Nantes, France, August 14th - 21st, 1910
Léon Morane shines in windy Bretagne
Nantes is the administrative centre of the department
Loire-Atlantique ("Loire Inférieur" in 1910) in western
France, and historically the capital of Bretagne. It is
situated on the river Loire, around 50 kilometres
upstream from the Atlantic coast. The town was founded
already in Roman days and in 1910 it was the sixth
biggest town in France. It had a population of around
170,000, mainly living from industry, agricultural
products and shipping. It used to be one of the most
important harbours in France, but with the increased size
of ships it had lost much of the ocean traffic to
Saint-Nazaire, which is situated downstream the Loire, at
the coast.
Nantes was one the towns that were granted a sanction for
an aviation meeting when the French Aéro-Club decided the
1910 calendar. It was probably not one of the most
attractive dates, since the first days coincided with the
final days of the Circuit de l'Est, which was one of
the most important events of the season. The announced prize
sum of 60,000 francs was not one of the biggest, and
could not be expected to attract a large field of top
pilots.
An organizing committee was formed, presided by J.-B.
Etienne. Other members included industrialist Louis
Éluère, who was head of the contest committee, and M.
Doceul, editor of the newspaper "Petit Phare".
It was decided to hold the meeting on the Prairie de
Mauves, a strip of land on the north side of the Loire,
three kilometres east of the city centre, bordered on the
south side by the river and on the north side by the
Nantes-Paris railway. The meeting was supported by the
daily sports newspaper "L'Auto", which also
organized the registration of the entrants. When the
entries closed on August 7th, eleven pilots had entered:
- Léon Cheuret (H. Farman)
- René Thomas (Antoinette)
- Eugene Renaux (M. Farman)
- Albert Niel (Nieuport)
- Léon Morane (Blériot)
- André Crochon (H. Farman)
- Marcel Paillette (Sommer)
- Charles van den Born (H. Farman)
- Léon Bathiat (Hanriot)
- Robert Martinet (H. Farman)
- René Simon (Blériot)
After his solid performances at the Rouen, Reims,
Bournemouth and Caen meetings during the previous months,
Morane was the undisputed star of the field. Most of the
other pilots had participated in previous meetings, but
Niel and Simon had to be regarded as newcomers. Niel had
entered at the Reims meeting, but his machine wasn't
delivered in time, and Simon had only made some short
flights at the Barcelona meeting. Bathiat would make his
debut on the Hanriot monoplane, having only flown Breguet
biplanes before.
The program of the eight-day Sunday-to-Sunday meeting was
more or less conventional, with contests for speed,
longest non-stop flight, total flying time, altitude and
passenger flights, but there was also an unusual
"regularity prize". This was awarded to the
pilot who had flown ten kilometres non-stop on five
different days, with the smallest difference between the
fastest and the slowest flight. The biggest event was the
"Grand Prix du Commerce et de L'Industrie",
a cross-country race from the airfield to the town of
Blain and back, around 80 kilometres, which was to be
contested on the Thursday. The airfield was open for official flights between two and seven o'clock each day.
Most of the competitors had arrived by August 11th. Niel
had started practice flights in his little Nieuport,
impressing with his speed. Martinet had announced that he
would arrive late, since he was part of the crew of
Georges Legagneux, who was piloting one of Martinet's
planes in the Circuit de l'Est. Simon was also
missing, but he was expected to arrive before the start
of the meeting. Cheuret's machine had no engine - it
was reported that it had been forgotten to deliver it
before his equipment was loaded for transportation to the
meeting!
Already on the day before the start of the official
flights there were large crowds at the airfield, and all
the installations were ready. Around seven o'clock
Morane started his engine and made a short flight, but he
landed after two short laps since he had only a little
fuel on board. After filling the tank, he took off again
and made a ten-minute flight towards the city and back.
At eight o'clock Renaux, who had spent the afternoon
trouble-shooting his ignition system, made a short test
flight.
Sunday 14 August
Simon's plane had finally arrived and was being
prepared. The sky was clear, but it was windy and gusty
at two o'clock when the meeting opened. There was no
action in the hangar area until three o'clock in the
afternoon, and the spectators, estimated to around
50,000, were getting impatient. Morane brought out his
Blériot around half past three and flew two laps before
landing. After a short while he made a second flight.
Soon afterwards Thomas brought out his Antoinette, but he
was hit by a gust during the take-off and the plane
dropped back to the ground. A wing tip touched the ground
and the wing rigging was slightly damaged.
Around half past four the wind reduced somewhat. Morane
was again first in the air. He flew several laps around
the field and then climbed high and turned towards
Nantes. After reaching the centre of the town, he turned
back and landed after more than an hour in the air.
Crochon took off at 17:35, having been pressurized by the
organizers to make a flight in order to give the
impatient crowds something to look at. He flew very low
and appeared to have difficulty controlling his machine.
After reaching the end of the airfield he would have had
to make a tight turn back into the wind in order to get
back to the hangar area and at the same time avoid
crashing into a parked car and a large group of
spectators. He decided to land immediately instead, but
lost control and crashed from an altitude of around ten
metres. Crochon, who was unconscious and laying in the
middle of the wreckage, was quickly taken care of by
gendarmes and spectators who rushed to the accident site.
He was only lightly concussed and soon regained
consciousness, but he was carried by ambulance to the
airfield hospital, where it was verified that he
hadn't suffered any serious injuries.
The winds reduced further during the afternoon. Thomas,
Renaux and Van den Born took off again around six
o'clock. Van den Born soon landed again, complaining
that his plane was not correctly rigged. Niel made a
short test flight after spending most of the day trying
to fix some engine problems, but landed immediately after
lifting off. Morane took off again and immediately
climbed high. He easily overtook Thomas and Renaux, who
were circling the course at low altitude. Van den Born
made a new trial, but landed immediately again. Thomas
landed, having run out of fuel. After filling his tanks
he, Renaux and Morane kept circling the course until the
cannon announced the end of flights. When everybody had
left the airfield Bathiat made some straight-line tests
in his Hanriot. Morane's flight of 1 h 07:10.2 was
the day's longest.
Monday 15 August
The sun shone from a perfect blue sky all day, but it was
still very windy. At three o'clock Paillette rolled
out his Sommer and started the engine. He took off after
a short roll and flew some turns around the field before
landing. After Paillette's flight the patient crowd
had to wait until 16:45 before the next plane,
Renaux's Maurice Farman, was rolled out from the
hangars. Renaux obviously thought that it was still too
windy, and didn't even start the engine. At five
o'clock, Thomas towed his machine to the far end of
the field to have more space for his take-off. After a
difficult turn, where he narrowly avoided flying above
the spectators, he managed to get back over the airfield
and flew a lap before landing. At half past five Morane
took off. He flew a tight circle and landed, then took
off again and made a turn towards the Loire before flying
a couple of laps during a ten-minute flight.
At 18:25 Thomas went out to his plane, which had been
left at the edge of the airfield where he landed, and
climbed aboard. This time the plane handled better, and
he kept flying until seven o'clock when official
flights ended. His time of 20:42 was the day's
longest, and he also took over the lead in the total
flying time contest by three seconds. While Thomas was
flying, Morane took off for an effort at the altitude
prize. He again steered towards the river, before coming
back over the airfield, around 500 metres above the
ground and still climbing in a big circle. Immediately
before the deadline his altitude was measured to be 1,000
metres.
Tuesday 16 August
The weather was much better, still sunny but almost calm.
Niel and Bathiat took advantage of the good conditions to
make test flights in the morning. Bathiat was not
familiar with the Hanriot monoplane and made a heavy
landing. The wings were damaged, and it looked doubtful
whether he would be able to get them repaired during the
meeting.
The afternoon flights started at 14:55. Paillette was the
first to take off and he made some turns over the town at
an impressive altitude during a flight that lasted more
than an hour and a half. He was followed by Renaux and
Van den Born, but the latter only made a short test
flight, still suffering from rigging problems. The next
pilot to take off was Thomas. He completed three laps,
but he was then caught by a gust and crashed. The right
wing hit a small tree at the border of the airfield and
was badly damaged, and the propeller and the landing gear
were also broken.
Niel took off at half past three, while Paillette and
Renaux were still flying, but he was forced to land
outside the field already after a single lap. He tried to
take off again, but he had to cross a ditch in
order to complete the take-off. He managed to jump it
successfully, but he was afraid of getting caught in the
wash of one of the biplanes, which passed closely above,
so he decided to land again. The machine ground-looped,
but apart from the propeller and some rigging fittings it
wasn't damaged. Paillette and Renaux were still
circulating over the airfield, competing for the longest
non-stop flight prize and adding time for the total time
contest.
