   |
CHAPTER 7
CHARLES DE LAMBERT THE PIONEER OF AVIATION Charles de Lambert was a man with two aspects, the admirer of two elements, water and air. For some time he is interested in gliders, corresponds with Otto Lilienthal in 1894 and buys for two thousand French francs one of his machines which he stores near Versailles where he lives with his young wife and his mother. He makes little use of it and neglects it. He is not convinced on the future of this method.  Fig. 7-1 The preceding year he has executed several trials with the almost 3300 kilos heavy craft of arms manufacturer Hiram Maxim. It is equipped with a steam engine and moves on a distance of one mile between two rails. Furthermore, as mentioned in Chapter 5, he tests the machine designed by English inventor Horatio Frederick Philipps. No doubt he comes to the conclusion that those machines are still far from satisfying because during fifteen years he is no longer actively interested in it. In fact it is in 1908 and particularly during his first flying instruction on ‘Camp d’Auvours’ at Le Mans on October 28 1908 that his short – five years – but beautiful aviation career starts. At the beginning of January 1909 the hangar on the moor of Pont-Long, designed by Wilbur Wright, is ready to receive the first flying school in the world in Pau. The first pilot trainees are 43-years old aristocrat Charles count de Lambert (1st pilot), balloonist Paul Tissandier (pilot) and, specially sent by the Ministry of War, Captain Paul Nicolas Lucas-Girardville.    Fig. 7-2 Meanwhile Orville Wright had recovered from his serious injuries received on September 17 1908 in Fort Meyer. Together with sister Katherine (19/8/1874 – 3/3/1929) he arrived at Pau with a delay of five hours on January 17 1909. Brothers and sister are lucky to be reunited because on the way Katharine and Orville escape a catastrophe because in Puyoo their train runs off the rails with two dead and nine injured as consequence…  Fig. 7-5 The then 32-years old elegant Cordelia Mary countess de Lambert born Consett, aristocrat from head to foot, is invited by Wilbur Wright – with whom she may converse in her native language – to join a flight. This on the same day her husband makes his first flight in Pau viz February 15 1909.  Fig. 7-6  Fig. 7-7 Twenty five years later she describes her memories of that flight and further experiences in ‘U.S. Air Services’ of March 1935. The article is called “My memories of Wilbur Wright” a part of which follows after this. At that time Charles de Lambert, in financially heavy weather, had to stop production of hydroplanes about three years earlier as mentioned in Chapter 5.   Fig. 7-8 After 23 lessons only with a total duration of 5 hours and 23 minutes Charles de Lambert flies solo during eight minutes on March 18 1909. There he makes the acquaintance of Paul Tissandier. His certificate of baptism: born in Paris on February 19, 1881, becomes president of the Aéro-Club de France, has performed his first take-off with a balloon in 1892, he holds the speed record in the air of 1909 with 66 then 74 kilometres an hour. He is the son of Gaston Tissandier (1843-1899) balloonist, chemist, physicist and scientific author of big importance, the only survivor of the disaster with the balloon << le Zenith >> which exploded on April 16 1875 at Ciron (Indre) after an ascent of 8000 metres, Civel and Crocé Spinelli meeting their death. He dies in Paris on March 11 1944. On March 19 1909, still in Pau, Charles count de Lambert is in the air for twenty three minutes and five days later he gets the beginner prize with a flight of twenty seven minutes eleven seconds. That month too Charles de Lambert inaugurates a flying school exploited by Société ARIEL, property of Compagnie Générale de Navigation Aérienne C.G.N.A., situated on the wind-sheltered airfield at the bottom of the gulf of La Napoule near Cannes. The second ARIEL-flying school has been established at Vichy. From the Splendid Hotel in Cannes which according to its website in the year of 2009 is ‘l’un des points de vues les plus exceptionnels de la Côte d’Azur’ (‘one of the most exceptional views of the French Riviera’) Count de Lambert writes a letter to Wilbur Wright on April 29 1909.  Fig. 7-9 Complete text: ‘April 29th 1909 Dear Mr. Wright, I am perfectly disgusted with myself for not having written to you for so long and it was extremely kind of you writing to me yourself when you are so very busy. Mr. La Chapelle has written to me asking me to see about a small bill for a cap. I am ashamed to say I have not seen about it yet but will attend to it as soon as I get back to Pau, this will be next week I think. I have been at Cannes a few days now putting the first french machine together for Clémenceau. I hope to try it in two or three days. It looks heavyer than the American machines. I dont know whether it will leave the ground or not. As soon as the trials are finished I will go back to Pau where the old machine is in working order and when there is a