Fernand Forest, a countryman of Guynemer’s invented, thirty years ago, an explosion motor whose operations formed the basis of many subsequent experiments in petrol engines. And it was a Frenchman, Clement Ader, who was the first to fly with a motor-driven flying machine. For a time Ader experimented under the patronage of the French Ministry of War, but he was eventually deprived of Governmental sanction and assistance because he was deemed visionary, and his inventions impractical. However, the machine in which he made several flights in the year 1897, the “Avion,” was later one of the treasured exhibits of the first Aeronautical Salon, and was placed beside the airplanes of Wilbur Wright, Delagrange and Blériot “as convincing proof that to France belonged the honor of making the first flying machine.” It is related that when Ader first found himself leaving the ground for a test flight, “he was so taken by surprise that he nearly lost his senses.”
Charles C. Turner, author of “Marvels of Aviation,” narrates the early adventures of Alberto Santos-Dumont, the rich young Brazilian who arrived in Paris in 1898 for the purpose of having a navigable balloon made there. Already the name Zeppelin had received passing notice in French and English newspapers, but most people refused to believe reports of his inventions, and those of Santos-Dumont, concluding that they were both mad. Santos-Dumont, “the man who initiated the modern airship movement in France and made the first officially observed airplane flight in Europe,” flew around the Eiffel Tower and over the roofs and treetops of startled Paris in his small spherical balloons, propelled by gasoline motor, and in 1902 made flights over the Mediterranean. In Paris he built the first airship station ever constructed. In 1903, his maneuvers above the French army review of July fourteenth led to negotiations with the French Minister of War, to whom the young Brazilian made the offer “to put his aerial fleet at the disposition of France in case of hostilities with any country except the two Americas.” He explained, “It is in France that I have met with all my encouragement; in France and with French material I made all my experiments. I excepted the two Americas because I am an American.”
Santos-Dumont, who had astounded the world by the success of his airship experiments, was also the pioneer aviator in France, when he became convinced of the practicality of the heavier-than-air machine. When Delagrange, Blériot and the Wright brothers leapt into fame, Santos-Dumont continued quietly to study and contrive, and in 1909 he brought out the “Demoiselle,” a small airplane on whose design he claimed no patent rights, offering it to the world as a gift of his invention.
Between the years 1907 and 1910 many unknown inventors and mechanics won renown through their aerial accomplishments. Outbursts of fervor greeted every fresh success in air endeavor. On wings the patriotism of France soared to heights of exaltation. Lethargy gave way to enthusiasm. Voisin, Blériot, Delagrange, Latham, Paulhan, Védrines became national heroes. If a popular aviator flew a winning race, crowds attended his steps and surrounded his hotel. If one was injured, a sympathetic assembly gathered outside the hospital where he lay, and extras were issued by the daily journals as to his condition. Annual airplane meets and exhibitions had the patronage of the French Government. Experts were constantly occupied in making mechanical improvements in the motor, steering gear and wings of the wondrous new machines that had intrigued the imagination, the very soul of awakened France.
Though France owes a debt to American inventors, always generously acknowledged, French aviators quickly attained supremacy on the continent. When the war came, the country was already dotted with aerodromes and airplane factories, and hundreds of trained aviators and mechanicians were ready to take the air for their beloved France.
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 6, No. 18. SERIAL No. 166
COPYRIGHT, 1918. BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.
GUYNEMER BROUGHT DOWN BY A BOCHE, BUT WITHIN FRENCH LINES