The first ever Colour 'Air Display' photograph

[ErrolC]

Guess the year!

vintageaeroplanewriter.blogspot.com/2011/02/ever-first-colour-air-display.html

[Dave Homewood]

Amazing!

[baz62]

Wow! Now thats some history right there!!

[lumpy]

Wow , I assume the full wording on the baloon in the background would be " Michelin " ! Possibly the start of the " Michelin Man " advertising ?

[Dave Homewood]

Here's a great report on this event detailing all the types that were there and the importance of the event. I'm amazed to see how many famous aeroplanes were there, and also that a helicopter was there!! I never knew helicopters had been built that early on (yes I know Leonardo da Vinci designed the first known one, but you usually don't start seeing them in the press till the early 1940's).

paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=P19091201.2.6.1&srpos=3&e=01-09-1909--12-1909--10--1-byDA---0paris+salon+bleriot--

The First Aero. Show in the World.

At the beginning of the year there was a great show of aeros, but it was only a branch of the great motor show. This time the show was of aeros. entirely. Every kind of aero. — plane and gas varieties — appeared in a great blaze of glory at the Paris Salon. Seeing that the "events" of the flyers have become nearly as numerous as those of the turf, it is but natural to have a show for the purposes of comparison. The artificial bird is now overtaking the horse as an amuser of the populace. The President of the Republic, accompanied by three Ministers, on Saturday, September 25th, inaugurated the first purely aeronautic and aviation Salon in the Grand Palais, Paris.

It was a memorable occasion not only on account of the marvellous progress which had been made in the art of aerial locomotion since flying machines were exhibited in the annexe of the Automobile Salon last December, but because the show was organised solely by the representatives of the new industry without the patronage of any club or league. The result of their efforts thoroughly justified their decision to assume all the risks and to preserve all the moral and material advantages to their enterprise.

The dense crowds of enthusiastic admirers, writes a correspondent, that have visited the Salon during the first few days are a sure pledge for the brilliant success of the exhibition, and demonstrated the immense and natural public interest in all connected with the conquest of the element which has till quite recently baffled all the ingenious efforts of man. The great centre of attraction, we gather, on the opening day was the special stand under the dome where the monoplane on which Bleriot crossed the Channel was exhibited, in proximity to the four "Stands d'Honneur" occupied by Henry Farman's biplane, which gained the Grand Prix at Rheims, the Antoinette monoplane with which Latham made his daring if unsuccessful attempts to fly from Calais to Dover, the celebrated Wright machine, and the R.E.P. monoplane which seems destined ere long to vie with the best of the aerial craft. Voisin's aeroplanes with which Paulhan, Rougier, and other aviators have won so many laurels during the last few months were surrounded by an admiring crowd, as were, indeed, the less well-known flying machines, many of which will probably have earned celebrity before very long.

It is noteworthy that the big dirigibles inspire an interest in inverse ratio to their bulk. As somebody remarked, gas always will tell — for the worse. The spherical and steerable balloons were said to attract less attention, though their size rendered them most conspicuous in the show. Among those was one of the historical spherical balloons used during the siege of Paris, in 1870-71, to carry despatches and letters from the beleaguered city over the heads of the German troops to Gambetta, the organiser of the national defence, at Bordeaux. This historical relic looked rather primitive compared with the balloons constructed to-day, and especially beside the steerable balloons of the Clement Bayard and Zodiac types To digress for one moment, one may say that although dirigibles get blown away to sea now just as the round balloons did then, and accidents of the most awful sorts are common to both periods, the dirigible does cover ground in a fashion reliable enough. The proof is the successful flotation of the Zeppelin Aerial Company at Frankfort, for organising passenger excursions to the principal towns of the Fatherland and to England and Denmark. The new sport will be sure to rival Alpine climbing in danger.

To return to the exhibition. The retrospective section installed in the gallery overlooking the grand hall was of great interest, containing, as it did, a great quantity of old engravings, etc., representing the early attempts made to invade the ethereal realms with balloons. Curiously enough, though it is so to say only yesterday Wilbur Wright made his first flights in France, the machine he piloted on that occasion occupies a place of honour in this "retrospective" show. Events must have advanced with phenomenal rapidity since July, 1908, to warrant that apparatus being classed as an "interesting ancestor."