new one (american one) which is having put together, Tissandier with Gasnier and Schreck are putting together. I am glad to say they are very careful, on what they do, and the mechanic the C.G.N.A. sent us from Paris is very good indeed. I suppose that in a month or so we will leave Pau and go further north. Perhaps will I try the crossing of the Channel then ! I suppose the addition of floats fixed on the skids will not interfere seriously with the flying of the machine? their weight wil be not more than 70 kilos I hope. I left your bills at Pau, but will send them when I get back. I enclose a list of what they were. I would be very grateful to you, if you would kindly remit 100fr. from me to Mr. La Chapelle, as he declined to accept it from me when he left Pau, saying he could not take it without your permission. Please therefore send me 100fr. less than the total of enclosed bills. I cant tell you how happy I was seeing in the papers all your successes in Italy. I hope everything went off as you wanted up to the last, I also hope you will have a good journey and much success in America. I hope above all you will come back to France before long. The flying world without you and Orville seems empty and devoid of interest. With kindest regards to Miss Wright, Orville and yourself I remain, dear Mr. Wright ever your grateful and affectionate pupil. Cte de Lambert’ Among others things with the intention to cross the Channel by plane, de Lambert wants to increase the number of his flights in La Napoule. In May he is also active there. From March 27 up to and including April 3 1910 in La Napoule a Meeting d’Aviation takes place.  Fig. 7-10 Wilbur Wright spreads his wings further in Europe. From April 1 1909 staying in the Eternal City with sister Katharine and brother Orville (Charles de Lambert also wrote on it in preceding letter of April 29 1909). He flies of demonstrations from 15th up to and including Aril 27 1909 on the plain of Centocelle outside Rome for account of a combination headed by tyre producer Pirelli and in which the government also participates. He trains navy lieutenant Mario Calderara (1879-1944), who started correspondence with the Wrights in 1905 and the first Italian pilot, and army lieutenant Umberto Savoja to be pilots. An unique occasion happens on April 24 1909 when Wilbur, as first one in the world, makes a flight with a man with a movie camera. End of April 1909 Wilbur Wright leaves and Calderara continues his training with daily flights. On May 6 1909 he crashes and is seriously injured.  Fig. 7-11 With all events happening in the air we must also remember that in 1909 in January the first Frisian eleven-towns skating race takes place while in the same month the expedition of Ernest Shackleton reaches the magnetic south pole.It is rumoured that the north pole is reached by American Robert Peary on April 6 1909. All developments in the field of aviation have the full attention of Mr Sybrand Casparus Jan Heerma van Voss, a wealthy sugar tycoon in Leur, The Netherlands. On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of his sugar-factory he decides not to organize a cycle race, as was usually done in those days, but to offer his employees and the village of Etten en Leur ‘something special’: the spectacle of a motorized aeroplane in full flight, a demonstration to be watched for the first time in The Netherlands. After very tiring negotiations with impresarios it is finally aviation-pioneer Charles count de Lambert who comes to Etten en Leur. Sunday June 27 1909 is the big day. From far and near tens of thousands of people come on bicycles, carts, extra carriages, on foot etcetera etcetera to Klappenbergse Heide (Klappenberg Moor).  Fig. 7-12 The enormous crowd is unlucky because it rains cats and dogs all day. The public which begins to loose patience on the wet moor, feels tricked! Many hours later, when the greater number of spectators has gone home disappointed, Charles de Lambert judges the weather and especially the direction of the wind good enough to risk an effort. At 20:25 his ‘Wright Flyer’ rises above Dutch territory and covers more than one kilometre in a flight lasting about 3,5 minutes. It is a real historical date for The Netherlands: the foundation of Dutch aviation has been laid.  Fig. 7-13  Fig. 7-14 During negotiations on a possible second flight Charles de Lambert speaks on a problem: his mother in Paris is seriously ill and he does not want to fly if her situation would become worse. Fortunately from the City of Light a reassuring telegram arrives. However bad weather conditions prevent him on Tuesday June 28 1909 to fly a second time over the Klappenbergse Heide (‘Klappenberg Moor’). Seven days later, so on July 6 1909, his mother died in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France.  