previous record by 400 feet. |
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