Louis Paulhan (born 1883 Pézenas, died 1963 Saint-Jean-de-Luz), French pilot who in 1910 flew the "Le Canard", the world's first seaplane designed by Henri Fabre. Pézenas is a commune of the Hérault département, in France. ... Saint-Jean-de-Luz (Basque Donibane Lohitzun) is a commune of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques département in France. ... The 1910 Le Canard Le Canard (lit. ... Henri Fabre in 1910 Henri Fabre (born in Marseille on 29 November 1882, died in 1984) was a French aviator and the inventor of Le Canard, the first seaplane in History. ...

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Louis Paulhan, early French aviator 1909

Biography

Louis Paulhan's career began from making model aircraft. Stationed in Paris as a ballon pilot during his military service, he won a competition in which the first prize was to be a full-size construction of the winning design. His model was so complex that instead he was given a Voisin airframe. With the help of family and friends, he obtained an engine and taught himself to fly in 1908. He was issued with French pilot licence No.10. Part of the Paris skyline with from left to right: Montparnasse Tower, Eiffel Tower, and in the background, towers of neighboring La Défense. ... Henry Farman, left, and Gabriel Voisin. ...

Fairly quickly, he established himself as gifted aviator. In Lyon, flying a Farman, he broke three records: Height (920 m), speed (20km in 19 minutes) and weight carried (a 73 kilo/160lb passenger). Paulhan took part in many airshows, including Douai in July 1909, where he set new records for altitude (150m) and duration (1h 07m), covering 47 km, and Rheims, where he crashed.   City flag City coat of arms Motto: (Arpitan: Forward, forward, Lyon the best) Coordinates Time Zone CET (GMT +1) Administration Country France Région Rhône-Alpes Département Rhône (69) Subdivisions 9 arrondissements Intercommunality Urban Community of Lyon Mayor Gérard Collomb  (PS) (since 2001) City Statistics Land... Henri Farman on September 21, 1913 in France Farman Aviation Works was an aeroneutic enterprise founded and run by the brothers Henry and Maurice Farman. ... Douai is a city and commune in the north of France in the département of Nord, of which it is a sous-préfecture. ... Reims (English traditionally Rheims) is a city of north-eastern France, 98 miles east-northeast of Paris. ...

Touring America

In January 1910 Paulhan was invited to America to take part in airshows and competitions, at the Los Angeles International Air Meet. He arrived with two Bleriot monoplanes and two Farman biplanes. The Wright brothers, though not taking part in the event, were there with their lawyers to prevent Paulhan and Glenn Curtiss flying. The Wrights claimed that the ailerons on their aircraft infringed patents. Paulhan flew anyway, winning all of the prizes and $19000. He set up a new altitude record (4164 ft), beating his own previous record (1900 ft), and a new endurance record (1hr 49mn 40sec). He gave William Randolph Hearst his first experience of flight. Flag Seal Nickname: City of Angels Location Location within Los Angeles County in the state of California Coordinates , Government State County California Los Angeles County Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D) Geographical characteristics Area     City 1,290. ... Blériot may refer to: Louis Blériot, a French aviation pioneer Blériot Aéronautique, an aircraft manufacturer founded by Louis Blériot This is a disambiguation page: a list of articles associated with the same title. ... A monoplane is an aircraft with one main set of wing surfaces, in contrast to a biplane or triplane. ... The Wright brothers, Orville Wright (August 19, 1871–January 30, 1948) and Wilbur Wright (April 16, 1867–May 30, 1912), are American brothers generally credited with making the first controlled, powered, heavier-than-air human flight on December 17, 1903. ... Glenn H. Curtiss at the Grande Semaine dAviation in France in 1909 Glenn H. Curtiss pilots license Glenn Hammond Curtiss (May 21, 1878 – July 23, 1930) was an aviation pioneer and founder of the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company, now part of Curtiss-Wright Corporation. ... William Randolph Hearst William Randolph Hearst (April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American newspaper magnate, born in San Francisco, California. ...

From Los Angeles, Paulhan moved on to give exhibitions in Salt Lake City, Utah, where the Desert News headline announced that the "Air King is Here to Fly."^[1] He also appeared in New Orleans and made the first ever aeroplane flight in Texas. The Salt Lake Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Salt Lake Citys top tourist draw. ... Official language(s) English Capital Salt Lake City Largest city Salt Lake City Area  Ranked 13th  - Total 84,876 sq mi (219,887 km²)  - Width 270 miles (435 km)  - Length 350 miles (565 km)  - % water 3. ... New Orleans is the largest city in the state of Louisiana, United States of America. ... Official language(s) See: Languages of Texas Capital Austin Largest city Houston Area  Ranked 2nd  - Total 268,581 sq mi (695,622 km²)  - Width 773 miles (1,244 km)  - Length 790 miles (1,270 km)  - % water 2. ...