Fig. 7-15 In a letter (probably to a certain André Menard) of September 3 1962 Michel Clémenceau at at the age of 89 years refers to abovecaptioned photo. Due to apparent forgetfulness he writes “le barbu” (“the beardie”), so Heerma van Voss, is unknown to him. He also confuses the impresario with a mechanic. He brings up that he who flew for the first time over the Eiffel Tower was count de Lambert “sur un de mes appareils” (“with one of my machines”).  Fig. 7-16 In October 1908 Lord Alfred Northcliffe, permanent guest in the city of Pau whose Daily Mail newspaper has been offering aviation prizes for more than two years, announces a prize of £ 1,000 for anyone who will succeed in crossing the Channel by aeroplane. The London newspaper offers Wilbur Wright, obviously the man to do it, an additional £ 1,000 if he wins the prize. From U.S.A. where he has stayed Orville advises his older brother to decline the offer because he does not like the idea of flying across water as a spectacle for the public whereas he can make more money by selling his own aeroplanes. That is not the attitude of European aviators. By July 1909 after his tour de force in The Netherlands, count de Lambert, who owns two ‘Wright Flyer’ biplanes, goes to the beach of Wissant, Pas-de-Calais, ready to take part in this rush. Hubert Latham, a Frenchman born and educated in England who has an ‘Antoinette IV’ monoplane and Louis Blériot who, on a visit to friendly planters in Haïti, obtains an important loan to pay for his ‘Blériot XI’ monoplane with Anzani motor, are already on the spot and prepare themselves to accept the challenge of the Daily Mail.   Fig. 7-17 Latham is the first to go but an electrical problem forces him to land on sea. The rescuers find him sitting quietly in his aeroplane, smoking a cigarette among the waves. Successive cases of engine trouble that face Charles de Lambert clear the way for Blériot (Americans would call him a ‘jinx’ – somebody causing misfortune – and who burns his foot seriously during the trials) who – as we all know – makes the first crossing of the Channel with a flight of 35 kilometres in 23 minutes on Sunday July 25 1909. An English newspaper writes ‘England’s isolation has ended once and for all’.  Fig. 7-19   Fig. 7-20 During all summer of 1909 Charles de Lambert is hopping from one field to another, flying continuously. Thus he finds himself from the 22nd up to and inclusive 29th August 1909 on a rectangular flat plain of ten kilometres in Bétheny near Reims where in rain and wind the ‘Grande Semaine d’Aviation de la Champagne’ (‘The Champagne Region’s Great Aviation Week’) was held, sponsored by ‘grandes maisons qui font de la gloire de la Champagne et de la France’ such as Maison Bollinger, Maison Mumm and Maison Pommery. It is a landmark in the history of the heavier-than-air flights: the first true international air meet of its kind with twenty one participants including Blériot, Curtiss (representing the U.S.A.), Delagrange, Farman, captain Ferber (because of military rules always flying with the pseudonym de Rue), de Lambert, Latham, Lefebvre (playing rather ‘break-neck stunts’ with his machine and stealing the show), Paulhan, Sommer and Tissandier. The final day there are no fewer than 250.000 spectators who can see that the experimental phase in aviation is over! Wilbur and Orville Wright, both in Europe, decline participation at such an “frivolity”. August 30 1909 Orville flew in Berlin on the Tempelhofer Feld for the first time above German territory.  Fig. 7-22  Fig. 7-23  Fig. 7-24 Charles de Lambert reaches the speed of 60,521 kilometres an hour (5th ranking for the speed prize) after covering on Thursday August 26 1909 on a closed circuit 116 kilometres in 1 hour 55 minutes, with which he comes in 4th in the ‘Grand Prix de la Champagne Distance Prize’. Finally, official recognition is given when on October 7 1909 on the proposal of the ‘l’Aéro-Club de France Commission Sportive Aéronautique’ he is awarded the brevet of pilot-aviator. His brevet has number 8. Sometime afterwards Paul Tissandier will receive license number 13 which, no doubt on account of superstition, will be changed later in license number 10bis! From Thursday October 3 until Thursday October 21 1909 the ‘Grande Quinzaine de l’Aviation de Paris’ takes place on the 1st organized aerodrome in the world of Port Aviation (Juvisy-sur-Orge) – exploited by Société ARIEL – opened in Viry-Châtillon (in the neighbourhood of Paris) on January 10 1909. Charles count de Lambert is out for a sporting revenge without any financial reward after his failure of the Channel and wins almost all prizes.  Fig. 7-25 To conclude the first part of the official program the aviators dinner takes place in Hotel Continental on Monday evening October 18 1909. Beforehand count de Lambert has his ‘Wright Flyer’ secretly especially prepared by his mechanic. Only a friendly journalist, Paul Rousseau (also in function during the ‘Grande Semaine d’Aviation de la Champagne’ as “commissaire sportif dont la compétence est reconnue par tous les sportmen”!), who will take care of timekeeping, knows about it. It is only the effect of surprise the marquis is after because he is rightfully afraid of a prohibition to overfly the capital which might be imposed by the chief commissioner of police: people should be convinced that the bastions and the town wall surrounding Paris, cannot be crossed… So he takes off from Port Aviation at 16:37, ventured above the stony ocean of Paris, flies as far as the Eiffel Tower, rounds it at a height of about 400 metres and returns to his starting point in Port Aviation after a flight of 48 kilometres, in 49 minutes and 39 seconds.  