page_title: 1911 Paris to Madrid air race
section_title: Competitors
hierarchical_section_title: 1911 Paris to Madrid air race / Competitors
caption_attribution_description: French aviator Jules Védrines (1881-1919)
context_page_description: The 1911 Paris to Madrid air race was a three-stage international flying competition, the first of several European air races of that summer. The winner was French aviator Jules Védrines, although his win, along with the rest of the race, were overshadowed by a notorious fatal crash at takeoff.
context_section_description: Jules Védrines, flying a Morane-Borel monoplane, was the winner of the race, and the only competitor to finish.  After a total time of 37 and a half hours (12 hours and 18 minutes in the air), he took the 30,000-franc prize and was awarded the Cross of the Order of Alfonso XII by Spanish King Alfonso, despite being in such a foul mood at landing that doctors were called to assess his mental health.
  Jean Louis Conneau (flying as "Andre Beaumont") had landed his Bleriot XI at Loches, a little further than halfway to the first destination, for engine maintenance, then crashed there on takeoff.
  André Frey, in a Morane-Saulnier, went no farther than Etampes before damaging his craft.
  Scheduled competitors who withdrew after the fatal crash included Charles Terres Weymann.   Belgian John Verrept yielded his aircraft to Védrines.
  Eugene Gilbert, flying a Bleriot XI: While over the Pyrenees en route to Madrid, Gilbert was attacked by a large eagle, which he warded off using a revolver.
caption: Socialist aviator Jules Védrines, winner of the race
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