Aviation comes to the Grand Duchy
The title page of the program of the meeting.
Charles Bettendorf's ex-Léon Delagrange Voisin with Jacques
Wiesenbach at the controls, probably during a test flight before
the meeting. Note the lack of vertical "curtains" between
the wings. (1)
This was all that was seen of the Bettendorf machine during the
meeting. The inexperienced Wiesenbach didn't want to risk his
employer's machine in the difficult weather conditions and
therefore refused to fly. (2)
Joseph Christiaens' Farman. This was a brand new machine, he
had sold his old one after the St Petersburg meeting less than
three weeks before. (2)
A view towards the northeast, out of the park, with Christiaens
coming in to land. The pole is presumably one of the flag poles
used as rounding-points. (1)
Alexander de Petrovsky's crew rolling his Sommer back towards
the hangar area. In the background is the Convent of Saint
Elisabeth, on the east side of the park. The building still exists,
but has been enlarged. (1)
Élie Mollien outside his hangar, in neat white overalls. (2)
The young princesses in the grandstand during their visit on June
7th. (3)
The princesses touring the hangars. (4)
Mollien ready for a take-off. (2)
René Barrier's Blériot in front of the hangars. We have not
seen any other photo that shows a machine with a race number. (1)
Christiaens about to touch down. (2)
Charles Bettendorf (1863-1929), the industrialist and mecenate who
made the meeting possible. A better photo would be welcome. (5)
This drawing of a Voisin was used on the front page of the program
of the meeting.
Mondorf-les-Bains (in German Bad Mondorf, in Luxembourgish
Munneref) is a small town in the south-east part of the Grand
Duchy of Luxembourg. It is situated right on the border against the
part of Lorraine that between 1871 and 1918 belonged to the German
Empire. In 1910 the town had around 1,000 inhabitants. As indicated by
its name, Mondorf is a spa town - the main business was, and is, the
thermal springs that were opened in the 1840s. Then as now, thousands
of people each year visit the town to enjoy the richly mineralized
water, which is said to particularly suitable for the treatment of
liver, gastric and respiratory ailments.
Charles Bettendorf was a rich industrialist from Mondorf, with
interests in iron works and mining, and also in the town's mineral
waters. He was one of a group of Luxembourg aviation enthusiasts who
visited the famous 1909 "Grande Semaine d'Aviation" of
Reims. On the train home they decided to start the Aero Club of
Luxembourg. In November 1909 Bettendorf bought a Voisin biplane from
aviation pioneer Léon Delagrange. In the spring of 1910 he displayed
the Voisin at Villa Louvigny in Luxembourg City. He then brought it to
Mondorf, rented some land for an airfield in front of his own park and
built a couple of hangars. For piloting duties he hired Jacques
Weisenbach, who worked at the French Wright licensees Ariel together
with his brother Vincent, who participated at the Cannes meeting in the
spring of 1910.
Bettendorf managed to convince the government of Luxembourg to support
the organisation of an aviation meeting by sponsoring 10,000 francs of
prize money. Thanks to 5,000 francs of Bettendorf's own money and
contributions from other local sponsors a total prize fund of 21,500
francs was raised. The meeting was initially planned for the middle of
May, but after some reconsiderations it was finally to be held on June
5th-12th. With the help of the French sports magazine
"L'Auto" Bettendorf contracted five interested pilots,
resulting in this list of participants:
- René Barrier (France, Blériot)
- Baron Pierre de Caters, (Belgium, Voisin)
- Joseph Christiaens (Belgium, Farman)
- Élie Mollien (France, Blériot)
- Alexander de Petrovsky (Russia/Belgium, Sommer)
- Jacques Wiesenbach (Luxembourg, Voisin)
De Caters, Christiaens and Barrier had all participated in earlier
meetings, but the others were relative newcomers and Wiesenbach had
practically no flying experience at all.
The first flights were made the day before the official start of the
meeting. At five o'clock de Petrovsky made a three-kilometre
flight, but an approaching thunderstorm forced him to land. One of the
landing skids of his Sommer was slightly damaged during the landing.
Later in the evening Mollien also flew around the airfield.
Sunday 5 June
The weather on the opening day was very hot and the crowds travelling
to the airfield were so big that the railways had difficulty
maintaining organized traffic. Already before the start of proceedings
growing clouds indicated that thunderstorms were likely during the
afternoon. When the official flights started Barrier was fist to try,
but without much success. Seconds after lift-off the machine landed
again, "like a weak young bird that left its nest too soon, lost
its strength and now lies panting, in need of help, in the
street", according to the reporter from
"Obermosel-Zeitung". Barrier turned the machine around and
rolled back for a new effort. This went slightly better, but it was
still only a straight flight and ended in a clover field. The grass was
only mowed inside the park where the hangars and grandstands were
located, in the farmland in the northwest end of the field the crops
were still standing. Mollien also made an effort, with the same result.
The Blériot crews blamed their bad performances on the Anzani engines,
which they claimed did not deliver full power in the heat.