Fig. 7-26 After a first telephone call at 17:10 from the Avenue du Maine and a second one at 17:20 have warned Juvisy that a machine is flying above Paris and passes by Place Saint-Michel in the direction of Port-Aviation, nobody can believe it, the crowd gasps for breath and storms enthusiasticly to the machine of Charles de Lambert appearing at the outskirts of the field. Gabriel Voisin, in 1906 together with his brother founder of the first airline company in the world Les Frères Voisin, is at Rungis at the moment of the heroic deed. He remembers being very astonished, having raised his head hearing the whirring noise of an engine in the air and, to his unbelief, having seen the biplane at a height of about hundred metres. In our era of supersonic jets and spacecraft, the astonishment and thereafter the enthusiastic ecstasy which seizes the whole of Paris on that remarkable day and the weeks to follow, is hard to comprehend. The entire press celebrates this incredible event. “For the first time” a journalist writes “an aeroplane has flown over Paris, mocking the bastions, the municipal taxes and the obstacles of the capital such as underground corridors”. In the clubhouse of the ‘Société d’Encouragement pour la Locomotion Aérienne au moyen d’appareils plus lourd que l’air’ (‘Society to Encourage the Aerial Locomotion by means of heavier-than-air machines’) de Lambert is touched, celebrated, embraced, received by Orville Wright who just gets off the train from Berlin where he has taken care of a demonstration. A certain Mr Dussaud gives a heart-warming toast in presence of Messrs Michel Clémenceau, director of Société ARIEL (sales company of the Wright machines with school at Port Aviation) and Géo Tharel, one of the directors of the ‘Compagnie Générale de Navigation Aérienne C.G.N.A.’ (financial company who bought the Wrights licences in France). That same evening, wrenched away from his family, still in his flying outfit, he is guided to the banquet, and pressed to comment on his act of heroism and he declares thereupon: “I am shy, really very shy, I have never spoken in public, you are asking me what I have done, well I have put a machine in order, and whenever one has a machine well in order, one has confidence in it and it is no more difficult to make a trip above Paris and to fly around the Eiffel Tower than to make a trip around an airfield and I confess that the applause greeting me on my return at Juvisy and the manifestation I received at my entrance, are really in disproportion with that which I have done. There was no wind, I have taken-off very quietly, I have taken the Eiffel Tower as target and I have flown straight to it, then I have gone around it and had some difficulty to find my way back, but the Seine has guided me, thereafter I have spotted a big white water tower in the distance and I have flown straight at it, I believe I have reached 600 metres”. The world is staggered about this exploit. The ‘Aéroclub de France’ immediately awards Charles count de Lambert its Great Model in Gold and days later he becomes Knight of the Legion of Honour. He is photographed in the company of Gustave Eiffel, then with his wife, and with ministers at the controls of his Wright machine.  Fig. 7-27  Fig. 7-28  Fig. 7-29 Translation: ‘With count de Lambert
It is at Neuilly-sur-Seine where count de Lambert has been living. Thére we introduce ourselves as soon as we have heard of the beautiful flight of the aviator. Mrs de Lambert, who is bedridden, receives nobody, but after her servant has taken her the news we brought, she became happy to listen to us. A screen divided us from her, but this piece of furniture that may obstruct the views, did not hinder us from hearing the shouts of joy with which the story on the heroic deed of count de Lambert was received, story we told in detail, because the countess did not yet know anything on it. After having us repeat what we knew of the exploit of the daring aviator, our opposing party says us: - I thank Petit Journal very much to have sent you, messenger of such happy news. All the more I owe you because I am certain I am the only one from our surroundings who, due to reasons of health, has not gone to Juvisy. It is you, who not only alleviate a certain preoccupation which I had, but even bring me the news of the success of my husband. I am somewhat nervous, she adds, because I am afraid of all those experiments, and yet I am having great confidence in the prudence of my husband. His calmness will permit him to conquer a great deal of