On 17 February, a Federal judge ordered Paulhan to pay $25000 for every paid display. Furious, he cancelled his American tour and went to New York to challenge the Wright brothers by giving public demonstration flights for free. The dispute rumbled on and in March an agreement was reached whereby he could continue to give flying exhibitions in his Farman biplane on condition that he pay a $6000 a week bond, pending the outcome of the case. The affair threatened the planned international aviation meet to be hosted by the Aero Club of America for the Gordon Bennett trophy, won the previous year by Glenn Curtiss. According to Courtlandt Field Bishop, president of the Aero Club of America, all the leading foreign aviators had assured him that they would not appear in the country until the case was decided decided. If Paulhan won, they would compete; if he lost they did "not care to place themselves within the jurisdiction of American courts."^[2] Paulhan eventually left quietly for France. Official language(s) English de facto Capital Albany Largest city New York City Area  Ranked 27th  - Total 54,520 sq mi (141,205 km²)  - Width 285 miles (455 km)  - Length 330 miles (530 km)  - % water 13. ... The Aero Club of America issued the first pilots licenses in the US. It was founded in 1905, and had many sister organizations. ... The Gordon Bennett Cup in ballooning is the worlds oldest and most respected gas balloon race first run on September 30, 1906 in Paris, France. ...

The Wrights' patent case dragged on for many more years, involving Curtiss and many other pilots and manufacturers. The Wright brothers, Orville Wright (August 19, 1871–January 30, 1948) and Wilbur Wright (April 16, 1867–May 30, 1912), are American brothers generally credited with making the first controlled, powered, heavier-than-air human flight on December 17, 1903. ...

Back in Europe

The Fabre Canard Paulhan's signature at top right

Returning to Europe, Paulhan continued his flying expolits. In April of 1910, he won the £10,000 prize offered for flying from London to Manchester, a distance of 195miles/298km. The prize had been offered in 1906 by the Daily Mail for the first pilot to fly from London to Manchester within 24 hours. The flight had to start and finish within five miles of the Daily Mail office in each city, with no more than two landings en route. In 1906 this would have seemed a safe bet - the best European fliers at that time could only stay aloft for seconds! Paulhan arrived in Manchester 12 hours after setting out from London, having spent 4 hours 12 minutes in the air and beating the British contender, Claude Grahame-White. ".^[3] Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1036x732, 69 KB) This picture may have usage restrictions Henri Fabres first float plane Source: Net File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Seaplane Henri Fabre Le Canard... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1036x732, 69 KB) This picture may have usage restrictions Henri Fabres first float plane Source: Net File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Seaplane Henri Fabre Le Canard... London (pronounced ) is the capital city of England and the United Kingdom. ... Manchester is a major city in North West England, historically notable for being the worlds first industrialised city, and its subsequent central role in the Industrial Revolution. ... The Daily Mail is a British newspaper, a tabloid, first published in 1896. ... Claude Grahame White (1879 – 1959) was an pioneer of aviation, and the first to make a night flight, during the Daily Mail London to Manchester race in 1910. ...

Also in 1910, Paulhan was one of the first pilots to fly a seaplane, the Canard designed by Henri Fabre, and won £10000 for the most flights taken in the year and helped to design triplanes for the French army.

In February 1912, he opened a seaplane flying school in Villefranche-sur-Mer before moving to Arcachon with Léo Neveu to take the first aerial photographs. Villefranche-sur-Mer Villefranche-sur-Mer is a small town and commune in the Alpes-Maritimes département, on the French Riviera with a population of just under 7,000. ... Arcachon is a resort town on the Atlantic coast of southwest France. ...

World War I

In World War I, Paulhan was mobilised as a fighter pilot. Decorated on the Serbian front, he was not only the most experienced but also the oldest aviator. In flight he was sometimes accompanied by a machine gunner or, it seems, by a mechanic carrying out repairs in flight. .".^[4] Combatants Allied Powers: France Italy Russia Serbia United Kingdom United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary Bulgaria Germany Ottoman Empire Commanders Ferdinand Foch Georges Clemenceau Victor Emmanuel III Luigi Cadorna Nicholas II Aleksei Brusilov Herbert Henry Asquith Douglas Haig John Jellicoe Woodrow Wilson John Pershing Wilhelm II Paul von Hindenburg Reinhard...

After 1918

On demobilisation, Paulhan became a seaplane builder, building machines under licence from Curtiss. He worked at the construction of metal seaplanes with the engineer Pillard until the day when his only son, Rene, died on 10 May 1937, at the presentation of a fighter plane. He contributed to the manufacture of Dewoitine planes, but retired to St-Jean-de-Luz, which he rarely left before his death. In 1960, Paulhan was invited by Air France to be one of the passengers on its inaugural non-stop flight from Paris to Los Angeles. Air France (Compagnie Nationale Air France) is a subsidiary of Air France-KLM. Before its merger with KLM, it was the national airline of France, employing 71,654 people (as of January 2005). ... Part of the Paris skyline with from left to right: Montparnasse Tower, Eiffel Tower, and in the background, towers of neighboring La Défense. ...

Louis Paulhan died on 10 February 1986. He is buried in his home town of Pézenas where a monument has been erected in commemmoration.

External links

Paulhan in Los Angeles

film of Paulhan

Paulhan in Salt Lake City

The London - Manchester air race]

Notes and references

1. ^ "Air King Is Here To Fly", 'Desert News', 1910-01-21. Retrieved on 2006-09-28.
2. ^ "If Wright Brothers Win, America will Lose International Aviation Meet", Daily Journal and Tribune, 1910-03-13. Retrieved on 2006-09-28.
3. ^ "London to Manchester", www.thosemagnificentmen.co.uk. Retrieved on 2006-09-28.
4. ^ "Louis Paulhan, l’homme vent", COLLEGE LOUIS PAULHAN A SARTROUVILLE. Retrieved on 2006-09-28.