| Léon Lemartin | |
|---|---|
Léon Lemartin |
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| Born | 20 October 1883 Dunes, Tarn-et-Garonne |
| Died | 18 June 1911 (aged 27) Vincennes, Paris, France |
| Nationality | French |
| Occupation | Aircraft engineer and pilot |
| Known for | record breaking pioneer aviator who carried seven, eight, eleven passengers |
Théodore Clovis Edmond Lemartin, known as Léon Lemartin (20 October 1883 Dunes, Tarn-et-Garonne – 18 June 1911, Vincennes)[1][2] was a pioneer aviator who set a world record on 3 February 1911 at Pau, France when he carried seven[3][4] passengers in a Bleriot XIII Aerobus. He then took eight, eleven and thirteen passengers aloft the following month.[5]
The son of a blacksmith, in 1902 he became a graduate Gadz'Art, an engineer of 'Arts and Crafts' of the École Nationale Supérieure d'Arts et Métiers (ENSAM) - a prestigious university (grande ecole) specialising in engineering.[2][6] His aeronautic career included working with Gabriel Voisin, the Seguin brothers, Henri Farman, Ernest Archdeacon and Louis Blériot. He was present when Blériot made the historic first crossing of the English channel in 1909.[2][7]
On 24 May 1911, three weeks before his death, he reportedly surpassed the world speed record although it was never officially recognized. He achieved 128.418 kilometres per hour (79.795 mph) over the 33 kilometres (21 mi) flight between Etampes and Toury in a Blériot using his own enhancements to the Gnome Omega 50 hp motor.[2]
He died in a crash on 18 June 1911 during the Paris-London-Paris leg of Le Circuit Européen (Tour of Europe) air race. He was still within sight of the reportedly 'up to 1 million' spectators at the take-off in Vincennes.[8]
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Lemartin was born in the commune of Dunes in the Department of Tarn-et-Garonne in south west France.[1][2] From the moment of his birth he was known as Léon, but his forenames (Théodore, Clovis, Edmond) honoured both his father and both of his grandfathers. When he graduated in 1902 and required authorisations to work he discovered a mistake on his birth certificate, that his family name of 'Le Martin' had been written 'Lemartin', but he decided that it was easier to adopt the 'new' spelling.[2]
His father Edmond was a blacksmith and farrier (Fr. Maréchal-ferrant), and a member of the 'Compagnons du Tour de France' (a French community of craftsmen and artisans). He was also the inventor of several 'furnaces maréchal', some of which were patented. Edmond believed strongly in both science and technology so Léon spent many hours working in the forge learning practical skills.[2]
Once Lemartin achieved his 'school certificate' he was enrolled at the 'Ecole Pratique' d'Agen'. He was a gifted and serious student who advanced quickly so that in October 1899, when he was just sixteen, he left his native Brulhois area and travelled almost 500 kilometres (310 mi) to enroll at the 'Institute of Arts et Métiers' in Aix-en-Provence where he became a Gadz'Art, the nickame given to the students and alumni of the École Nationale Supérieure d'Arts et Métiers (ENSAM), a prestigious university (grande ecole) specialising in engineering. At the age of nineteen, in 1902, he became a qualified Gadz'Art, an engineer of 'Arts and Crafts' (Ingénieur des Arts et Métiers) and moved to Paris.[2][6]
In December 1902 Lemartin met aviation enthusiast Louise Soriano, who had divorced the Comte Charles de Lambert and married Ricardo Soriano von Hermansdorff Sholtz, Marquis de Ivanrey. Lemartin and Louise worked together during their joint airship project and subsequently married, upon which he adopted her daughter Jane (or Jeanne[9]) de Lambert from her first marriage.[2] Louise died in December 1907 and is buried in Dunes. Lemartin then married Madeleine, née Baas, and they had three children: Louise, Simone and Léone. Jane de Lambert also grew up in the family. After his death, Madeleine married his brother Albert and had two more children, Maurice and Roger.[2]
Lemartin had an early interest in ballooning and, learning from Alberto Santos-Dumont, he began to build an airship in collaboration with the Spanish aristocrat, financier, engineer, inventor and adventurer Ricardo Soriano von Hermansdorff Sholtz. The project failed due to a fire, so Lemartin applied to the 'L'École Duvignau', but without success.[2]
In the early 1900s, Lemartin started work at the automobile manufacturer Charron, based in Puteaux Paris. He later moved to E.N.V. He later began to work for Gabriel and Charles Voisin on the structure of their early experimental glider, which in 1905 was towed along the river Seine for 600 metres (2,000 ft).[2]
Lemartin was apparently not convinced by the Voisin approach and agreed with Louis Bleriot that the engine was key to achieving powered heavier-than-air flight in a monoplane. Thus, he joined Société Des Moteurs Gnome (the Gnome motor company founded by Louis and Laurent Seguin in 1905) where he worked on their 7-cylinder Gnome Omega rotary engine project, and became a key developer of the basic idea. The Omega set a benchmark with its delivery of 50 hp (37 kW) from 75 kilograms (170 lb). He also had a special role in the company whereby he was seconded to directly support the aviators who were using the Omega. He was thus key to many of the great milestones of aviation. Henry Farman's first completion of a 1 mile (1.6 km) circuit, Léon Delagrange's first passenger flight when he carried the great sponsor Ernest Archdeacon, and Louis Bleriot's historic flight across the English Channel.[2]
At Gnome, he teamed up with Jules Védrines, another young engineer who went on to win the special consolation prize in the 1911 Daily Mail Round-Britain Air race and the overall prize in the Paris-Madrid Air race.[2][10]
As senior customer engineer at Gnome, Lemartin worked on the engines for Alfred Leblanc's Morane-Saulnier aircraft at major air-meetings such as Reims, Nice, and Bordeaux. The Morane-Saulnier was built by Raymond Saulnier and the brothers Léon and Robert Morane and fitted with the Omega motor.[2]