difficulties and to prevent the accidents. When today he has succeeded and is knowing the success, he has very much earned it, because he has given himself enough trouble! Then we ask Mrs de Lambert whether she was informed on the plans of her husband: - He has indeed announced me, she replies, he would leave the airfield one of these days, but he has pleaded with me not to become afraid…However I did not know, he wanted to execute such an important flight as the one of this afternoon! The moment we got ready to leave the telephone rang. The brother-in-law of Mrs de Lambert, Mr Charles Nicaise, told her that, passing by rue de Rivoli, he had observed the count flying above Paris. It was then Mrs de Lambert informed her brother-in-law that the aviator had returned to Juvisy and had safely landed. After that she thanked us and we said goodbye.’ Although after his flight in Paris he was received by Orville Wright, brother Wilbur at home in the U.S.A. appears to have reacted differently. He has been angrily upset and calls flying over the French metropolis an irresponsible recklessness. The wife of Charles de Lambert, Cordelia Mary de Lambert-Consett does not accept it and on November 1 1909 she calls Wilbur Wright Esq. Dayton, Ohio United States by telegram to account: “12 WD Reply paid” “May I deny you have said as reported in Papers comte Lambert deserves to be put in Lunatic asylum for juvisy paris raid. Contesse DeLambert. Neuillys seine France.” Whether and if so what reaction the countess received to her pressing question, is sadly not known.  Fig. 7-30 In figure 7-8 placed before this, Cordelia de Lambert tells in the article ‘My memories of Wilbur Wright’ (from U.S. Air Services of March 1935) on her experiences. She continues:  Fig. 7-31 Postcard collectors will not be astonished to hear that all cards pretending to show Charles de Lambert nearby the Eiffel tower during the flight, are the result of trickery or composition, as nobody knew something beforehand. One however, according to the experts, might have been taken by an amateur who found himself by chance on the second platform of the Eiffel Tower that evening of Monday October 18 1909. Publicity seizes the unique flight. The department stores ‘Au Bon Marché’ issues a series of cards picturing aviation pioneers with their aeroplane and some biographical data Henry Farman, Charles de Lambert, Hubert Latham, Louis Paulhan and Wilbur Wright. The singing community closes ranks and an old ‘hit’ is for the hundredth time relaunched. “Didn’t you see de Lambert, has he drowned in the sea, has he lost his way in the desert?”.  Fig. 7-32 Not only French caricaturists are inspired in the beginning of the 20th century by the flight around the Eiffel Tower of Charles count de Lambert. Thursday November 4 2004, intensively occupied with historical research on the initial stage of aviation, writer of this, seeking diversion of a different kind, visits the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. Amongst the cubist works from the beginning of the twentieth century he comes, completely surprised, face to face with the painting, oil colours on canvas, L’équipe de Cardiff of Robert Victor Félix Delaunay.  Fig. 7-33 The image of the Eiffel Tower, a biplane and especially the lettering ASTRA – name of the Société de Constructions Aéronautiques being the producer in France of Wright machines – cause him to spend much time in the library of the museum where he finds an explanation. ‘According to Guillaume Apollinaire the French painter Robert Delaunay (1885-1941) is one of the most important cubists. In ‘L’équipe de Cardiff’ (1913) he does not start from óne single motive, but he telescopes different motives together into a lively whole. We see a circle connecting the composition: the big wheel. The painting of Delaunay is based on a photo in a French sports newspaper on the rugby-team of Cardiff. He combines this with a number of highlights in engineering of the time: the Eiffel Tower and the airplane. With his letterings he is referring to façade- and field publicity. ASTRA is the name of an airplane factory. But it is also the Latin word for star. The text MAGICPARIS evokes the fascination of the French capital. Everything together the subject is very contemporary: Paris as a vivid town, full of novelties and amusement. Several preparatory studies show how Delaunay composes the elements for his painting.’ It is known that Robert Delaunay, together with his wife Sonia Delaunay-Terek – a Jewish-Ukrainian artiste – as well as Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque were among the many artists, poets and intellectuals in Issy-les-Moulineaux who watched with astonishment and admiring eyes the airplanes. After his performance, comparable with that of Neil Armstrong as first man on the moon on July 20 1969, he is promised the earth to persuade him to do demonstrations and take part in contests, but he declines.   Fig. 7-34
