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LIGHT PLANES AND GLIDERS
Edited by Edmund T. Allen

Tour de France des-Avionnnettes

The 1100 mi. cross country race for light planes organized by the Association Aerinnne Francaise under the name of "Tour de France Avionettes," which was held the last week July and the first week of August, was won by Pilot Drouhin in a Farman light plane equipped with a 25 hp. 3 cyl. Anzani engine. Considering that this ship was the only one that finished - in fact, it was "racing itself," so to speak, after the second leg of the race when it remained the only contestant-and that weather conditions were extremely bad most of the time, the Farman triumph is all the more remarkable, coming after this firm's victory in last year's light plane race for the Petit Parisien prize.

That only one machine should finished out of fifteen entries (nine for France and two each for Czechoslovakia, Belgium and Holland) is not so astonishing considering that only three ships passed the elimination trials. The latter consisted of a flight of 50 km. above the Bue Airdrome near Paris, (which was also the starting and finishing place for the race proper) followed by a climb to 2000 m. During this trial the fuel (gasoline and oil) consumption must not exceed 8 k. for single-seaters and 12 k. for two-seaters.

The race proper consisted of an 1100 mi. circuit starting and finishing at Bue, with obligatory stops at Clermont-Ferrand, Valence, Nime, Toulouse, Angouleme, Nantes and Tours. The rules of the race were extremely simple, for they had been drawn up with the particular view of being easily understood by the non-technical public and so creating general interest. Two days were allowed for covering each leg of the race, the first day being intended as the real flying day, and the second as the rest and repair day. The third day was then the first day of the leg, and so on. The race was open at 7 a.m. the first day of each leg and contestants had until 7 a. m. the third day to reach the next control stop. As the contestants were also placed in the order of their arrival at the different official stops, the Tour de France really consisted of a series of races, for the first machine arriving at a stop was actually the winner of that given leg. This "formula" seems very interesting from the viewpoint of creating public interest, for the latter is generally lost where the winner is determined by a complicated formula which nobody save the contest officials understands.

Unfortunately for the success of the Tour de France, mechanical troubles and the bad weather made it impossible to give a demonstration of this phase of the race as intended. One of the Dutch machines arrived too late for the elimination contests which were held at the Bue airdrome, and the pilot of other Dutch entry had trouble getting his license from the Dutch authorities. The V. Simonet (Belgium) was held back by bad weather, and the Demonty-Poncelet was reported in trouble at Mons, Belgium. The two Avias representing Czechoslovakia, seem to have had motor trouble and did not get through the elimination tests. Of the French machines the Beaujard-Viratelle did not show up and the Ligrau was not ready in time. One Dewointine crashed on taking off from Villacoubly for the bue airdrome, and one of the Farmans did not try for the elimination contest due to the bad weather. Two of the Dewoitine machines passed the eliminations test but were withdrawn from the race as they had not received their licenses from the Air Navigation Service.

There were then only three machines which passed the elimination contest and were ready for the race. The Carmier, piloted by Paul Carmier, and the Farman, piloted by Drouhin, were both equipped with the 25-30 hp. Anzani 3 cyl. motor.

[[caption]]
Some of the light planes of the Tour de France - Upper row, left, the winning Farman Mosquito in flight; upper row, right, the Avia BH16; lower row, left the Carmier; lower row, right, the Bleriot, which had a transparent hatch over the pilot's cockpit
[[/caption]]

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