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Aviation History
1909
1909 - 0004.PDF
JANUARY 2, 1909. THE FIRST PARIS AERONAUTICAL SALON. ON Thursday, December 24th, the President of the French Republic opened the second half of the Annual Automobile Salon at the Grand Palais, and incidentally inaugurated the first real exhibition of practical flying machines that has ever been held anywhere. This is thefirst occasion on which the industrial and pleasure car sections have been arranged consecutively, for hitherto they have, as our readers know, run concurrently in separate buildings. The executive, however, considered that the changed conditions warranted, if they did not compel, a departure from precedent, and hence the present arrangement by which the science of flight finds room for its expression among industrial vehicles and motor boats. It is for this Jatter reason, too, that the " deuxieme serie" of the 1908 Paris Salon has an importance which hardly attached to the pleasure car show, and is certainly not accorded by the majority of the visitors to the indus- trial vehicles now on view. The flying machines are, without a shadow of doubt, the main attraction for every- one ; but whether this had happened to be the case or not, the fact would still remain that they are sufficiently in evidence to justify the use of the significant title, " First Aeronautical Salon." It is an event sure to be of historic interest in the future—even in the very near future, if the progress of flight continues as rapidly as it is doing at present—and as such it must form a basis of comparison for all time. Those visitors to the Grand Palais who, going specially to see the aeronautical exhibits, entered for the first time by the main doors, must have been disappointed, even if they were not surprised—for no one quite knew beforehand how the show was going to turn out—to find themselves entirely surrounded by heavy machinery and industrial motor vehicles. At first glance, flying machines and all other appariels d'aviation, are apparently absent, and it is not until the Grande Nef has been traversed towards the Cupole d'Antin that the Aviation Section is reached. True, there is the " Ville de Bordeaux " airship suspended aloft above this very aisle, but it is so big that its long yellow envelope is not at first observed, although the two iron staircases which lead up to its car cause a sufficiently obvious obstruction in the gangway. Further down the Grande Nef, too, is a spherical balloon also hung from the lofty roof by wires, and it, being in the immediate perspective, is the more noticeable of the two. It is, however, around the Grand Staircase and beneath the Cupole d'Antin that those interested in flight con- gregate. Placed on a pedestal, in a position of honour, a fearful and wonderful bird-like structure stretches its uncanny wings in silent benediction over all who enter; it is Ader's Avion (No. 3) which is thus so appropriately placed to form at once a portal to the present and a link with the past. Looking down from the superior elevation of the staircase—and, therefore, in an equally appro- priate place—is the full-sized Voisin aeroplane known as " Farman I." Messrs. Voisin, as designers and constructors of some of the leading French machines, deserve a degree of credit for their work, which is far higher than ihe uninitiated are apt to accord them, although their name must of course always stand second to those intrepid pioneers who have actually practised the art of flight. Among other full-sized machines are the Delagrange and the Bleriot biplanes—the latter a 3-seater—the Bleriot, R.E.P., and Antoinette monoplanes, Kapferer's double monoplane, and the Breguet aeroplane-heli- copter. The Wright aeroplane is represented by a full- sized model, but the others above-mentioned are actual machines, and form a collection which is, it will be seen, quite as representative as could be expected under the circumstances, and remarkably interesting to boot. It is a distinct pity that the official catalogue should have contained no list of these and other exhibits, and in view of the importance which may at any time be asso- PARIS AERO SALON.—General view of the principal part of the Aviation Section. In the foreground, a little tothe left, is a back view of Ader's "Avion," to the right is the R.E.P. monoplane, and opposite to it is the Delagrange biplane. In mid-air is the " Ville de Bordeaux," and in the distance, down the Grande Nef, can be seenpart of a spherical balloon. 6
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