Aviation Post Card Collection...

Wilbur Wright "Flyer Type A" flying above Pau, in France. Until 1910, the Wright Brothers only performed flights in Europe in France. The first european flight took place in the 9th of August of 1908. In the postcard, the Wright Brothers fly above Pau, and it's in this city that they open the first aviation school in the world. Their first student was Charles, the Count of Lambert.

Wilbur Wright "Flyer Type A" flying in France. After the first 1908 flights, the Flyer could reach a distance of 10km and fly 20 meters above the earth.

Alberto Santos-Dumont was an early pioneer of aviation. He was born, grew up, and died in Brazil. His contributions to aviation took place while he was living in Paris, France. Santos-Dumont designed, built, and flew the first practical dirigible balloons. In doing so he became the first person to demonstrate that routine, controlled flight was possible. This "conquest of the air", in particular winning the Deutsch de la Meurthe prize on 19 October 1901 on a flight that rounded the Eiffel Tower, made him one of the most famous persons in the world during the early 1900s.
In addition to his pioneering work in airships, Santos-Dumont made the first public flight of an airplane in Paris in October 1906. That aircraft, designated 14-bis or Oiseau de proie (French for "bird of prey"), is considered to be the first to take off, fly, and land without the use of catapults, high winds, launch rails, or other external assistance. Thus some consider him to be the inventor of the airplane. The postcard shows Santos-Dumont in an early flight (1906) in France.

Henri Farman flying his Voisin biplane in Camp de Chalons, France. This photo was taken on the 11th of October 1908, the date when Farman beat the height record of 25 meters, collecting 2500 franch francs for the effort. Farman started flying in 1907, and in that same year he achieved a few world records such as the Duration and Distance Record (770 meters in 52 seconds, in the 26th October 1907) or the Speed Record (one quilometer in 1m28s on January 13th, 1909). Henry Farman, 84, French aviation pioneer, died at his home in Paris on July 19 1958, after a long illness. Farman flew a biplane constructed by himself and his brother in 1907. He received license No. 5 from the French Aero Club. As a young sports enthusiast, he became interested in bicycling, ballooning, gliding, and then motorcycles and automobiles, winning many races. He established a school of aviation and construction works near Versailles in 1908, and also at Boulogne-sur-Seine, and his planes received favorable attention before World War I. In 1917 he constructed the Goliath prototype for passenger airliners.

Postcard dated 1908 showing Henri Farman flying his Voisin biplane near Reims, France. In this flight from Camp de Chalous to Reims he managed to achieve an average speed of 95Km/h.

Another postcard dated 1908 showing Henri Farman flying his Voisin biplane in this flight from Camp de Chalous to Reims, were he managed to achieve an average speed of 95Km/h.

Blériot began in 1900 with a beating-wing machine. His second was a Voisin along the lines of that made for Farman and Delagrange in 1905. In 1906 a third was experimented with on Lake Enghien. On April 5th 1907, Blériot made his first flight, one 5-6m, at Bagatelle, after several years of experimenting. The Blériot XI (Antoinette 65 h.p.) was brought out in January 1909. This was a tractor monoplane with warping wings, open fuselage, fixed horizontal stabilizer in tail to which were hinged elevators and which were hinged elevators and rudder on rear strut of fuselage. This machine with the Gnome 50 and 100 h.p. engines was so successful that it was copied all over the world. In America copies and parts gherefor were sold to a rather large extent. Leblanc and others flew Bleriots in the Belmont Park meet in 1910. Blériot's greatest achivement in actual flight was his first airplane crossing of the English Channel, July 25, 1909. In the Rheims meet in August 1909, he won first prize for speed over Curtiss. After some further experimenting with two other machines, including a monoplane "limousine," Blériot quit active participation in flying. The postcard shows Bleriot arriving in England, 31 minutes after departing from Calais, in France.

Another postcard showing Blériot's greatest achivement: his first airplane crossing of the English Channel, July 25th, 1909.

Leon Delagrande plane (Voisin-Delagrande Nr 2) in flight. Leon Delagrande was one of the biggest early aviators, along with Farman and Bleriot. The first flight (40m long) of Delagrande took place in France in the 5th of November of 1907. In September 1908 he was the first european to fly for more then 30 minutes. In the 4th of January of 1910 he died in a Bleriot XI monoplan, on the opening of Croix D'Hins aerodrome.

Another postcard of Leon Delagrande, flying is Voisin-Delagrande Nr 2 at Bagatelle.

Another postcard showing Leon Delagrande taking off with Voisin-Delagrande Nr 2.

This postcard shows the early ace Hubert Latham flying his monoplan Antoinette, that put his name in many prize sheets of the first "Great Aviation Meeting of Champagne". He took first place for maximum height (at 155 meters) and collected 10.000 FF. He also took 2nd place in the distance (154 km), 3rd in the circuit lap (10 km in 8 minutes) and 3rd in the speed record. Hubert Latham was killed in 1912 by a buffalo while hunting in Africa.

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