1883-1954
Armand Zipfel was born on June 17th, 1883 in Albigny sur
Saône, a village north of Lyon in central France. His father was from
an Alsacian family which had fled after the war of 1870. The father
owned a company in Lyon that built organs, where young Armand learned
about mechanics. Armand was a neighbour and youth friend of the Voisin
brothers and sailed and experimented with motor boats on the Saône
river together with them. He built a glider in 1906, but never tested
it.
After witnessing the flights of Henry Farman, he decided in early 1908
to build a motorized airplane. He started the "Ateliers
d'Aviation de Sud Est" and was allowed to use the drawings of
the Voisin biplane. He made his first successful flights at
Villeurbaine, east of Lyon, in November 1908, becoming the sixth
Frenchman to fly.
After learning to master his machine he toured Europe displaying it
during 1909, visiting Berlin in January, Constantinople in September
and Lisbon in October. He was the first man ever to fly in Portugal. He
also made an unsuccessful appearance at the Vichy Aviation meeting.
After another visit to Germany in early 1910 he appears to have stopped
flying in public, but his company built aeroplanes for other people and
he worked as a flight instructor.
During the 1930s he was recorded as a landlord in Lyon. After his
retirement he lived in deep poverty, his aviation exploits long
forgotten. He died under sad circumstances on February 2nd, 1954. After
escaping from the public nursing home in Albigny where he lived, his
body was found several days later on the banks of the cold Saône river.
Armand Zipfel never qualified for a pilots' licence.
Armand Zipfel participated in the following air race
meetings:
- Vichy 1909