1874-1958 (French Pilot's Licence No. 5)
Henry* Farman was born in Paris on May 16th, 1874, second of
the three sons of a relatively wealthy English journalist and a French
mother. Like the Wright brothers he started his career by selling and
racing bicycles. During the middle if the 1890s he won several prizes
and records. He was French champion in 100 km road racing in 1892 and
he and his younger brother Maurice was a famous tandem pair, setting a
speed record in 1894.
He then went on to motorcycles and from the end of the 1890s to cars.
He became a well-known and successful automobile racer, for example
winning his class in the the Paris-Vienna race in 1902, driving a
Darracq. While recuperating after injuries suffered in an accident
during the 1904 Circuit d'Auvergne he discovered aviation, which
appealed to him because he considered it safer than auto racing.
He initially couldn't afford to get into flying, but he started a
company building coachwork for cars and in two years made enough money
to order an airplane from the Voisin brothers, on the advice by
aviation patron Ernest Archdeacon. With it, he became the first
European to fly, on October 7th, 1907. On January 13th, 1908 he won the
50,000 francs Deutsch-Archdeacon prize for the first closed-circle
flight of a kilometre in Europe. On October 30th, 1908 he made the
first cross-country flight, between Mourmelon (Bouy) and Reims.
In the spring of 1909 Farman broke his partnership with the Voisin
brothers after they had sold a plane that he had ordered to the British
flyer John Moore-Brabazon. Afterwards he built his own planes, with
several improvements, for example ailerons, better landing gear and
simplified structure and tail surfaces. After his successes at the 1909
meetings, for example braking the world endurance record at Reims, he
focussed on the design and production of the planes carrying his name.
In 1910 the robust and manoeuverable Farman biplane was the most
successful type in competitions.
From 1912 he formed a company together with his brothers Maurice and
Dick. The Farman brothers built more than 200 types of airplanes and
several types of engines. They were also pioneers in commercial
aviation, launching "Lignes Farman", one of the first
airlines, in February 1919. Their company survived until 1937, when it
was nationalized. After losing control of their company they continued
at a smaller scale, building Stampe trainers under license. After WW2
the Farmans tried to get into light aviation, without much success, and
the 1956 F 521 "Monitor III" was the last plane to carry the
Farman name.
Although a British citizen by birth, Henry Farman always regarded
himself as a Frenchman. He officially became a French citizen in 1937.
He passed away in Paris on August 18th, 1958.
When the first French "Brevets de Pilote" where granted in
1910, Henry Farman received No. 5, based on the alphabetic order
between the first fourteen holders.
Henry Farman participated in the following air race
meetings:
- Reims 1909
- Berlin 1909
- Blackpool 1909