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BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
via email from Dave Lam, 10-27-06
Count Jacques de Lessups (1883- 19 Oct 1927) earned his French pilot's license (#27) on 6 Jan
1910, flying a Bleriot. He participated in numerous competitions or meetings in 1910, including Barcelona, Montreal, Niort, New York,
and Toronto. On 21 May 1910 he made the second ever crossing of the English Channel in an airplane, and won the French Ruinart
Prize which had been offered for the first Channel Crossing. Although Bleriot had actually flown over the channel the year before, he
was not eligible for the prize due to having filled out some of the paperwork inaccurately.
During WWI he served the French military as pilot of night bombardment and observation aircraft,
and was one of the pioneers of aerial photography. After the war he became the Technical Director and Primary Pilot for a
French/Canadian aviation company. He died in 1927 in the crash of a Schreck flying boat carrying out aerial surveys (model FBA 21)
near Gaspey. As an aside, I have been told he was the grandson of Ferdinand de Lesseps, the builder of the Suez Canal.
Dave |
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