Morane was not in a hurry to prove his skills again. He
had made a short test flight at 17:40 and noticed some
engine problems that had to be fixed. He didn't take
off until again half past six and again made an
impressive performance, immediately climbing to a high
altitude and displaying his complete control over the
machine. He again made a trip over the town, before
landing after a flight of 14 minutes. Meanwhile,
Niel's machine had quickly been retrieved and
repaired, and he made a one-lap check flight.
Thomas' Antoinette was retrieved by a horse carriage
around seven o'clock. His crew stated that they had
lots of spares, including a set of spare wings, and they
were confident that the damages could be repaired in time
for the next day's flights.
The last event of the day, at seven o'clock, was the
biplane qualifications for the "Grand Prix de
Nantes", the rather unusual speed contest. It
included both biplanes and monoplanes, but the
qualifications were separate for each type, and the
monoplane qualifications were scheduled for the next day.
The final result was to be decided by the total time of
two final heats, which both included two biplanes and two
monoplanes and were to be flown of the last two days of
the meeting. Renaux was released first in the biplane
qualifications, then Paillette and last Van den Born. The
original intention was that they would be released at
45-second intervals in order to provide an exciting race,
but they were actually allowed to have the course for
themselves, since this would provide safer and more fair
conditions and avoid having some planes flying in the air
disturbed by others. The top qualifier was Renaux, whose
time of 6:44.4 beat Van den Born by 35 seconds, with
Paillette only four more seconds behind for third.
Renaux won both the day's longest nonstop flight
contest, (1 h 40:29.2) and the total flight time contest
(1 h 47:13.6), but only with a small margin over
Paillette. Renaux also took over the lead in the overall
total flying time. He was now 48 minutes in front of
Paillette, and he would hang on to his lead all through
the week. Crochon visited the airfield to oversee the
repair of his machine. He was still limping a bit, but
was otherwise recovering well.
Wednesday 17 August
It was windy again on the fourth day of the meeting, and
nobody made any flights until almost six o'clock.
Morane was first and made a short flight, followed by
Thomas and Renaux, who kept circulating for a while.
Thomas scored the longest non-stop flight of the day,
25:48.8. Paillette also took off, but landed again after
only a couple of metres, not willing to take on the wind
and the turbulence. Simon's plane was now ready for
action and he made his first flight, impressing with his
speed.
At half past six in the evening, the course was cleared
for the main event of the day, the monoplane
qualifications for the speed contest. Thomas was first to
start. He was followed by first Niel, who only completed
two of the required three laps because of lubrication
problems, then Morane and then Simon. Morane scored the
best result, 5:09.0, in front of Simon's 5:44.2.
Morane then took off for a flight
outside the airfield to scout the course for the
following day's cross-country race. True to his
habit, he immediately climbed high and disappeared in the
mist. After landing again, he stated that he actually
didn't know where he had been… This was also the
second day of the passenger prize contest, but only
Renaux made an effort, carrying one of his mechanics for
a three-lap flight, while Van den Born changed his mind
at the last minute and withdrew. The best total time of
the day was made by Thomas, 32:56.8.
Thursday 18 August
This was the day of the "Grand Prix du Commerce et
de l'Industrie", the 80-kilometre
Nantes-Blain-Nantes cross-country race. Blain, which then
had a population of around 7,000 inhabitants, is situated
some 35 kilometres north-west of Nantes. The landing
field was the horse-race course of Mespras, around three
kilometres further to the north. This race was regarded
as more difficult than the previous similar events. At
the Angers-Saumur race the competitors could follow the
Loire river most of the way, and during the Circuit de
l'Est the organizers had made big efforts to print
maps and mark the course by flags, bonfires and sheets of
cloth, but here the pilots would be more or less left to
themselves to find their way across the jigsaw puzzle of
fields in the flat farmland between the towns. There were
no distinctive landmarks, but the pilots would be aided
by flags on church towers, blue flags to the right of the
course and white on the left, and the organizers also
promised to arrange some fires along the course.
It was again a windy day, around 10 m/s with gusts up to
15 m/s, and like the day before nobody made any flights
until late in the afternoon. Van den Born towed his
machine to the far end of the field and took off along
the railway towards the hangar area, where he landed and
declared that he didn't feel safe to fly. The
organizers and a couple of the flyers had asked about the
possibility of running the cross-country race on the last
day of the meeting instead, but the representative of the
Aéro-Club declared that it should be held on the
announced day, whatever the conditions.
