Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1910-08-18
The Great French Cross
Country Aviation Race.
Makes Last SO Miles in Same
Style as Previous Laps.
Total Time tor 485 Miles, I 1 Hours,
S. Minutes, 50 Seconds.

ed in the streets until morning to
watch the conclusion of the great cross
country aviation race, which was won
by LIE Blanc in a Bleriot monoplane.
Auburn, also in Bleriot took second
prize, finishing a short twenty minutes
behind the winner although his total
time in contemplating the course was
somewhat longer.
LIE Blanc's flight from Amiens, some
so miles, was made in the same superb
style as the previous laps in the race.
He left Amiens at sos and descended
at Issy in the suburbs of Paris one
hour and % minutes later, making the
total time for the 485 miles of the en-
tire fight ii hours, SIS minutes and SO
seconds, an average of nearly 40 miles
an hour as the crow flies, without
making any allowance for detours or
for the time spent in battling with the
storm in the flight from Mezieres to
Dousi last Friday.
Auburn. whose time from Amiens
was one hour and 81 minutes complet-
ed the circuit in Is hours. ~ minutes
and IA seconds. None of the other
| competitors completed the entire
course, though LIE Gagneux. who was
forced to retire in the early stages OF
the race, finished with LIE Blanc and
| Auburn. '-
| There was a moment of tumultuous
cheering as LIE Blanc appeared above
Issv in the early dawn and from the
height of nearly quarter of a mile
planed down toward the earth and
swooped across the line like q giant
hawk, alighting with the ease and
| grace of a big bird. The authorities,
in anticipation of the excitement of the
enormous crowds, had cordoned the
alishting place at Isy with hundreds of
police, backed by a regiment of stall
| wart cuirassiers, of long experience In
handling the Partisan crowds on days
| of demonstration. Nevertheless the
spectators, in an irresistible rush
broke through the line of cuirasslers
and police and bore the victor on theil
shoulders to General Brun, the minis
ter of war, who with his staff and oth-
er high officials had appeared at the
finish at this early hour to welcome the
victor. General Brun congratulated
lie blanc heartily in the name of the
government A military band struck
IN 1.-The Marseillaise," but the music
could scarcely be heard above the
cheering of the crowds which was
echoed from the housetops throughout
the vast city.
Before the cheering for LIE Blanc had
commenced to die down Auburn in his
| graceful monoplane shot into sight
at the very point in the sky where LIE
Blanc had first been seen and follow
ing the victors wake, crossed the line
and made an equally graceful landing
giving fresh impetus to the cheering.
In close succession to LIE Blanc and
Auburn came LIE Gagneux and five
army officers who had acted as escorts
TO the contestants in the last stage OF
the flight. the successful trip OF elgnt
aeroplanes across the country stimuli
taneously and under pre-arranged con-
ditions demonstrating to what an ex-
tent the conquest Of the air mas peen
carried.
| gathering of spectators such as
that gathered for the finish of the
cross country race has never before
been seen in Paris nor has the scene
| been duplicated at any other place
/ Eiffel Tower was chosen as a point OF
vantage by crowds of far-slghted
spectators and the towering steel
structure like the housetOps and other
elevated points in the city was black
with people watching the finish
through field glasses or with straining
eyes. On the field at Issy where the
aviators finished, 100000 spectators mad
gathered, the crowd including Prince
Roland Boneparte. General Dalstein.
the military governor of Paris. and
hundreds of distinguished men and
women. who when LIE Blanc's mono
plane was first sighted. as a black
speck high above the city, were seized
with a perfect delirium.
lie Gagneux and the military avi-
ators were forced to make landings on
the trip from Amiens. LIE Blanc and
Auburn agree that the difficulty in
flying across country is the currents
of valleys and ravines which suck
down the aeroplanes from 200 to 300
feet without warnings. The aviators
were able to keep their places In the
machines only by clinging on all tours
to the levers and frame work.
Issy was also the goal for the big
dirigihle balloon Bayard Clement,
which arrived from Creil short time
after the bevy of heavier then air ma
chimes had alighted.