Jean Gobron was born in Paris on May 30th, 1885. His father
was a senator from the Ardennes and manufacturer of the luxurious
Gobron-BrilliƩ automobiles. Jean Gobron was educated both in sciences
and writing, but he was also engaged in different sports and took part
in several automobile races, driving cars of the family brand.
He flew for the first time on May 12th, 1909, in a Voisin with an
engine of the family company's own manufacture, and immediately
showed talent. He participated in a couple of meetings during 1909,
achieving several good results at the Paris "Grande
Quinzaine", but had a serious accident in the Heliopolis (Egypt)
meeting in February 1910, where his plane caught fire 70 metres over
the desert.
He gave up flying soon afterwards and succeeded his father as manager
of the Gobron-BrilliƩ company. The car factory survived World War I,
but the company refused to adopt modern production methods and was
closed in 1930 after a long period of decline. Gobron was mayor of
Buzancy in the Ardennes and also worked as an aviation expert in the
insurance business.
He died in a car accident on July 26th, 1945.
When the first French "Brevets de Pilote" where granted in
1910, Gobron received No. 7, based on the alphabetic order between the
first fourteen holders.
Jean Gobron participated in the following air race meetings: