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[[stamped]] FROM THE FLYING PIONEERS BIOGRAPHIES OF HAROLD E. MOREHOUSE [[/stamped]]

It is not known where this plane was built but evidently he had it at Issyin, France, where reportedly he installed the first Gnome rotary engine ever put in a plane.

There in the early spring of 1910 he attempted to fly this machine and soon realized it would be better to learn to fly before going on with his plane developments.  As a result 
he enrolled for flying lessons at the Eleriot School and started instruction.  He was an apt pupil and soon acquired the feeling of flying.  He was overcome by the thrill of flying a successful machine and ordered a 2-seat 70 H.P. Gnome Bleriot at once for his own use.  Moisant became a daring, overconfident pilot in a very short time and immediately proceeded to enter competitive flying.  In his new machine he outdistanced all competitors in a race around Eiffel Tower.  He obtained French F.A.I. Pilot License there on July 29, 1910 which was later transferred to Aero Club of America Certificate No. 10 in the United States.

On August 6th Moisant flew from Etampes to Isay directly across the center of Paris carrying Rolland Garros as a passenger.  He was a contestant in a French Cross-Country Circuit Race, then on August 16th left Paris to fly to London, carrying his French mechanic, Albert Fileaux.  After a non-stop flight to Amiens Moisant remained there for the night.  The next morning he flew to Calais and landed to re-fuel, then flew across the English Channel, landing at Tilmanstone, near Dover, England.  This was the first westward flight from France to England and the first time a passenger had been carried in a plane across the Channel.

From there to London Moisant had his troubles, mainly due to rain and fog, but also had some mechanical difficulties, finally landing at London with his passenger on September 6th.  Again Moisant had established some firsts.  His mechanic was the first passenger ever flown from Paris to London, and they were the first men to reach London in the same vehicle as that in which they left Paris.  At London he immediately flew in an air meet at Folkestone and carried passengers.

He was flying actively there until early October when he sailed for the United States on the steamer SAVOIE with his mechanic and machine.  European

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