Eugène Lefebvre (4 October 1878 – 7 September 1909) was a French aviation pioneer. He was reportedly the first

stunt pilot Stunt flying refers to any stunts performed in an aircraft. It encompasses aerobatics, wing walking, and transferring from one airplane to another or to a moving vehicle on the ground, such as an automobile or train, and vice versa. History From th ...

, Villard, Henry Serrano, ''Contact! The Story of the Early Birds,'' 1968, Thomas Y. Crowell, ASIN: B001G8D7K0, retrieved April 9, 2019Corn, Joseph J., ''The Winged Gospel: America's Romance with Aviation, 1900-1950,'' 1st Ed., 2002, JHU Press, , retrieved April 9, 2019 the first person to die while piloting a powered airplane, and the second person to be killed in a powered

airplane crash An aviation accident is defined by the Convention on International Civil Aviation Annex 13 as an occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft, which takes place from the time any person boards the aircraft with the ''intention of fl ...

Biography

The chief pilot for the French Wright Company, Lefebvre was a participant in the first international air race, the

Grande Semaine d'Aviation The ''Grande Semaine d'Aviation de la Champagne'' was an 8-day aviation meeting held near Reims in France in 1909, so-named because it was sponsored by the major local champagne growers. It is celebrated as the first international public flying e ...

Reims Reims ( , , ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French department of Marne, and the 12th most populous city in France. The city lies northeast of Paris on the Vesle river, a tributary of the Aisne. Founded by ...

in 1909, piloting a

Wright Flyer The ''Wright Flyer'' (also known as the ''Kitty Hawk'', ''Flyer'' I or the 1903 ''Flyer'') made the first sustained flight by a manned heavier-than-air powered and controlled aircraft—an airplane—on December 17, 1903. Invented and flown b ...

.Vorderman, Don.
Hit-or-miss Races That Taught Men How To Fly
", Sports Illustrated, 26 May 1969. He,

Louis Blériot Louis Charles Joseph Blériot ( , also , ; 1 July 1872 – 1 August 1936) was a French aviator, inventor, and engineer. He developed the first practical headlamp for cars and established a profitable business manufacturing them, using much of th ...

and

Hubert Latham Arthur Charles Hubert Latham (10 January 1883 – 25 June 1912) was a French aviation pioneer. He was the first person to attempt to cross the English Channel in an aeroplane. Due to engine failure during his first of two attempts to cross ...

were selected as France's representatives during the contest for the Gordon Bennett Trophy on 22 August, after poor weather made the morning's planned qualifying run impossible. When the weather lifted around 6 o'clock that evening, Lefebvre was one of the pilots who took to the sky in an exhibition, giving one of the earliest displays of

stunt flying Stunt flying refers to any stunts performed in an aircraft. It encompasses aerobatics, wing walking, and transferring from one airplane to another or to a moving vehicle on the ground, such as an automobile or train, and vice versa. History From th ...

. ''The New York Times'' described his maneuvers thus: "Lefebvre...came driving at the crowded tribunes, turned in the nick of time, went sailing off, swooped down again till he made the flags on the pillars and the plumes on the ladies' hats flutter, and so played about at will for our applause." He was subsequently fined $4 by the judges for displaying excessive "recklessness and daring." During the running of the race, he placed fourth, behind

Glenn Curtiss Glenn Hammond Curtiss (May 21, 1878 – July 23, 1930) was an American aviation and motorcycling pioneer, and a founder of the U.S. aircraft industry. He began his career as a bicycle racer and builder before moving on to motorcycles. As early ...

, Blériot and Latham. Only nine days after the end of the Reims event, Lefebvre was killed in a crash at

Juvisy Juvisy-sur-Orge (, literally ''Juvisy on Orge'') is a commune in the Essonne department in Île-de-France in northern France. It is located 18 km south-east of Paris, a few kilometres south of Orly Airport. The site of the town has been occu ...

, when the plane he was testing dropped to the ground from a height of .Howard, Fred. ''Wilbur and Orville'', Courier Dover Publications, 1998, p. 318. . In doing so, he became the first person to die while piloting a powered airplane,Crouch, Tom D. ''Wings: A History of Aviation from Kites to the Space Age'', W. W. Norton & Company, 2003, p. 132. and the second person to be killed in an airplane crash.Charles Cyril Turner, ''The Old Flying Days'' (reprint Published by Ayer Publishing, 1972), p225

Legacy

Lefebvre is a distant relative of the later film actress

Capucine Capucine (, born Germaine Hélène Irène Lefebvre , 6 January 1928 – 17 March 1990) was a French fashion model and actress known for her comedic roles in ''The Pink Panther'' (1963) and ''What's New Pussycat?'' (1965). She appeared in 36 film ...

(1928-1990).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lefebvre, Eugène 1878 births 1909 deaths French aviators Stunt pilots Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in France École centrale de Lille alumni Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1909

Biography

Legacy

See also

References