FLIGHT, March 13, 1931 THE ROYAL AIR FORCE DURATION AND DISTANCE

 

BOSSOUTROT AND ROSSI SET NEW ENDURANCE RECORD, 1931 Further details are to hand regarding the two new aeronautical records established recently by the French airmen, Lucien Bossoutrot and Maurice Rossi. The one a duration performance for continuous flight without refueling, the other the Long-Distance Continuous Flight Record over a closed circuit.      Flying around a course centering at Oran, French North Africa, and using a Bleriot 110, a specially constructed monoplane powered by a 600-h.p. Hispano-Suiza motor, Boussoutrot and Rossi held the air continously for 75 hr. 22 min., during which time they covered 8,805 km. (5,505 miles) in a closed circuit.      The best previous performance for a continuous flight had been that of the Italian airmen Maddalena and Cecconi, who on June 2, 3, and 4, 1930, flew for 67 hr. 13 min., and traversed 8,188.8 km. (5,118 miles) over a closed circuit.      The Bleriot plane used by the French airmen carried 6,250 litres (1,400 gallons approximately) of petrol, and 230 litres (51 gallons approximately) of oil. Taking off easily, notwithstanding this heavy load, from the airport of Senia, near Oran, at 7:19 a.m., Thursday morning, February 16, Bossoutrot and Rossi encountered fine weather for the first 60 hr. of their flight. A speed of 125 km. (80 miles)per hour was maintained, and the pilots looked forward to remaining at least 85 hr. in the air.      On the night of the third day, however, bad weather and violent squalls set in, and the airmen were obliged to reduce their speed to about 80 km. (50 miles) per hour. Their plane was violently buffeted about, and their fuel consumption considerably increased. In an interview after the landing, the airmen declared that they had been obliged to fight this storm continuously all that night, without a moment's rest, and they finally decided to come down at 10:22 a.m. Sunday morning, after being, as stated above, 75 hr. 22 min. in the air.

THE BLERIOT 110: Front view showing the clean lines of this machine

 

Farman Goliath Photo from Airline History website

FIRST COMMERCIAL FLIGHT, PARIS TO LONDON Email from Durecu Thierry August 30, 2002      I have a little more information for your page regarding Lucien Bossoutrot. He was the pilot of the first commercial flight from Paris, France to London, England.      The airplane was a Farman "Goliath", a WW1 bomber transformed to carry passengers.      He took off on February 8 ,1919 at 11:50 AM from the Toussus-le-Noble airport. After a flight of 2 hours and 30 minutes, he landed at Croydon near London. He was carrying 11 passengers.      Three days later, he made a flight from Paris to Bruxel (Belgium). Mr Farman and his wife were two of the 17 passengers on this flight.      By 1920, the Farman company was operating with 17 Goliaths and 7 pilots with a frequency of three flights a week.      His name was given to a street in Paris and in other towns too.

Editor's Note: If you have any more information on these Early Fliers, please contact me. E-mail to Ralph Cooper   Gallery 7