The Rise and Fall of Armand Deperdussin

In 1913 the Gordon Bennett race, one of the major international airplane competitions, was held at Reims. France as the world center of aircraft manufacturing and flying at this time attracted flyers from many countries and drew the attention of all those interested in the new sport and industry. The race itself marked another breakthrough, for on September 29 Marcel Prevost shattered the 200 kilometers per hour speed barrier and set a new record of 204 kph. When the race ended, winner Pr6vost sent a telegram of triumph to Armand Deperdussin, the owner of his plane and of the factory where it had been constructed. But Deperdussin read the message behind bars. He had been jailed eight weeks earlier, and his career as an airplane builder was over. So, Deperdussin suffered a great disaster and enjoyed a great triumph at almost the same moment. This aviation pioneer's arrest and subsequent conviction have clouded his name and reputation in the annals of French aviation and business, where he has been almost completely forgotten. Nevertheless, his career was an exciting and important one: he launched one of France's greatest aircraft designers on the path of success, and he supported significant advances in airplane design. From the conjunction of these two factors came France's best fighter planes in the First World War. Little is known about Armand Deperdussin's early life. Probably born in Liege, Belgium, in 1860, he spent his early years engaged in a variety of commercial activities. He worked in a pharmacy. He traveled for a Belgian chocolate firm, but his employment ended one fine day when he grew hungry and ate all his samples. This childish behavior is of more than anecdotal interest, for the same pattern repeated itself later. The year 1896 found him singing in a Brussels night

Defense, Military, and Policy Studies · History