Morane took off for the cross-country race at 18:15 and
soon disappeared in the low clouds. He landed at Mespras
at 18:44, watched by around 6,000 people. He was carried
on the shoulders of enthusiastic spectators and the mayor
of Blain, M. Pouplard, held a speech. He also had time to
have a glass of champagne before taking off at 18:59 for
the return leg towards the Prairie de Mauves, where the
spectators were waiting anxiously. He landed there after
a total time of 53:31.6, and was duly celebrated. He
stated that it had been difficult to find the way. He
hadn't seen any flags or fires on the way, but he had
been greatly helped by the map that he had glued to the
right wing of the machine at the side of the cockpit. He
had initially followed the railway, but lost sight of it.
He was lost for a while, until he saw the dust trail of a
flag-carrying car that was obviously speeding towards
Blain. He then saw the castle of Blain and easily found
the rest of the way. The windy conditions had also been
difficult, and he had to constantly work the wing
warping. The return leg had been much easier, with
slightly less wind, and Nantes was a much easier target to find.
Nobody else risked the cross-country race. A while after
Morane had taken off the wind speeds reduced to around
5-7 m/s and Simon took off, followed soon afterwards by
Renaux, Martinet, who had finally arrived during the
morning, Niel, Bathiat, who had a replacement set of
wings installed, and Van den Born, but they all only flew
above the airfield.
Since there were no other contestants the Grand Prix du
Commerce et de l'Industrie was won by Morane. Among
the others, Simon scored the longest total flying time,
30:27.8, and the longest non-stop flight, 23:09.4.
Friday 19 August
The weather was awful, with wind, rain that increased
during the afternoon, and fog that turned into a
persistent mist. Three pilots still tried, but no results
were recorded. Thomas crashed after half a lap and
damaged his plane for the third time. This time it was
the left wing that was badly damaged, together with the
landing gear and the propeller, and this time his crew
didn't have enough spare parts. Cheuret had finally
got his engine installed and made a short straight-line
test. Niel completed a lap, touching the ground
dramatically a couple of times, but with no damage except
a blown tyre. After these efforts nobody left their
hangars.
Saturday 20 August
The weather had changed completely: The sun was shining,
and only a refreshing breeze was blowing - the best
weather of the meeting. Already in the beginning of the
afternoon action was frantic in the hangars - everybody
was preparing. The first pilot to try his wings was
Cheuret, who took off at 15:20. His engine didn't run
well, and he landed already after a couple of minutes. He
was soon followed by Simon, who made a little trip over
the river. Martinet also took off and also flew outside
the airfield and over the river, following Simon. They
both landed at the same time, but Simon soon took off
again for a couple of laps around the course. At 16:40
Morane took off. He immediately climbed high and landed
after ten minutes in a series of vols planés, and then
Simon made another short flight.
After five o'clock most pilots took off, one after
the other: Simon, Martinet, Morane, Paillette, Renaux,
Cheuret and finally Bathiat. With seven planes in the air
the traffic got a bit congested, but they somehow managed
to avoid getting in the way of each other, despite flying
in all directions above the airfield.
A cannon shot announced that the course had to be cleared
for the start of the first heats of the finals of the
speed contest. It saw top qualifiers Renaux, Morane, Van
den Born and Simon take off in that order, with the
Blériots predictably beating the biplanes by a broad
margin, taking the turns at high speed while banking
steeply. This was unsatisfactory according to some
writers, who considered that it was not a fair contest
and that the biplanes should have a separate speed
contest. Morane's best time was 5:06.8, compared to
Renaux's best biplane time of 6:54.6.
After his flight, Morane went for a long tour over the
town, touring the cathedral and the other churches and
squares in the city centre before turning around the big
transporter bridge and returning to land.
This was the third of the four days of flights for the
passenger prize, postponed from the rained-out Friday. It
was for carrying the highest number of passengers during
a flight of three laps, and in case of a tie the win
would go to the highest speed. Nobody had posted any
official times during the previous days, but now three
pilots tried. Van den Born made the first flight with one
of his mechanics as passenger. He was followed by Cheuret
and Renaux. Van den Born wanted to win, and took two
passengers on board for his second flight, thereby
securing the first place. Second place was won by Renaux,
in front of Cheuret, who also made a second flight, this
time with a lady passenger on board. It was noted that
Van den Born's doubtfully rigged machine handled
visibly better with a heavy load of passengers on
board than it had done all through the week! The
day's longest non-stop flight was made by Martinet,
35:28.2, but Simon flew a total of 58:26.8 and claimed
the prize for the longest total flying time.