In the rapidly developing world of aviation in 1909 Bleriot needed a new achievement and money to establish his company, so the Daily Mail prize of 25,000 F for the first pilot to cross the English Channel was immediately appealing. Bleriot completed the first crossing using a 25 hp Anzani powered Bleriot XI, but he subsequently asked Gnome and Lemartin to develop the 50 hp Omega for the production models of the Bleriot XI. On May 14, 1910, the Omega powered the Bleriot XI used by Jacques de Lesseps, the son of Ferdinand de Lesseps, for the second Channel crossing.[2][11][12]
The Reims Week Airshow in August 1909 included pilots such as Bleriot, Curtiss, Delagrange, Farman, Lambert, Latham, Paulhan, Santos-Dumont, and the Wright brothers. Lemartin invented a system that significantly increased the speed of the Gnome Omega and thereby scooped four of the five major prizes. Louis Bleriot in the Blériot XII took the speed record (77 kilometres per hour (48 mph)), the distance record (180 kilometres (110 mi)), duration (3 hours 15 minutes) and Henry Farman took two passengers in his Voisin.[2]
On 20 August 1910, Lemartin signed a contract to join Louis Bleriot's flying school to train as a pilot and work as an engineer. He qualified six weeks later on 4 October. His registration number was 249, and he was assigned to Bleriot's schools at Étampes and Pau. His contract entitled him to 400 francs per month (circa €1,100 Euro in 2006), 30 francs per flight (c. €80), and 32,500 francs (c. €87,000) to his widow in case of death.[2]
On 3 February 1911, at Pau, he broke the world record by carrying seven passengers in a Bleriot XIII, surpassing Sommer's previous record of six.[3][4] During March 1911, he went on to increase the record to eight, then eleven, and finally thirteen passengers,[5] and including the aviators Jeanne Herveu (founder of the first flying school for women.[13]), and Paul Wyss (the Swiss pilot who was training at the Bleriot school in Pau at the time.[14]).
Despite its weight, my monoplane lifted into the air perfectly. I had a very clear vision and next to me the passengers were installed under the wings, like the Imperial Parisian omnibus, watching the hills roll by ... and I'm happy to be their pilot.—Léon Lemartin, The Independent, February 1910.
On 24 May 1911, three weeks before his death, he reportedly surpassed the world speed record, although it was never officially authorised. He achieved 128.418 km/h between Etampes and Toury in a Blériot using "his own" enhanced model of the Gnome 50 hp motor.[2] (The official record of 125 kilometres per hour (78 mph) was set by Leblanc on June 12 during qualifying for the Gordon Bennett Trophy.)[2]
On 1 June 1911, he signed a new contract with Louis Bleriot, becoming a member of the race team to compete at major events and receive one third of any prizes won. The prospective prize for his first (fatal) competition would have been 450,000 francs (circa €1,200,000 Euro in 2006).[2]
Lemartin died in a crash on 18 June 1911 during the Paris-London-Paris leg of Le Circuit Européen (Tour of Europe) air race. He was still within sight of the reportedly 'up to 1 million' spectators at the take-off in Vincennes.
Le Circuit Européen (Tour of Europe) was his first competition. The night before his departure from Vincennes, he was working on the machines of his teammates Roland Garros; Lieutenant Jean Louis Conneau (nicknamed André Beaumont) who went on to win both Le Circuit Européen and Paris-Rome; and 'Gilbert' the Lasseur de Ranzay.[15] Thus the next morning, June 18, Lemartin was tired.[8][16]
That morning, the weather was not good and Roland Garros, who was the first to start, had to scratch. He advised Lemartin against flying because "les ailes souples ne vont pas tenir!" ("the wings are too flexible and will not hold"), but Lemartin wanted to achieve his dream of racing before a million spectators.
According to the New York Times of 19 June 1911:
The wind was rising at the start of the contest, and Le Martin, who was one of the most experienced aviators in France, rocked about a good deal as his machine left the ground and swept across the field. His aeroplane had reached the woods, a quarter of a mile beyond the barriers, when it was observed to pitch swiftly downward and into the trees. Le Martin was using a biplane, which was broken badly as it fell at the foot of an oak tree. A corner of the motor struck Le Martin's head, crushing his skull, and his right leg was also broken in two places. The aviator was barely alive when he was taken away by Red Cross surgeons, whose stations surrounded the field. The crowds removed their hats as the wounded aviator was carried past, or as word passed among the people that he was dead. Le Martin was alive when he reached the hospital, but expired a few minutes afterwards.[8]
Soon after the crash, Madame Bleriot arrived at the site. Ernest Monis the Prime Minister of France, who was a spectator, sent his doctor, but Lemartin died on arrival at the hospital Saint-Antoine in Vincennes.[8]
Despite his brief career, Lemartin is considered one the pioneers of French aviation. He was the 59th aviation pioneer to die.[7]
Lemartin is buried at Dunes (Tarn-et-Garonne), where both a street and the airport (Piste Théodore Léon Lemartin) bear his name.[7][17]
His widow Madeleine, who received an insurance allocation of 32,500 francs, continued to raise his three children, Louise, Simone and Léone, plus Jane de Lambert.[18] Madeleine subsequently married Léon's brother Albert and they had two more children, Maurice and Roger.[2]
Lemartin's only grandson, Jacques Dalmon, wrote his grandfather's biography in 1994 (Lemartin, pilote-aviateur). He also published a new revision in 2009 in co-operation with Lemartin's great grandson, Olivier Dalmon (Léon Lemartin, Chef-Pilote de la Maison Blériot).[7]