page_title: Antoinette (manufacturer)
section_title: Aircraft promotion with Latham
hierarchical_section_title: Antoinette (manufacturer) / Aircraft manufacture / Aircraft promotion with Latham
context_page_description: Antoinette was a French manufacturer of light petrol engines. Antoinette also became a pioneer-era builder of aeroplanes before World War I, most notably the record-breaking monoplanes flown by Hubert Latham and René Labouchère. Based in Puteaux, the Antoinette concern was in operation between 1903 and 1912. The company operated a flying school at Chalons for which it built one of the earliest flight simulators.
context_section_description: In the spring of 1909, Latham made several impressive flights.  This convinced Levavasseur that Latham could cross the English Channel in an Antoinette aircraft and win the Daily Mail prize for doing so.  Latham made two attempts to cross the English Channel in July 1909, both of which were unsuccessful due to engine failure while over the Channel.  Between Latham's attempts, former Antoinette vice-president Blériot successfully crossed the Channel in his own aircraft using a simpler and more reliable 25 hp (19 kW) air-cooled Anzani W3 engine and a more efficient Chauvière propeller.
  Latham's efforts to promote Antoinette products were more successful at the Grande Semaine d'Aviation de la Champagne on 22–29 August 1909 at Reims, France, where he won the altitude prize, finished second in the speed competition, took third place in the Gordon Bennett Cup for aeroplanes, and, in the Grand Prix event, trying to fly the longest distance around the circuit in a single uninterrupted flight, he won second prize in one aircraft (an Antoinette IV) and fifth prize in another (an Antoinette VII).
  At the 1910 Gordon Bennett Trophy race at Belmont Park in the United States, Latham flew an Antoinette VII with a 100 horsepower (75 kW) V16 engine.
caption: Antoinette aircraft with V16 engine
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