  Fig. 7-36 Before Orville Wright returns to the United States – in October 1909 – he inquires after the business of Compagnie Générale de Navigation Aérienne, owner of the Wright-patents, and its development- and sales company Société ARIEL. He finds that these present sad picture. Business goes badly. Although count de Lambert has provided impressive publicity by his tour around the Eiffel Tower, this spectacular flight cannot conceal the fact there is no interest for the American machine. Rumour has it that the French government will not buy Wrights in order not to frustrate their own rising industry, but it is only partially true. The army does not want Wrights and the demands of private aviators are already for more sophisticated machines and among the French products there is already much to choose from. The already then old-fashioned looking product of the Americans is not attractive. At the end of 1909 Compagnie Générale de Navigation Aérienne C.G.N.A. of Lazare Weiller – which had appointed the aviator after his world-success as technical engineer, head experiments pilot-demonstrator above all occupying itself with endless litigation with regard to forgery of the Wright-patents – makes a decision: it fires Charles count de Lambert. How far Société ARIEL, in the person of founder and director Michel William Benjamin Clémenceau (1873-1964), son of statesman Georges Clémenceau with the significant nickname ‘Tigre’, has played a part in this matter is unclear. It is certain he was a captain, commanding colonial troops which in 1918 took part in the liberation of Saint-Mihiel and in 1947 competed in the French presidential election but was crushingly defeated by Vincent Auriol. His personal description “C’est alors un homme au tempérament vif, à la voix rauque et au regard perçant qui tortille sans cesse ses moustaches entre ses doigts, signe d’une inquiétude mal dissimulée” – “He is a man of quick temper, with raucous voice and a piercing look who continuously rolls his moustache between his fingers, indication of poorly hidden uncertainty” – is not that of a kind man. Aviator Charles de Lambert knows his worth and goes to court to obtain indemnity payment. From time to time he is seen on the airfields solely for pleasure or, in the course of 1910, on official occasions in the presence of Prince Alexander of Serbia and the meeting of the ‘Conseil National de la Navigation Aérienne’ (‘National Council of Aviation’). During this period Cordelia countess de Lambert and Charles count de Lambert have to face another sad occurrence. On May 6 1910 at the age of 77 William Warcop Peter Consett, father, respectively father-in-law dies. At home at 74, Rue Charles Lafitte, Neuilly (Seine) Charles de Lambert sits down at his desk on December 14 1911. He writes to the Wright brothers about the situation.  Fig. 7-38 Complete text: ’14 December 1911 Dear Mr. Wright, What can you think of me!...I dare not imagine… Well, after Tissandier and I had made up our minds to pay you a visit and had booked our places on board steamer, all sort of difficulties sprang up: my wife became very ill (she is better, but not quite well yet) that made us put off for a while, then Tissandier could not leave at once, then I myself was rather unwell. Finally it was so late in the season, that we gave the idea up for the present. I cant tell you how disappointed we were and what a pleasure it would have been for us both seeing you all again. I hope we will succeed in getting over some day!.. The C.G.N.A. people have told me you wanted me to become your representative at their board of Directors. I answered I had not heard from you on the subject. I will always be delighted to do any thing that can be of any use to you, but must say that I consider the C.G.N.A. people as most untrustworthy. In fact I am claiming from the Directors personally (not from the company) an indemnity for the way they behaved (breach of contract etc.). I think you would also be entitled to claim an indemnity for the way they spoil your business. This is not only my opinion but the one of lawyer I have consulted. The C.G.N.A. people are now insinuating that the turning over of the business to the Astra and the breach of contract with me, were done with your consent! They are trying to shift the responsibility onto you, but that wont do! The Astra have done no good with the Wright machines and intend to give up building them. I still think there would be some business to be done here, and wish you would let me know at what price you could supply your machines, as I could sell a few here. Of course every new delay makes the situation more difficult, as the other machines, especially the Newport, are being constantly improved. I hope you are all quite well and wont remain long without coming to France again. My wife, May May and myself, send you our very best wishes for Christmas and the new year, as well as our affectionate remembrances. Yours most sincerely, Cte de Lambert’ In 1912(!) in the court of justice of trade, after pleas by Imbrecq, for Charles de Lambert, and Lestelle, on behalf of C.G.N.A., the latter is condemned to pay count de Lambert, beside an outstanding balance, a total amount of 30.000 francs because of sudden dismissal.  