International Aviation Meet at Belmont Park
Belmont Park program (1910)
DateOctober 22–31, 1910 (1910-10-22 – 1910-10-31)
Duration9 days
VenueBelmont Racetrack
LocationBelmont Park
Coordinates40°42′54″N 73°43′22″W / 40.71500°N 73.72278°W / 40.71500; -73.72278
Also known asBelmont Park aviation meet
TypeTournament
Patrons
ParticipantsAviators

The Belmont Park aviation meet was an international aerial show that took place in 1910. The Belmont Racetrack in Elmont, New York, United States, was the site of the aviation meet. The event took place over nine days and featured aerial races, and contests involving duration, distance, speed and altitude.

Background

The tournament was the idea of Andrew Freedman who was a director of the Wright Company.[1] On August 9, 1910, the Committee of Arrangements members were announced at the Finance Committee of the Aero Club Corporation. The members of the Committee of Arrangements were Alan A. Ryan, Clifford B. Harmon and W. Redmond Cross.[2] August Belmont Jr. was a Wright Company stockholder and he was selected to be the president of the event's organizing committee. The venue selected was August Belmont's racetrack at Belmont Park.[1] The committee selected Belmont so that they could save money by using the existing stands and enclosed the grounds.[2]

By October 9, 1910, the park was being prepared for the meet. The workers used "electric light" to work at night. The main grandstand was expanded to accommodate the people who were expected at Belmont Park. The organizers also had to construct hangars for the airplanes: the hangars were 1,000 ft (300 m) long and 15 ft (4.6 m) high. Aviators began to arrive on October 9 including Frenchmen Alfred Leblanc, Jacques Faure and American John Moisant.[3]

History

Belmont Park (October 30, 1910)

Thirty aviators attended the nine day (October 22–31, 1910) event and the prizes were valued at US$72,300 (equivalent to $2,261,314 in 2022). Some of the featured aviators included Wilbur Wright, Alfred Leblanc, Émile Aubrun, René Simon, John Moisant and Claude Grahame-White.[4] The aviation meet was the second international tournament and the contests involved, duration, distance, speed and altitude. Some of the featured events included: the Scientific American Trophy, Michelin Cup, and the Statue of Liberty Flight. The 100-kilometer (62 mi) Gordon Bennett Cup Race was also a featured competition for the Gordon Bennett International Aviation Trophy and US$5,000 (equivalent to $157,036 in 2022).[5]

The show was managed and organized by Aero Corporation Limited. The gate receipts for the show totaled US$188,000 (equivalent to $5,904,543 in 2022). The Wright Brothers were involved with the show and they sued the Aero Corporation over payments they were owed. William W. Niles spoke for the Aero Corporation and made claims that the expenses for the show totaled US$200,000 (equivalent to $6,281,429 in 2022).[6]

American aviator Harriet Quimby became interested in aviation when she attended the event.[7] It was there that she met John Moisant and his sister Matilde.[8][9] Quimby became the first American female to become a licensed pilot, on August 1, 1911.[7]

John Moisant of Chicago crashed twice at the show. He crashed trying out his new Blériot aircraft on October 19 and when he was helped from his plane he said, "Hurt? No, not at all. Nothing ever happens to anybody flying."[10] Later he had a warmup flight and he crashed again.[11] The second crash occurred October 23, 1910, in Moisant's passenger-carrying Blériot aircraft. The Associated Press reported that the plane was "badly smashed" and Moisant had to work through the night to complete repairs.[12] He was forced to search for another aircraft and by the time he had found one, the Statue of Liberty race had already begun. He found that could not pass the other two competitors so he flew a different route.[11]

Moisant won the featured Statue of Liberty race which was a 58-kilometer (36 mi) trip. The race began at Belmont, went around the Statue of Liberty and ended back at Belmont: Moisant won US$10,000 (equivalent to $314,071 in 2022). Thomas Fortune Ryan of Bethlehem Steel provided the $10,000 prize money for the race.[1] British aviator Claude Grahame-White registered a protest; he had finished second and he wanted to have another attempt.[13]

Controversy

The aviation committee met to discuss Grahame-White's protest. They decided that the contest was over and Moisant had won.[13] Moisant was declared the winner by beating Grahame-White. Only three pilots flew in the race, Grahame-White, Moisant and Jacques de Lesseps.[14]

In March 1911 (five months after the contest) the Board of Governors of the Aero Club met and decided to disqualify Moisant because they ruled that he had failed to accomplish a one-hour flight prior to his entry. The US$10,000 prize was awarded to de Lesseps, not second-place finisher Grahame-White, because Grahame-White had been disqualified when one of his wingtips hit a pylon during the race.[14] Moisant had died on the morning of December 31, 1910, in an air crash near Harahan, Louisiana, prior to the decision. He had been making a preparatory flight for his attempt to win the 1910 Michelin Cup and the $4,000 prize for the longest sustained flight of 1910.[15]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Goldstone, Lawrence (2014). Birdmen : the Wright Brothers, Glenn Curtiss, and the battle to control the skies (First ed.). New York: Ballantine Books. pp. 224, 225. ISBN 978-0345538055. Archived from the original on April 7, 2023. Retrieved April 6, 2023.
  2. 1 2 "Belmont Race Track for Aviation Meet". New York Times. August 9, 1910. Retrieved April 8, 2023.
  3. ↑ "Aviators Gather for Belmont Flight". New York Times. October 9, 1910. Retrieved April 8, 2023.
  4. ↑ "World Famous Aviators Will Compete at the Belmont Park Meet". New York Times. October 16, 1910. Archived from the original on April 23, 2023. Retrieved April 6, 2023.
  5. ↑ "International Aviation Meet, Belmont Park Photographs". National Air and Space Museum. Smithsonian. Archived from the original on April 6, 2023. Retrieved April 6, 2023.
  6. ↑ "Ask Court to Tie Up Aero Meet Funds". New York Times. December 20, 1910. Retrieved April 6, 2023.
  7. 1 2 Tallman, Jill W. (August 2, 2011). "Thanks, Harriet" (Harriet Quimby profile). AOPA Pilot. Archived from the original on December 21, 2014. Retrieved December 21, 2014.
  8. ↑ "Harriet Quimby profile". The National Aviation Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on May 29, 2022. Retrieved October 3, 2016.
  9. ↑ "Harriet Quimby profile". centennialofflight.net. Archived from the original on September 23, 2015. Retrieved May 10, 2015.
  10. ↑ "American Aviator Fell 125 Feet". Norwich bulletin. October 20, 1910. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
  11. 1 2 Hopkins, Jerry (August 1, 1960). "King of the Aviators". Air & Space Forces Magazine. Archived from the original on April 6, 2023. Retrieved April 6, 2023.
  12. ↑ "Aviation Brings Big Crowds to Belmont Park". The Evening Tribune. Associated Press. October 25, 1910.
  13. 1 2 "The Aviation Prize Winners". Frederick News. November 3, 1910. Retrieved April 6, 2023.
  14. 1 2 "De Leseps Winner of Liberty Flight". New York Times. March 15, 1911. Retrieved April 6, 2023.
  15. ↑ "Moisant, King of Aviators, Killed". The Daily Picayune. New Orleans. January 1, 1911. pp. 1, 3.
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