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Alfred Leblanc
Alfred Leblanc
	Alfred Leblanc in the cockpit, c.1915
Born	Émile Eugène Aubrun; April 13, 1869; Paris FR
Died	November 22, 1921 (aged 52)
Occupation	Aircraft pilot
Years active	1910-1920
Known for	Circuit de l'Est

Alfred Leblanc (13 April 1869 – 22 November 1921) was a pioneer French aviator.^[1]

Early life

He was born on 13 April 1869 in Paris. In 1888, he became the technical director of the Victor Bidault metal foundry. A keen sportsman, he was an energetic secretary general of the oldest gymnastic society in Paris, that of the XVIieme arrondissement. He became interested in the sport of ballooning, rapidly becoming a successful competitor in the races organised by the Aéro-Club de France^[2]

Biography

He later became associated with Louis Blériot, and handled the logistics for Blériot for his cross channel flight of July 25, 1909. He then became the first person to buy a copy of Blériot's aircraft, and also the first pupil at the flying schools which Blériot established, becoming the second person to qualify for an AeCF pilots license through a flight test. (The first licenses were given to prominent aviators without any formal test) He later became one of the chief instructors, and also made proving flights of newly produced Blériot aircraft.^{[citation needed]}

He was placed second in the 1909 Gordon Bennett Cup for balloons.^[3]

In August 1910, flying a Gnome-engined Blériot XI, he won the Circuit de l'Est, covering the 805 km (500 mi) in 12hr 1 min 1 sec, an average speed of 66.99 km/h (41.63 mph)^[4] Leblanc was first in the race and Émile Aubrun finished second.^[5] The race finished at Issy-les-Moulineaux, and 200,000 spectators were gathered to see the finish.^[6]

In November 1910, he represented France in the Gordon Bennett Trophy race for airplanes, held in New York, but misjudged a turn on his last lap, and crashed: had he not done so, he would have won the competition, which was won by Claude Grahame-White, also flying a Blériot.^[7]

During the first World War, he was the general manager of the Blériot factory at Suresnes.^{[citation needed]}

In 1919, he was appointed manager of the Compagnie des Messageries Aeriennes, an airline formed by the major French aircraft manufacturers in order to create a civil aviation market, and he was also put in charge of the Societe des Stocks, which was formed to dispose of the large number of surplus aircraft and aero-engines resulting from the end of the First World War.^[8]

He died 22 November 1921.^[9]

Awards

Officer of the Legion of Honor (1920)^[10]

Records

1910 – flight airspeed record for 1 mile.^[11]

Leblanc in his Blériot, being congratulated by Henri Deutsch de la Meurthe, at Nancy, France after the Circuit de l'Est d'Aviation

References

^ "Alfred Leblanc". Early Aviators. Retrieved 2010-12-27.
^ "Alfred Leblanc". l'Aérophile: 135. June 1906.
^ Gordon Bennett Race for Balloons Flight 30 October 1909
^ Circuit de l'Est Flight 27 August 1910
^ ""The triumphs of aviation, the circuit of the east by airplane"". L'Aérophile (in French): 386, 387, 391. 1 January 1910.
^ "Le Blanc is a French Hero". Daily Journal and Tribune. 18 August 1910. Retrieved 5 April 2023.
^ The American International Meetin9 Flight 5 November 1910
^ Elliott 2000, p.209-10
^ Stéphanie Meyniel. Le 22 novembre 1921 dans le ciel: Alfred Leblanc emporté par la maladie. 22 Nov 2014. Air-journal
^ Meyniel, Stéphanie. "November 22, 1921 In the Sky: Alfred LeBlanc Carried Away by Illness". Air-journal. Air Journal. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
^ "Le Blanc Flies Fast Mile. Covers St. Louis Course in 53 Seconds. Will Be in International Race". The New York Times. October 15, 1910. Retrieved 2010-12-28. Alfred Le Blanc, who is to pilot the French balloon Isle de France in the international balloon race for the James Gordon Bennett Cup here next week, established to-day what is said to be a world's record for aeroplane speed over a measured course. With a Blériot monoplane Le Blanc made a mile in 53 seconds, incidentally setting an American speed record.