Fig. 7-39 The break of trust with Compagnie Générale de Navigation Aérienne C.G.N.A. causes Charles de Lambert (he flew there from June until and including December 1909) to leave the airfield of Port-Aviation at Juvisy-sur-Orge, which moreover is flooded as consequence of the rising water of the Seine, and to go in search of another location to continue his activities. In February 1910 he moved his Wright machine, drawn by horses, on the road from Juvisy direction Buc, on the territory of which Louis Blériot possesses a big farm with 200 hectares of land and where he organises his airfield from 1910. En route Charles de Lambert discovers at dark a big farm with barns belonging to farmer Paul Dautier. He asks for hospitality because his team cannot go on. He indeed finds shelter for his strange convoy ánd hospitality for himself. Next day he sees the plateau of Villacoublay, is aware of the aviation possibilities, obtains the lease of about six hectares and installs himself. Thus the private airfield of the Société de Navigation Aérienne à Villacoublay comes into being. ‘Société de Constructions Aéronautiques ASTRA’, the manufacturer of Wright-machines, sets up a new flying school in Villacoublay and engages Charles de Lambert as ‘director of flights’. Already on February 10 1910 commander Paul Renard joins him on the Wright machine for a flight of about twenty minutes, twenty five years after his first flights over Villacoublay with the balloon ‘La France’ in company of his brother Charles. Others too join in flights. On April 27 1910 (three days before Émile Dubonnet flies, with his monoplane Tellier from Issy-les-Moulineaux as second pilot above Paris) it is Ethel and Kermit Roosevelt, children of president Theodore Roosevelt who is paying a visit to Paris whereas ‘le maître des lieux’, farmer/owner Paul Dautier, gets his aerial baptism in May. It can also be noted that on June 17 1910 Charles de Lambert makes a flight of 1 hour and 45 minutes at a speed of 65/70 kilometers an hour and that on July 27 1910 he supplies the Army Engineers, in camp Satory near Versailles, an Astra-Wright plane of a new type with an undercarriage on wheels. In the article ‘My Memories of Wilbur Wright’ (from U.S. Air Services of March 1935; see also figure 7-8 and figure 7-31) marchioness Cordelia M. de Lambert born Consett finally tells a ‘little story’ on the period after the glorious flight around the Eiffel Tower of her husband Charles.  Fig. 7-40 Then Charles count de Lambert returns from aviation to the navigation on water. He foresaw that the problem of navigation with an hydroplane with air propeller would have been solved quicker than that of the conquest of the air. “I have very mistaken” he says a journalist of ‘Miroir des sports’ according to an article of October 22 1929, “aviation has advanced with giant strides, whereas the hydroplane, practical means of conveyance for the streams of the colonies with small depth and even for the Rhône and the Loire, has earned only imperfect civil right in France.” After the Wright-flying school in Pau counted 76 trainees in the winter of 1909-1910, the director of it, Paul Tissandier, for want of trainees and at odds with the ‘Compagnie Générale de Navigation Aérienne C.G.N.A.’, announces on March 16 1910 that the school will be closed. Together with his friend Charles de Lambert he continues, as commercial partner, the production of hydroplanes. In Chapter 5 CHARLES DE LAMBERT BRILLIANT INVENTOR, UNFORTUNATE INDUSTRIALIST the reader has already learned the ultimately unfortunate end of their return to the old love. Wright biplanes converted into seaplanes also are developed by Charles de Lambert and these exploits make the international press.  Fig. 7-41 On February 13 1913 count de Lambert leaves Triel-sur-Seine, where the hangar of his oiseau artificiel (artificial bird) is situated and, following the course of the Seine, he lands at Billancourt. Two days later at half past seven in the morning Count de Lambert, wanting to use the fine weather, is to leave by seaplane Issy-les-Moulineaux (however in the catalogue of 1982 of the exhibition ‘ISSY berceau de l’aviation’ Charles de Lambert, except for a an added entry, does not appear) to return to Triel-sur-Seine. In spite of the sun a strong wind is blowing and the machine shakes heavily. Flying above the surface of the water at a height of seven or eight metres only, Count de Lambert decides to land on the Seine. Approaching the viaduct of Auteuil and with the intention to flow underneath the central arch, he suddenly notices a tug boat pulling several barges. Without a moment of hesitation count de Lambert tries to climb to fly over the bridge but the machine does not react quickly enough on the rudders. In order to prevent a crash on the stone parapet of the railway line above the footbridge, Charles