Circuito Aereo Internazionale di Brescia
Brescia, Italy, September 8th - 20th 1909

The Brescia/Montichiari airfield

The 1909 Brescia meeting were held southeast of Brescia on the "Brughiera", the wide, absolutely flat and obstacle-free plain between Brescia and the neighbouring town of Montichiari. A ten-kilometre four-pylon course was laid out. The course had two 4 km straights, a 1,5 km straight at the far end and a short 0,5 km straight at the end nearest the grandstands and hangars. The layout of the installations was similar to those in Reims, with grandstands facing the course and a signal mast for keeping the spectators aware of what was going on. Twelve hangars were built, one for each entered airplane.

The site of the airfield is now partly covered by the Brescia Gabriele D'Annunzio airport.


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A sketch showing the general layout of the race course and its installations. North is at 3 o'clock. (1)
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A detail map of the hangars, tribunes and other installations. North is at nine o'clock. (2)
Click here for a high-resolution version!
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An artist's view of the installations. The big airship hangar was never built, since "Zodiac III" wasn't based at the airfield. It was replaced by an airplane hangar. (2)
A view to the north along the grandstands. The three hangars were used by the Blériot team, the main line of hangars is hidden to the left. The starting field is to the right. (3)
A view to the north along the grandstands. The three hangars were used by the Blériot team, the main line of hangars is hidden to the left. The starting field is to the right. (4)
The main line of hangars, reportedly painted pink. (4)
The signal mast and the timers' pavilion. Above Rougier during his altitude record flight. (3)

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