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Title: Great Paris Fortnight |
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Description: Great Fortnight of Paris at PORT AVIATION. October 3-17, 1909. Great prizes given by: The Paris Municipal Council; The Seine General Council; The Society to Encourage Aviation Officers’ Prizes. The "Great Paris Fortnight" at Port Aviation in Juvisy, near Paris, was the first opportunity Parisians had to see not only one airplane in flight, but several machines in the air at once. Unfortunately, the organizers were unprepared and the meeting was postponed for 4 days. On opening day, October 7, 1909, the aerodrome was still not ready and neither were most of the aviators. Many of the experienced pilots did not attend the Juvisy meet until the middle of the first week, and most of the contestants were novices. The first pilot raced his plane along the ground in front of the stands and stopped, never getting into the air. The second man met the same fate. Finally, near 4 p.m., a pilot in a Voisin biplane made a short, sputtering flight which overjoyed the crowd that had been waiting all day to see something happen. This got the meeting going, and shortly, Count Charles de Lambert raced out on his Wright biplane. Two others followed and the crowd cheered the three planes wildly. |
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