Olivier de Montalent

OLIVIER DE MONTALENT
1890-1913
AKA O. de Montalent

O. de Montalent
Pilot in the Daily Mail Circuit of Great Britain,
who will be in charge of a foreign-built machine.
from Flight/global archive - July 22, 1911

Daily Journal and Tribune,
Knoxville, Tennessee: August 25, 1913,
Transcribed by Bob Davis - 7-15-04 "More Victims of Aviation, Montalent, a Frenchman, and Passenger Killed. Former Crashed through Deck of River Barge. Metwier, the Passenger, Fell into the River
Both Were Badly Mangled," Rouen, France, Aug. 24. - The French aviator, M. Montalent, and a passenger, M. Metivier, were killed today by the collapse of their hydroaeroplane. Montalent was one of nine competitors in the hydro-aeroplane race which started from Le Pecq near Paris this morning for De Auville, a seaport in the north of France. He reached Rouen third and was flying at a height of 1,000 feet as he approached the town.
     The waiting crowds saw the machine suddenly pitch violently and drop. The occupants were thrown out. Montalent crashed through the deck of a river barge; Metivier fell into the river. Both were badly mangled. Montalent was one of the largest land owners of Rouen.
     Georgas Chemet was the first to arrive safely at De Auville, covering the distance in three hours and fifty minutes. Three others reached the finishing point shortly afterward.
     The other contestants were compelled to abandon the race. Charles Weyman,the American who was among them, descended outside Rouen on account of motor trouble."

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
via email from Dave Lam, 8-16-04 Ralph:
The only Montalent I can find having earned a French license from 1912 to date of this death is Olivier de Montalent, who earned license #509 on 24 May 1911 in a Breguet. No proof it's the same guy, but probably.
Dave

ONLINE RESOURCES If you search for "Olivier de Montalent", using the Google search engine, (9-19-08), you will find about 92 links. One which you should not miss is the following.

Montalent Postcard On this page, of the Pedro Amaral website, you will find fifteen beautiful, full screen images of aviation postcards, including one for Montalent. I am sure you will to look at each of the other postcards, whilc you on on this page. You can access the site by clcking on the title.

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You will find a wealth of material on Montalent in this incredible resource. You can access it by clicking on the title.

M. Montalent was killed in a crash in 1913.

Editor's Note:
If you have any more information on this pioneer aviator
please contact me.
E-mail to Ralph Cooper

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