At 15:15 Christiaens rolled out his Farman, a brand new machine, and
flew one lap during a three-minute flight. He was followed by de
Caters, who landed in a field after only 300 metres. He had his machine
pulled to a hill nearby, pointed it towards the hangar area and to
everybody's surprise managed to take off again. Unfortunately he
didn't land immediately, but flew behind the grandstands where he
was caught by a gust and driven down into a potato field on the
Lorraine side of the border. The machine stood on its nose and de
Caters was thrown out and slid and tumbled some ten metres along the
ground. He got away with some bruises, but the front fuselage and the
landing gear of his Voisin were rather badly damaged. It was retrieved
with the aid of two horses and returned to his hangar around seven
o'clock in the evening. De Caters stated that it should be possible
to repair the machine in two days.
At 16:20 Christiaens made a second flight, this time a longer one of
almost seven minutes. Like de Caters he passed behind the grandstand,
over the border into Lorraine, and then via a wide circle to the south
and east before making an elegant landing in front of the grandstand,
where he was greeted by applause and ovations. At 16:45 a violent
thunderstorm arrived, and it lasted for one and a half hour. The crowds
waited patiently in the grandstands, restaurants and bars, and were
relieved by the cooling effect of the rain.
At 18:25, when the rain had stopped, Mollien made a good flight around
the airfield. He was followed by Barrier, whose engine also ran better
in the cooler weather, but that didn't help much, since he ended up
in a field again. Then de Petrovsky, who had worked on his machine
after the slight mishap the day before, rolled out his machine. It was
also a brand new machine, "its fuel tank gleaming like a polished
musical instrument". He made a good flight, but a bad landing. The
machine swerved towards the fence in front of the grandstand, but
stopped at the last moment, only metres away from an accident. The
first day had not offered any great performances, but the large crowd
had at least got to see some flying
Monday 6 June
The morning was calm, but towards lunchtime the winds increased to more
than 10 m/s, making flights impossible until around half past four. As
usual, the first event was the single-lap speed contest. Christiaens
was first to start and won the event before de Petrovsky. The only
other starter was Mollien, who was forced to land after 300 metres.
Barrier was busy replacing a cylinder on his recalcitrant Anzani engine
and the almost completely inexperienced Wiesenbach was reluctant to fly
and risk damaging the machine of his employer. He did in fact not make
any flights at all during the entire meeting.
The Monday was the day scheduled for the "Prix de la Commune de
Mondorf-les-Bains" (Preis der Gemeinde Mondorf), a speed event
over 12 kilometres, eight laps of a 1.5-kilometre course. Again
Christiaens was first to try, flying seven laps in sixteen and a half
minutes before being forced down by increasing winds. He managed to
land immediately in front of his hangar, where his mechanics had
difficulties holding the machine down in the gusts.
When the winds had calmed down de Petrovsky made a ten-minute flight,
but he had to land because he had run out of oil. At the end of the day
it was decided that the flights on each day should be extended until
eight o'clock in the evening. It was also announced that red, white
and black flags indicating the flight status should be flown at Hotel
Staar in the centre of Luxembourg City, the capital of the Grand-Duchy,
a train ride of some 20 km away from Mondorf.
Tuesday 7 June
The afternoon started with yet another thunderstorm, with lightning,
high winds and pouring rain. The downpour flooded part of the railway
between Luxembourg City and Mondorf, slowing down the arrival of
visitors considerably. Parts of the airfield were also flooded, forcing
the organizers to lay planks on the ground in order to enable people to
get to the grandstands. Around a quarter to five the weather suddenly
turned better, coinciding with the arrival of the Grand-Duchess and
five of the six young princesses, Marie-Adélaïde (15), Charlotte (14),
Hilda (13) Antonia (10) and Sophie (8) to the airfield. They went on a
visit to the hangars, "the princely children, the darlings of the
people, their cheerful, innocent-looking beings contrasting strangely
against the machines, in whose inwards blind, uncanny powers rage, and
to whose heels death often enough clings" according to the
"Obermosel-Zeitung".
The first to fly was de Petrovsky, who finally managed to get his
wheels off the ground after a long take-off run in the muddy puddles,
water thrown high in the slipstream. He made a flight of ten minutes,
first completing his lap for the daily speed contest, the continuing
with a long meandering flight around the countryside outside the
airfield. After landing he was brought to Charles Bettendorf's box,
where he was presented to the princesses and was given a portrait of
the crown-princess while the orchestra played the Russian national
hymn. Then followed further flights, almost without pause: Three by
Christiaens, the longest for 23 minutes, and two each by de Petrovsky,
Barrier and Mollien. All the flyers were presented to the princesses
and had their national hymns played.
The "Prix de la Commune de Mondorf-les-Bains", which was
postponed the day before, was won by Christiaens, who also won the
"Prix des Chemins de Fers Secondaires" for the highest
altitude reached during a flight of at least 20 minutes. At the end of
the day Christiaens had reached a total flying time of 63 minutes,
giving him a handsome lead of 36 minutes over de Petrovsky in the total
time prize.
