COUNT JACQUES DE LESSEPS 1883-1927

Postcard of Count Jacques de Lesseps and women passengers aboard a Bleriot aircraft. from The Frank Coffyn Collection Courtesy of Empire State Aerosciences Museum.

 

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES via email from Dave Lam, 10-27-06      Count Jacques de Lessups (1883- 19 Oct 1927) earned his French pilot's license (#27) on 6 Jan 1910, flying a Bleriot. He participated in numerous competitions or meetings in 1910, including Barcelona, Montreal, Niort, New York, and Toronto. On 21 May 1910 he made the second ever crossing of the English Channel in an airplane, and won the French Ruinart Prize which had been offered for the first Channel Crossing. Although Bleriot had actually flown over the channel the year before, he was not eligible for the prize due to having filled out some of the paperwork inaccurately.       During WWI he served the French military as pilot of night bombardment and observation aircraft, and was one of the pioneers of aerial photography. After the war he became the Technical Director and Primary Pilot for a French/Canadian aviation company. He died in 1927 in the crash of a Schreck flying boat carrying out aerial surveys (model FBA 21) near Gaspey. As an aside, I have been told he was the grandson of Ferdinand de Lesseps, the builder of the Suez Canal. Dave

 

SUCCESSFUL FLIGHTS AT MONTREAL MEET The Knoxville Journal, Knoxville,Tennessee, June 29, 1910 Transcribed by Bob Davis - 10-16-03 Montreal, Que., June 28. - "The aviation meet was delayed by a heavy wind until 5:30 this evening. Walter Brookins, of the Wright team, started before the heavy wind had gone down, remaining up nine minutes, 50 seconds. In a second ascent he mounted to an altitude of approximately 4,000 feet and was in the air twenty minutes and thirty seconds. Count DeLesseps made two exhibition ascensions. On his second flight he ascended higher than he has yet done in Canada and in both descended in his usual graceful way. Lachappelle, a member of the Wright team, made good time in speed circles, doing the first lap in two minutes, two seconds."

 

"Veteran Airman Is Missing, Part of Jacques de Lessep's Ship Found in Gulf." The Knoxville Journal, Knoxville,Tennessee, October 23, 1927 Transcribed by Bob Davis - 10-16-03 QUEBEC, Que., Oct. 22 (AP). - "Fears for the safety of Count Jacques de Lesseps, veteran airman, missing with his machanic since they took off on a survey flight Tuesday, were increased tonight with the finding of parts of his hydroplane in the middle of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.      The main portion of Lessep's plane was found on the beach at St. Felicits last night. Other parts were found nearby. Officials of the department of land and fisheries said that a study of the parts revealed that the plane must have been traveling at full speed when it struck the water. The wings and the rudder were stripped off the body and were found some distance away.      There was hope that the two airmen, after having been forced down by the storm which raged after their departure, were able to reach land inaccessible of approach by regular means of communication. Search parties have been sent up the coast of the Gulf of St. Lawrence on the assumption, airplanes also kept a wide lookout along both banks of the St. Lawrence. The two men took off from Gaspe for Val Brilliant. They carried life preservers."

 

Aerial Photo of Montreal & Quebec City      "I remembered I had bought 15 years ago as a bookseller, about 30 aerial photographs of Montreal and Quebec city taken by de lesseps in the twenties. Unfortunately I sold the originals but I did make copies of them all. Here are some." Photo & text from Francois Auger, 8-15-05

 

Aerial Photo of Montreal & Quebec City Photo & text from Francois Auger, 8-15-05

 

Aerial Photo of Montreal & Quebec City Photo & text from Francois Auger, 8-15-05

 

ONLINE RESOURCES - 1 If you search on "Count Jacques de Lesseps +avation" using Google, (11-17-07), you will find about 95 links. Just four years ago there were only five. However, if you search on several of the other permutations of his name, you will find many more.

 

THE FRANK COFFYN COLLECTION      This page offers a brief biography and six beautiful photographs of the Count and his contemporaries. You can access the page by clicking on the title above. If you are not already familiar with this fantastic website, you will be well rewarded by sampling some of its many features.

 

THE GREAT AERIAL TOURNAMENT BELMONT NEW YORK - USA      This page on Solomon August Andrée's superb The Aviation History On-Line Museum, offers a beautiful photograph of Count de Lesseps and his Bleriot, La Scarabee, in which he won the grand prize at the Belmont Meet in 1910. You will also find the following paragraph which features DeLesseps.      "The sensational "Statue of Liberty Race" for the Thomas Fortune Ryan $10,000 prize was won by the Count de Lesseps. Claude Grahame-White beat him home, but was disqualified for fouling the initial pylon."      You can also read more about the meet itself, with a listing of the other participants. You can access the page by clicking on the title above.

 

TREWETHEY AIRFIELD - 1910      This page on the City of Toronto website offers a substantial resumé of the 1910 Airshow/Exhibition in which Count de Lesseps was the star performer. It includes a brief, but helpful biography of him, incluiding some details of his death in 1927, as alluded to in the newsclipping above. You can access the page by clicking on the title above. You will probably want to use the FIND button to locate the entry on the page.

 

L'homme qui venait du ciel The man who came from the sky "L'homme qui venait du ciel Héros de la Première Guerre mondiale, Jacques de Lesseps a marqué les débuts de l'aviation commerciale au Québec. En 1926, il entreprend de réaliser la cartographie aérienne de la Gaspésie. Cette tâche audacieuse déclenche une querelle fédérale-provinciale qui le mènera à une fin tragique. aucun auteur par Jean-Marie Fallu " The man who came from the sky Hero of the First World War, Jacques de Lesseps initiated the beginnings of commercial aviation in Quebec. In 1926, he undertook to carry out the aerial mapping of Gaspésie. This daring task started a federal-provincial quarrel which will carry out it to a fine tragedy. no author by Jean-Marie Fallu Editor's Note: I was alerted to this article by "Louis", to whom I am very grateful. It is written in French, but it is possible to translate it into readable English with the help of the BabelFish program which is available from the AltaVista website.      I did produce the machine-translated version of the article and read it with great enthusiasm. It offers a very detailed and fascinating revue of his activities in Canada, including references to his participation in the second international air show ever held in the world in 1910, Montreal being the host, the first having been held in Rheims in 1909.      I am trying to contact the author, Jean-Marie Fallu, in the hopes that he will allow me to reproduce a copy of the article on this page, but in the meantime, I heartily recommend that you read the translation by going to the website, copying the address and pasting it into the BabelFish program.

 

ONLINE RESOURCES - 2 via email on March 6, 07      One of our regular contributors has suggested the following links. Bleriot XI blériot militaire Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue blériot XI (models) blériot XI (models) blériot XI blériot XI (models)

 

According to the newsclipping seen above, and the story on the City of Toronto website, he died in 1927.

 

Editor's Note: If you have any more information on this pioneer aviator please contact me. E-mail to Ralph Cooper

 

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