Circuit de l'Est

The Circuit de l'Est was a six-stage air race organized by the newspaper Le Matin, [1] 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".[2]

Competition

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.[3]

References
  1. ""Le Matin organizes the first air race"". Le Matin: 1. 1910.
  2. Bloch, Marc (2010). L'Étrange défaite (in French). Paris: Gallimard. p. 326. ISBN 978-2-07-032569-6.
  3. ""The triumphs of aviation, the circuit of the east by airplane"". L'Aérophile (in French): 386. 1910.


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