Henry de La Vaulx (1870–1930), was a balloonist, author, and cofounder of major French and international aeronautical associations.

Biography

He was born in

Bierville Bierville is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region in northern France. Geography A small farming village situated in the Pays de Bray some northeast of Rouen, at the junction of the D90 and the D213 roads. Populati ...

, France on April 2, 1870. From March 1896 to May 1897 he stayed with native tribes in Patagonia, and later wrote a book about this experience. In 1898, he co-founded the

Aero Club of France Aero is a Greek prefix relating to flight and air. In British English, it is used as an adjective related to flight (e.g., as a shortened substitute for aeroplane). Aero, Ærø, or Aeros may refer to: Aeronautics Airlines and companies * Aero ( ...

with

Ernest Archdeacon Ernest Archdeacon (23 March 1863 – 3 January 1950) was a French lawyer and aviation pioneer before the First World War. He made his first balloon flight at the age of 20. He commissioned a copy of the 1902 Wright No. 3 glider but ha ...

, Léon Serpollet,

Henri de la Valette Henri is an Estonian, Finnish, French, German and Luxembourgish form of the masculine given name Henry. People with this given name ; French noblemen :'' See the 'List of rulers named Henry' for Kings of France named Henri.'' * Henri I de Mont ...

Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...

, Honorine de Viane Morel Verne, André Michelin,

Albert de Dion Marquis Jules Félix Philippe Albert de Dion de Wandonne (9 March 185619 August 1946) was a French pioneer of the automobile industry. He invented a steam-powered car and used it to win the world's first auto race, but his vehicle was adjudg ...

, Alberto Santos-Dumont, and Henry Deutsch de la Meurthe. On Oct 9, 1900 he and a companion set a distance record in a balloon traveling 1200 miles from Vincennes to Korostyshiv near

Kiev Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

(Now Ukraine, then in Russia) in 35.75 hours. Also in 1900 he received the Grand Medal of the

for exceptional contributions to the progress of aviation. In 1905 he cofounded and became a director of the

Fédération Aéronautique Internationale The (; FAI; en, World Air Sports Federation) is the world governing body for air sports, and also stewards definitions regarding human spaceflight. It was founded on 14 October 1905, and is headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland. It maintai ...

(FAI). The FAI now awards the

De la Vaulx Medal The De la Vaulx Medal is an aviation award presented by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), the international aviation standard setting and record-keeping body. The award was established in 1933 in memory of the Comte de La Vaulx ...

, named for him. He visited the United States several times for ballooning ventures and the ''New York Times'' described him as one of the "most successful and daring balloonists in the world." He developed airships for the Zodiac company. He published a dozen books, mostly on aviation. He lived in the castle Rozoy-Bellevalle. He died when a scheduled flight between Montreal, Canada and Newark, NJ that he was on collided with power lines on approach to Newark on April 18, 1930, and was buried in the Rozoy-Bellevalle cemetery.

Published works

* ''Voyage en Patagonie ; ouvrage contenant quarante illustrations d’après les photographies de l’auteur, et une carte hors texte'', Préf.

José-Maria de Heredia José-Maria de Heredia (22 November 1842 – 3 October 1905) was a Cuban-born French Parnassian poet. He was the fifteenth member elected for seat 4 of the Académie française in 1894. Biography Early years Heredia was born at Fortuna C ...

, Paris, Hachette, 1901 * ''Les Anciens Habitants des rives du Colhué Huapi (Patagonie)'', Paris, Leroux, 1902 * ''La Montagne d'amour : tableau de la vie Araucane'', .l.s.n. 1902 * ''L’Emploi des ballons à ballonnet d’après la théorie du général Meusnier'', Paris, Gauthier-Villars, 1903 * ''L’Aérostation'', Paris, Larousse, 1906 * ''Le Tour du monde de deux gosses ; le chemin des nuages'', Paris, Tallandier, 1908 * ''Le Triomphe de la navigation aérienne'', Paris, Tallandier, 1911 * ''Les Vainqueurs de l’air ; histoire de l’aéronautique: ses débuts sportifs, son application militaire, sa réalisation commerciale'', Paris, Hachette, 1921 * ''L’Aéronautique des origines à 1922'', Paris, Floury, 1922 * ''Cent Mille Lieues dans les airs'', Paris, Arthéme Fayard, 1925 * ''Joseph et Étienne de Montgolfier'', Paris, Annonay, 1926 * ''Un Tour du monde en aéroplane'', Paris, Albin Michel, 1930 * ''Bibliothèque de feu M. le comte Henry de La Vaulx'', Paris, Bosse, 1930

Legacy

* His name was given to a Latécoère 28 famously flown across the South Atlantic by Jean Mermoz.

Naming and lexicography

* He was often referred to as "comte de La Vaulx."

Comte ''Comte'' is the French, Catalan and Occitan form of the word 'count' (Latin: ''comes''); ''comté'' is the Gallo-Romance form of the word 'county' (Latin: ''comitatus''). Comte or Comté may refer to: * A count in French, from Latin ''comes'' * A ...

is a French title analogous to the British title "Count." * His first name is sometimes written as Henri, the usual French spelling, but on the book cover at left, he used the spelling "Henry." * His name is usually alphabetized as La Vaulx, Henry de.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:La Vaulx, Henry de 1870 births 1930 deaths Aviation pioneers Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in the United States Balloon flight record holders French aviation record holders French balloonists Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1930