de Lambert suddenly pulls out but the tail of the machine bumps against telegraph lines, gets entangled after which the machine crashes onto the road from a height of ten metres. The airplane has partly been wrecked but fortunately the pilot, to the astonishment of spectators, rises smiling and practically without scratch. A quarter of an hour later he returns home by car. The wreck is removed on a lorry and a little group of workmen is sent to repair the broken telegraph lines. As stated before Charles de Lambert has been constructing ‘hydroglisseurs’ up to 1931 (he is then 65!). About three years later – but fortunately before ‘Société Anonyme des Hydroglisseurs de Lambert’ is officially declared bankrupt on February 19 1941 – on November 17 1934 he is drawn out of his solitude. This on account of the twenty fifth anniversary of his flight around the Eiffel Tower. It is no longer the slender and alert man of forty but an old and melancholy gentleman the journalists come and interrogate. They ultimately discovered him in a suburb – cheaper for his purse – in villa ‘La Lorraine’ at Vaucresson, France.  Fig. 7-42
   Fig. 7-43 In the town hall of Paris a reception is held in his honour. The newspaper ‘Paris-Midi’ reports on it with a picture of a worn out man who exerts himself to be straightbacked. “The most well known of the old age, escorted by Mrs Watteau and Miss Deutsch de la Meurthe, are there to welcome him.” Mr. Contenot receives him in the name of the town council and hands him the Rosette of the Legion of Honour. With tears in his eyes the marquis, whose daughter tries in a corner to wipe her tears, answers to the speeches: “I had sent a little note to my mechanic who took such good care of the engine of my machine enabling my flight Juvisy-Paris and back, well I do not see him, he will not be able to receive part of the congratulations, it makes me very sad.” On this occasion Charles de Lambert still declares: “From the age of eighteen years I am following this saying of Paul Painlevé” – mathematician and politician who in 1907 convinced the House of Representatives on the necessity of military aviation – It will be the last time the public will hear on Charles, marquis de Lambert. Still ten long, too long years to live, remain. From 1931 marquis de Lambert is ruined, irretrievably ruined, one cannot even compare his situation to that of his grandfather’s who could at least end his days in dignity. Even Charles de Lambert does no longer possess the essentials to maintain his own family. Certain members of the family are not warned on his distress, his dignity is that great, others remain indifferent to his tragic fate. Others in the end, shamed or disdainful, pretend not to know it: in his family only remembrance of him remains. It is the merit of his brother-in-law married to Winifred Edit Consett, Louis count de Boisgelin, who during twenty five years, until the end of the generation, takes care for the survival of Charles de Lambert, of the marchioness and of the unhappy Daysie. Mrs Tissandier, wife of Paul Tissandier, explained “La Lorraine had to be left for a miserable private boarding house at Versailles”. On the remark that the end of the life of de Lambert became very sad due to the almost miserable situation he found himself in she answers: “Mrs de Lambert who did make confidential remarks never has given me any inkling in this direction. The de Lamberts have never made any appeal to us for their daily needs, because the debt owned my husband was entirely business.” May 31 1974 she writes: “The last memory I have on them is a visit I have paid them, without knowledge of my husband, because Mrs de Lambert had been an unforgettable girl-friend for me. I met them in a very modest private boarding house in Versailles, ill, piteous, I have gone away with a very sad heart.” No doubt the circumstances during the occupation in the Parisian suburbs, are still more injurious to their health. Probably it is count de Boisgelin who finds a resort for them in a ‘Maison de Santé pour maladies Mentales et Nerveuses’ in the not very brightening old castle ‘Château des Grullières’, not far from Saint-Sylvain d’Anjou (near Angers) in Maine-et-Loire for which he bears the expenses of their stay.  Fig. 7-46
 Fig. 7-47
 Fig. 7-48
The marquis dies of a bladder-ilness on February 26 1944 at 08:30 o’clock, the marchioness on July 30 1947 19:00 and finally Marguerite on November 21 1953 03:00 o’clock.    Fig. 7-49
In spite of the post war conditions it is certain Louis count de Boisgelin who succeeded in sending an amount of money to abbot Masson, parish priest of Saint-Sylvain d’Anjou in order to assure a proper burial place of the marquis. Abbot Masson, transferred, disappears without having fulfilled his duties. Did he or did he not receive the remittance, one does not know. In 1974 only an insignificant little mound was left, not a cross nor any other indication.   Fig. 7-52
What a beautiful epitaph would have been the device of the marquis: |