The Aeroplane of to-day.
The aeroplanes occupied the whole of the ground floor of the Grand Palais and were about thirty in number, biplanes and monoplanes, neither predominating. And along each nave, alternately with the aeroplanes, were situated groups of motors, all specially designed for flying machines, and these command a separate study. As regards the aeroplanes (an eye witness wrote), it may be at once said that none of them are particularly new. The calling into being of the new industry during the past year or two has had the effect, however, of placing at the disposal of constructors the specialties of makers who thus give the aeroplane maker, properly speaking, an opportunity of showing his machine at great advantage in respect to finish. Home-made devices formerly seen on the Wright and other earlier flyers some of these, as already mentioned, are on view in the retrospective portion of the show — are replaced by the specially-designed mechanisms above mentioned, and it is surprising what a number of parts are really required in the construction of up-to-date aeroplane.

In design, however, there is much similarity between the biplanes, the position of the steering planes and even their actual relative size appearing to have little influence upon the success of the machine as a flyer. Some have their motors placed beside the driver, as in the Wright machine. Others have it situated ahead, preceded by the propeller, and others have both the motor and the propellers at the rear of the conductor. Nothing appears to be specially claimed as an advantage of any of these arrangements. In the monoplanes the motors are mostly placed ahead of the conductor, with the propeller arranged in some cases to throw the air below and in other partly above the plane. There is an helicoptere on view, with independent lifting and propelling screws, and on the De Dion stand there is shown an octoplane, the planes arranged at intervals on two arms forming a wide V, the motor and driver being in the apex of the Y. These two machines have never yet left the ground. In all cases considerable thought has been given to methods of alighting. Whilst the pneumatically-tyred wheels are retained, elastic and spring suspensions have been added, and additional springs are brought into action according to the force of the descent. In one or two cases wooden skids come into secondary contact to prevent deformation or breakage of wheels, the skids being connected to springs. The writer has much to say of Santos Dumont's new monoplane, the latest development of his "Demoiselle" type.

Of this it has been written on a recent occasion that M. Santos-Dumont did some fancy flying on his miniature aeroplane, the Demoiselle, lately. He proved that he could fly at sixty miles an hour without touching the steering gear — a feat which is impossible on a motor-car. He took up two pocket handkerchiefs, and new nearly two miles holding out one in each hand.

Of this machine the above writer says: — The hit of the Salon is undoubtedly the Santos Dumont monoplane, known as the Demoiselle, which appears very diminutive compared with the large biplane exposed on the same stand. The Clement-Bayard people are taking up the building of these aeroplanes, and are reported to have sold five or six per day since the opening of the show. The neat little monoplane, which by the way was shown in last year's motor show, can be purchased complete for about £300. The beauty of the design consists largely in its simplicity as well as its smallness. The governor or rudder at the rear of the machine is in such a form that it does duty as a lateral rudder and level finder or governor in one. Propellers have not been forgotten; indeed, they received renewed attention in consequence of the accident to the Republique. Metal propellers are in disfavour, even for aeroplanes. Wooden propellers, although admittedly less efficient, weight for weight, are all formed of the best hard wood, generally of strips running at 90 degrees to the axle shaft. Thus it would be difficult for one of the blades to break off in the air and throw the aeroplane out of balance. One firm claims for its wooden propeller, formed in one single piece of wood, that it will turn at the peripheral speed of 200 metres per minute, without any deformation or vibration. Freak machines of the napping wing variety, or of awkward shapes or difficult construction, were nowhere to be seen in real size, although some of them are still perpetuated in the models, which have a gallery of their own. Around the central portion of the show were arranged all kinds of auxiliaries and patented devices, which prove the amount of attention which the new industry is already receiving in France. But it is admitted that the important thing for the aeroplane is first of all the motor, and that this has received the attention and the study of a number of the best makers of motor-car engines as well as specia lists in the art, was evident from the number and variety of the exhibits.

