John Moisant

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John Moisant (1910)

John Beavis Moisant (born April 25, 1868 in Kankakee , Illinois , † December 31, 1910 in New Orleans ) was an American aviation pioneer . He designed and built the first all-metal airplane in 1909 and was the first to fly over the English Channel with a passenger.

John Moisant was a wealthy plantation owner in El Salvador and had an interest in aviation. After attending the Reims air show in 1909, he took flying lessons from Louis Blériot , bought a Blériot machine, flew and won flying races. He designed and built his own airplane, the first airplane with an all-metal frame. On August 23, 1910, he crossed the English Channel with a passenger, his mechanic Albert Fileux and a cat. Together with his brother Alfred and his sister Matilde, he founded the aerobatic group Show Moisant International Aviation Ltd. in New York in 1910 . that caused a stir in the USA. In his Blèriot monoplane , he flew 16 kilometers in just 39 minutes at the Belmont Air Show in Belmont Park, New York on October 22nd. On December 30th, he took his Blériot monoplane in a 5-mile race against a Packard automobile and lost by a hair's breadth. The next day, when he was making a practice flight for the Michelin Cup with $ 4,000 in prize money, his plane ran into turbulence. When attempting an emergency landing, he was thrown from the aircraft, not wearing a seat belt. He broke his neck and died.

First he was buried in the Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, later he was reburied in the Portal of Folded Wings Shrine of Aviation. New Orleans Airport was originally called Moisant Field before it was renamed Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport . The IATA airport code MSY for Moisant Stock Yard is still reminiscent of the aviation pioneer.

Web links

Commons : John Moisant  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Günter Schmidt, Werner Schwipps: 20 chapters early aviation. Transpress, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-344-00390-9 , p. 171
personal data
SURNAME Moisant, John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Moisant, John Beavis (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American aviation pioneer
DATE OF BIRTH April 25, 1868
PLACE OF BIRTH Kankakee , Illinois
DATE OF DEATH December 31, 1910
Place of death New Orleans