Sunday 21 August
It rained heavily in the morning of the last day of the
meeting. It soon stopped, but the weather remained
thunderous, with strong gusts of wind all through the day
and some brief rain showers. The main events of the day
were the second day of the altitude contest and the
second heats of the speed contest.
Renaux was first to take off in the afternoon, but his
machine was badly thrown around by the gusts and he
landed already after two laps. It was not until half past
three when conditions seemed good enough for further
flying, and Morane, Simon and Bathiat took off in quick
succession. While Morane climbed to around 400 metres and
then landed after one of his trademark long glides, Simon
started by turned laps around the course, but later left
the airfield and cruised over the river. Bathiat, who had
looked uncomfortable in the unfamiliar Hanriot monoplane,
now seemed better at ease and also circled around the
airfield, completing five laps. After a while Renaux took
off again, perhaps worrying that anybody would approach
him in the total flying time standings. Niel also had
worries. He had contracted to fly half an hour during the
meeting and because of his series of problems he
hadn't been able to complete that requirement.
Therefore, he brought out his machine and took off, even
though conditions were not suitable for the underpowered
and lightly loaded Nieuport. After a troubled half lap,
having touched the ground a couple of times, he crashed
again. Officials drove to the accident site in cars, but
Niel had already climbed out the plane and was inspecting
the damages to the right wing and the landing gear, which
grounded him for the rest of the meeting. Renaux landed,
Bathiat took off again and flew a couple of laps. At half
past four Paillette also took off.
At a quarter to five the airfield was quiet again, when
the start of the altitude prize was announced. Morane
announced that he would make an effort for the world
altitude record. This would require surpassing the 2,057
metres that had been reached by John Armstrong Drexel at
the Lanark meeting only ten days earlier, in the Blériot
that had been flown by Morane at the Bournemouth meeting
and bought by Cecil Grace. Morane took off and climbed
quickly in big circles over the airfield, until he was
only a small spot against the clouds. But the sound of
the engine suddenly disappeared, and the plane could be
seen to dive steeply towards the ground. After a couple
of circles gliding around the airfield he touched down
neatly in front of the hangars. Morane stated that he had
reached 1,000 metres and was still climbing when he felt
that the engine didn't pull well. One cylinder had
stopped firing, so he had to give up, but to his
frustration the engine suddenly decided to run on all
cylinders again before he landed.
The winds then increased, and nobody flew until half past
five, when Simon took off, followed by Cheuret, Morane
and Bathiat. Simon made his effort for the altitude prize
and reached 200 metres, thereby securing second place
after Morane, even though he was only officially credited
with 100 metres. Morane's second try at the world
record also failed, the engine again refusing to work at
high altitude.
The weather then deteriorated before the last event of
the day, the final heat of the speed contest. Morane took
off first and scored the best time of the week, 5:01.4,
thereby securing the win on aggregate. He was followed by
Simon and Renaux, who both improved their times from the
first heat, while Van den Born withdrew. It was also
intended to run the last day of the passenger contest,
but by then it rained again, so it was called off. All
the planes were withdrawn into the hangars and the
visitors opened their umbrellas and prepared to leave the
airfield.
Conclusion
From a sporting point of view the meeting was satisfying,
but hardly spectacular. No records were beaten, but in
contrast to the recent meetings of Reims, Bournemouth and
Stockel, the meeting had been safe. There had been only
one major accident, and it only resulted in minor
injuries. In the end, the total prize money paid out was
45,000 francs, of which Morane won 21,000. Circling an
airfield in order to score laps didn't appeal to him,
so the prize for total non-stop flights each day in the
air was won by Renaux, who had flown for 3 hours 18
minutes, beating Paillette by more than an hour.
Just as with many of the meetings of 1910, the financial
results were disappointing. The cost of organizing the
meeting had been high and the gate receipts, totalling
123,000 francs, had been lower than expected, probably
because of the difficult weather. The local businesses
complained that there were few out-of-town visitors, and
that the visitors from the local area had just gone to
the airfield in the afternoons and back home again
afterwards, instead of staying in town and spending their
money there. The local press was of the opinion that the
event had been overambitious, and that the organization
of such big meetings should be left to bigger and richer
towns.
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