[Dave Homewood]

And here's another account, first hand from the Paris correspondent

paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=WC19091201.2.3&srpos=4&e=01-09-1909--12-1909--10--1-byDA---0paris+salon+bleriot--

FLYING MACHINES UP-TO-DATE

AN INTERESTING EXHIBITION

I spent a delightful afternoon at the exhibition of flying machines at the Grand Palaeo (writes the Paris correspondent of Mr Labouchcre's paper), the novelty of it all being very enjoyable. There was a large public, though not a crush, and it consisted of every class of the population. The flying machine will doubtless to improve in its details, but its broad principles seem to be established, and I doubt whether future exhibitions will offer the interest of this salon. The aeroplanes of the next few years will be but copies.

It is the privilege of this salon to possess the original masterpieces fresh from the inventors' minds. Bleriot's machine, for instance, on which he flew across the Channel, deserves to. be ranked with Arkwright's spinning-jenny, Stephenson's "Rocket," Howe's sewing-machine, "Bell's telephone, and Michelin's bicycle. It is placed in the centre of the hall, and, by way of contrast, lies just beneath an old- Siege of Paris balloon. Bleriot exhibits two or three newer models, with minor improements; for instance, he has discarded wires for cross-tying his wooden frames, and uses steel tape instead, because it offers less resistance to the wind. I was interested in noticing the small size of the rudders, both in the Bleriot and the Antoinette models. Proportionately they are no larger than a fish's tail. To prevent "side slipping" they are provided with vertical fins not more than a few inches high, running down the whole frame from fore to aft.

Antoinette puts a finer finish on his work than any of his competitors, and for this reason his machine is a great favourite with the public. No other flyer in the exhibition gives you so much the impression of the bird. The body suggests both safety and comfort. Indeed, barring breakdowns, machine flying is, in calm weather, safer than motoring, as there is no such thing as skidding or colliding with a vehicle round a corner.

The oil bill is quite moderate two or three gallons an hour. The cost of the flyers, considering they have just been put on the market, is very reasonable. If you are a light-weight, and wish to travel in tho air en garoon (as Baedeker says in his preface), you can purchase a Santos-Dumont drawn-fly for £300. For a heavy-weight I would recommend a medium apparatus such as a Bleriot XI, a Chaiiviere, a Gregoire-Gyp, or a W.L.D. They cost about £500. For flying out with somebody you need a Bleriot XII, an Antoinette, a Voisin, a Farman, or a Wright. They cost about £1000, a little more or less. Clement- Bayard has a splendid biplane, just as large as the ones I have mentioned, costing only £680, and this seems to be a competitive price.

The large aeroplanes do not differ much in point of size, weight, or horse power. The span and length from fore to aft are about ten or twelve yards, their weight is a little short of 1001b. and their engines have an average of 40 horse-power.

Altogether there are twenty flying machines on view, quite enough to interest and not enough to bewilder one. The firm of De Dion-Bouton exhibits an amazing aeroplane with eight wings. Engineers look at it and shake their heads. I arn told it was the personal idea of the Marquis de Dion, and that his engineers were left no alternative but to execute his design. I shall be curious to see next year whether it is still in existence.

M. Vuitron's flyer is another romantic notion. He is a wealthy trunk-maker by trade. He has provided a flyer with a huge wicker box with shelves, no doubt to place his trunks on view. At any rate, it will be a success as an advertisement.

[JDK]

Thanks for the thumbs up Errol!

It's an interesting era in aviation, often overlooked for the whizzier more warlike later periods. Thanks to Dave for finding the reports - the linked Flight report is of interest as well, I'd suggest.

Lumpy; it would be Michelin, but far from the start - the company was twenty years old by 1909, having started with bicycle tyres in the 1880s. Turn of the century Michelin advertising is a fascinating genre, the tyre made 'Michelin Man' I believe dating back that far.

Cheers!

[ErrolC]

Feb 6, 2011 20:00:08 GMT 12 JDK said:

Thanks for the thumbs up Errol!

It's an interesting era in aviation, often overlooked for the whizzier more warlike later periods. Thanks to Dave for finding the reports - the linked Flight report is of interest as well, I'd suggest.

No problem, I meant to drop a comment on to your blog pointing out Dave's find, but life (including accidentally using up our internet Gigs) distracted me!