Wednesday 8 June
The fourth day of the meeting again started windy, but at four
o'clock it had calmed down enough for flying. Barrier was first,
making a flight of six minutes before his engine started missing and he
had to give up. Mollien made two flights, totalling twelve and a half
minutes. De Petrovsky then beat Christiaens best time for the single
lap by posting a time of 2:36.8. De Caters had received a new propeller
for his Voisin and performed some engine tests, but that was his last
appearance. His repairs perhaps didn't go as well as expected,
becuse he would not make any further flights during the meeting. After
these flights the winds increased and there was a long break.
Around six o'clock Christiaens made an effort for the "tour de
piste", improving his best time, but not beating de
Petrovsky's. Then de Petrovsky made a superb 22-minute flight for
the total flying time prize. While he was in the air Christiaens
improved the best time for the single lap to 2:28.6. He then took off
on a flight of 16 minutes, but after a protest by de Petrovsky these
two flights weren't counted, since the rules didn't allow two
competing planes in the air at the same time.
Thursday 9 June
Fine sunny weather finally arrived, so flying continued almost
uninterrupted between four o'clock in the afternoon and quarter to
nine in the evening. Mollien made two single-lap flights, improving his
best time to 2:53.4. Barrier's machine still didn't run well
and he tried in vain to complete a lap. In contrast the Gnôme engines
of Christiaens and de Petrovsky performed faultlessly, enabling them to
fly more during this one day than was flown in total by all fliers
during the four previous days. Christiaens made three flights, the
longest lasting 59 minutes 28 seconds. De Petrovsky made two long
flights, the longest lasting 57 minutes 30 seconds, once "shooting
up" the grandstand at lowest altitude, making the poles and fabric
of the awnings shudder. Christiaens once again won the single-lap prize
with a best of 2:30.6. De Petrovsky had by now reached 2 h 46:13 in the
total flight time contest. He had caught and passed Christiaens, who
was now nine minutes behind.
Friday 10 June
The windy weather was back on the sixth day of the meeting. At four
o'clock Christiaens took his Farman out in order to "feel the
pulse of the air", but returned immediately and retreated to the
hangar. An hour later Mollien tried, but he was forced down after one
kilometre, breaking an elevator. Then de Petrovsky tried, but he hit
some turbulence and damaged his propeller during the heavy landing.
During the afternoon the meeting was visited by the members of the
Luxembourg government, 40 members of parliament and some other
government officers, accompanied by around 20 of their wives and
daughters. They arrived on a special train around half past three and
after visiting the spa and its park and delivering a couple of speeches
they toured the airfield. At around half past seven they finally got to
see some flying, when Christiaens first made a five-lap flight to
reclaim the lead in the total flight time contest and then lowered the
record for the fastest lap to 2:27.4. Barrier also took off, but landed
after half a lap. Then another thunderstorm broke out, and at quarter
past eight the train took the visitsing dignitaries back to Luxembourg
City, escaping the pouring rain.
Saturday 11 June
This was another windy day, and only two of the flyers tried to take
off from the waterlogged field. At 15:38 Christiaens made his run for
the daily fastest lap. Around half an hour later Barrier made a flight
of two and a half minutes. At 16:20 Christiaens made the day's last
flight, but landed after less than three minutes because of the winds.
The spectators were displeased and some protested loudly.
In the evening Charles Bettendorf invited the flyers and their wives,
the organizing committee and some reporters to a dinner at the
"Villa Beau-Sejour", where many glasses were raised and many
speeches were held.
Sunday 12 June
Large crowds, estimated to around 40,000 people, gathered for the last
day of the meeting, when two events, the take-off prize and the
altitude prize were to be contested. The railway had pressed cargo
waggons and even cattle wagons into service in order to bring visitors
into the little town. However, because of the constant high winds the
last day of the meeting was an almost complete washout. The orchestra
tried their best, but in the crowded grandstand people were screaming,
whistling and stamping their feet. The flyers remained in their hangars
the entire afternoon.
Many visitors had had to leave disappointed for the overcrowded trains
or the jammed roads after waiting for several hours, when de Petrovsky
finally made the day's first flight at 19:45, winning the altitude
prize by reaching the not very impressive height of 102 metres during a
one-lap flight. The only other "flights" were the short jumps
necessary for the take-off prize, which de Petrovsky also won with an
effort of 84.60 metres, beating Christiaens by four metres - again
hardly impressive results. Mollien's much better effort of 64.75
metres was disallowed, because he touched the ground again too soon.
The meeting ended on a very low note.
Conclusion
From organizational point of view the meeting was a success, and
Bettendorf's brave effort, sponsorship and hard work were praised
by everybody. The meeting attracted around 100,000 visitors from near
and far. It was reported in newspapers both in Luxembourg and abroad,
and certainly drew attention to the town. The organizers could hardly
be criticized for the weather that restricted the total official flying
time of the eight days of the meeting to less than six hours, but the
fiasco of the last couple of days was of course a bitter
disappointment.
The five pilots who participated - from left to right Joseph
Christiaens, Pierre de Caters, Alexander de Petrovsky, René Barrier
and Élie Mollien. (6)
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