Isidore Auguste Marie Louis Paulhan (French: [pɔlɑ̃]; July 19, 1883, to February 10, 1963) was a French aviator. He won the first Daily Mail aviation prize for completing the first flight between London and Manchester in 1910.
Biography
Paulhan was born in Pézenas, Hérault. His flying career began with building model airplanes. During his military service, he worked as a balloon pilot at St Cyr. In 1905, he won a competition for designing model aircraft. After his military service, he worked as an engineer for Édouard Surcouf, a balloon manufacturer. He helped build the dirigible La Ville de Paris and flew as its mechanic in 1907. That same year, he won another model aircraft design competition. The prize was a full-size version of his design, but his plan was too complicated, so he received a Voisin airframe instead. With help from family and friends, he got an engine and learned to fly in 1909. He earned French pilot licence No. 10. (The first 10 licences were given in order of surname.)
Paulhan became known as a skilled pilot. He participated in many airshows, including one in La Brayelle Airfield, Douai, in July 1909, where he set records for altitude (150 metres or 490 feet) and flight time (1 hour 7 minutes), covering 47 kilometres (29 miles). He also flew at the Grande Semaine d'Aviation in Rheims, where he crashed. In Lyon, he flew a Farman III and broke records for height (920 metres), speed (20 km in 19 minutes), and weight, carrying a 73-kilogram (161 lb) passenger. He flew at the Blackpool Aviation Week in October 1909, Britain’s first air show.
On 29 October 1909, Paulhan made the first official powered flight at Brooklands, Surrey, England, in a biplane built by Farman Aviation Works. This was also the first public flying display at Brooklands, where about 20,000 people watched him fly to a height of 220 metres (720 feet). Local newspapers reported that the land near Brooklands Motor Racing Track was turned into an aerodrome for the event by workers who worked day and night.
In January 1910, Paulhan traveled to America for airshows and competitions at the Los Angeles International Air Meet (10–20 January). He brought two Blériot monoplanes and two Farman biplanes. The Wright brothers, though not participating, were there with their lawyers to stop Paulhan and Glenn Curtiss from flying. The Wrights claimed their ailerons violated patents. Paulhan flew anyway, winning all prizes and $19,000. He set a new altitude record of 4,164 feet (1,269 metres), beating his previous record of 1,900 feet (580 metres). He also won an endurance prize for a flight lasting 1 hour 49 minutes 40 seconds. He gave William Randolph Hearst his first flight experience. However, he may have disappointed William Boeing, who was excited about the new invention of the airplane.
From Los Angeles, Paulhan gave exhibitions in San Francisco and Salt Lake City, Utah, where the Deseret News announced, “The Air King is Here to Fly.” He also appeared in New Orleans and made the first airplane flight in Texas.
The Wright brothers’ legal case led to a federal judge ordering Paulhan to pay $25,000 for each paid display. Furious, he canceled his American tour and went to New York City to challenge the Wright brothers by giving free flights. The dispute continued, and in March, an agreement was reached allowing him to give flying exhibitions in his Farman biplane if he paid a $6,000 weekly bond. The case threatened the planned international aviation meet by the Aero Club of America, where the Gordon Bennett Trophy competition was to be held. According to Courtlandt Field Bishop, president of the Aero Club of America, leading foreign aviators had said they would not appear in the U.S. until the case was decided. If Paulhan won, they would compete; if he lost, they would not want to be in American courts. Paulhan eventually left quietly for France.
The Wrights’ patent case continued for many years, involving Curtiss and other pilots and manufacturers.
Returning to Europe, Paulhan continued his flying achievements. In April 1910, he won the London to Manchester air race, earning the £10,000 prize for flying from London to Manchester, a distance of 195 miles (314 km). This prize had been offered in 1906 by the Daily Mail for the first pilot to complete the flight within 24 hours. The flight had to start and finish within five miles of the Daily Mail office in each city, with no more than two landings en route. In 1906, this seemed impossible—European fliers could only stay aloft for seconds. Paulhan arrived in Manchester 12 hours after leaving London, spending 4 hours 12 minutes in the air, with an overnight stop at Lichfield, 117 miles from his starting point. He beat the British contender, Claude Grahame-White. A blue plaque marks the site of his landing in Paulhan Road, Burnage, Manchester.
In 1910, Paulhan was one of the first pilots to fly a seaplane, the Hydravion designed by Henri Fabre, and won a £10,000 prize for the most flights made in the year. He also worked on aircraft design, creating the Paulhan biplane with Fabre, a large triplane tested in the 1911 French military aircraft trials, and the Aéro-Torpille with Victor Tatin.
In February 1912, he opened a seaplane flying school in Villefranche-sur-Mer before moving to Arcachon.
During the First World War, Paulhan was mobilized as a pilot with the rank of lieutenant on 15 September 1914, serving in northern France near Amiens. He was transferred to the Serbian front in 1915, where he was the most experienced and oldest aviator. In Serbia, he commanded a squadron of 10 Maurice Farman airplanes. During flights, he was sometimes accompanied by a machine gunner or a mechanic repairing the plane mid-air. The Serbian campaign failed, but Paulhan is credited with the world’s first “medevac” when he flew the seriously ill Milan Štefánik to safety. Decorated with the croix de guerre, he returned to France and stopped flying missions, instead working on propeller construction for the French military. After the war, he was made an Officer of the Légion d’honneur.
After demobilization, Paulhan became a seaplane builder, constructing machines under license from Curtiss. He worked with engineer Pillard at the Société Provençale de Constructions Aéronautiques, building in 1928 the first all-metal seaplane in France, the SPCA Paulhan-Pillard T3. He also contributed to the