Circuit de l'Est

The Circuit de l'Est was a six-stage air race organized by the newspaper Le Matin, which took place in August 1910. General Foch, who had followed the race attentively, declared a few weeks later during the first aerial maneuvers in Picardy, to the Matin delegate, Robert de Beauplan: "All that, you see, is sport: but for the army, the air force, it's zero".

Competition

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  Departure of Alfred Leblanc on a Blériot XI from Issy-les-Moulineaux aerodrome at Paris.
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  Departure of Émile Aubrun on a Blériot XI.
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  Charles Terres Weymann at Charleville.
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  Troyes.
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  Alfred Leblanc arrives first on his Blériot.
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  Alfred LeBlanc congratulated by Henry Deutsch de la Meurthe, at Nancy.

The race took place over six stages linking the cities of Paris – Troyes - Nancy - Mézières – Douai Amiens – Paris. The French army aviation service committed three crews to this event.

Alfred Leblanc won the race, and won the prize of 100,000 francs reserved for the winner (i.e. approximately €366,000 in 2017), Émile Aubrun finished second, each piloting a Blériot XI monoplane powered by a Gnome engine of 50hp. They were the only survivors of the 35 entered, of which only ten started from Issy-lès-Moulineaux. They traveled 805 km in 12 h 1 min 1 s, an average speed of 66.99km/h.

External links

• "Les débuts de l'aviation militaire française". 1910. Retrieved 29 May 2016.
• "Les hommes-oiseaux et le circuit de l'Est – L. Bertrand – Nancy −1910". Retrieved 28 October 2017.
• "Le circuit de l'Est – Aviation – 7 au 17 août 1910 – Alain Lefèvre". 7 January 2015. Retrieved 28 October 2017.