Post by jinx on Nov 17, 2006 2:50:43 GMT -5
From Avions no. 101, you are confronted with the Lorraine-Hanriot 41, 41.2 and 130 racers, used by famous French aviator Marcel Haegelen (surname pronounce [Ejlen ] in French, stressed on the last syllable and with a silent H and middle e silent).Marcel used these and other models (42 and 131) in the Michelin Cup air races in the mid-thirties, held each year from 1930 to 1933).
Just to give you one example of the Coupe Michelin race, the race known as the Troisieme Coupe Michelin Internationale (3rd International Michelin Cup) was organised by the Michelin company in its 18 years of existence as a tyre-maker, was held on 12th of August 1942 (departure date) and the course circle fixes were:
Etampes/ Tours/ Chateauroux/ Mesves-sur-Loire (Nievre)/ Etampes ( a total distance of 500 km).
This circle had to done 4 times to complete the race.
Marcel had calculated he would cover the whole race in 10 hours 20 minutes, at an average speed of 255,6 km/hour. When the actrual race took place, his calculations proved very close indeed as he covered 254,36 km in 10h 20 min. (He must have been very good at mathematics, I guess).
He won the cup by breaking his own previous record by 28 km/h.
This post brings some fond memories to me, as I have been a few times to the historic aviation town Villacoublay outside of Paris where the city has named all its streets after aviators from the 1903 to 1940 era, and Marcel had his own street--though it was for my wife to buy clothes from a discount center-- and have been to Chateuroux also --a famous NATO base once, but better known to the French as Jean D'Arc country and the place where famous writer George Sandes had her castle--and to the Michelin huge tyre factory in Auvergne just outside the city of Clermont-Ferrand. I have also flown over Etampes once in a small rented Robin 4-seater having taken off from Coulommiers, and been to Tours many times by car to see friends I have there.
:)The Robin-renting experience is worth recounting, as at the time my French was minimal and I asked Nicole, a French girl, to escort me to a nearby field from Paris and help me rent a plane for 30 minutes. When we arrived and went to the gate, I said I would like a "voleur" meaning a glider, but the correct French word was "voilier", as"voleur" means "thief" in French. The guy looked at me and said: "Sir, you must go the police to find a "voleur". At that stage, Nicole intervened and saved the day by explaining we wanted a 'voilier' and not a 'voleur', upon which the guy laughed and said there were no gliders available as all had been rented out and only a Robin 400 was free. So I said okay, and instead of a glider ride, we got the engine-powered ride. Price at the time was 60 French francs for 30 minutes, and the pilot let me make a turn myself once in the air while Nicole trembled with fear on the rear seat and changed colors from yellow to deep green... Coulommiers is famous for its cheese, by the way, of the same name as the town.
