1. John Bevins Moisant was an American aviator, aeronautical engineer, flight instructor, businessman, and revolutionary.
23 Facts About John Moisant
1. 2.
John Moisant was the first pilot to conduct passenger flights over a city, as well as across the English Channel, from Paris to London.
3.
John Moisant co-founded an eponymous flying circus, the Moisant International Aviators.
4.
Only months after becoming a pilot, John Moisant died after being ejected from his airplane over a field just west of New Orleans, Louisiana, where he was competing for the 1910 Michelin Cup.
5.
John Moisant was born in L'Erable, Illinois to Medard Moisant of St-Cyprien-de-Lery and Josephine Fortier.
6.
John Moisant's siblings include: George Moisant ; Ann Marguerite Moisant ; Matilde Moisant who was the second American woman to receive her pilot's license; Alfred J Moisant ; Louisa Josephine Moisant ; and possibly Eunice Moisant who was born in Illinois.
7.
In 1880, the family was living in Manteno, Illinois and John Moisant's father was working as a farmer.
8.
In 1909, Jose Santos Zelaya, president of Nicaragua, asked John Moisant to go to France to investigate airplanes.
9.
John Moisant entered the aviation field in 1909 as a hobby, after attending the Grande Semaine d'Aviation de la Champagne air show in Reims, France in August 1909.
10.
John Moisant designed and built two aircraft between August 1909 and 1910, before he became an officially licensed pilot.
11.
John Moisant's first was the Moisant Biplane, alternatively known as "L'Ecrevisse", which he had built in Issy-les-Moulineaux, Paris, France.
12.
Later, John Moisant was granted a pilot's license from the Aero-Club de France, which he transferred to the Aero Club of America to become the thirteenth registered pilot in the United States.
13.
At the time John Moisant was still considered a novice pilot and had been previously denied entry into Le Circuit de l'Est competition by the Aero-Club de France.
14.
At the International Aviation Meet at Belmont Park, New York, John Moisant flew his Bleriot XI around a marker balloon 10 miles away, and returned to the racetrack in only 39 minutes, winning an $850 prize.
15.
John Moisant won the race, beating Claude Grahame-White, a British aviator, by 42.75 seconds.
16.
John Moisant died on the morning of December 31,1910, in an air crash near Harahan, Louisiana.
17.
John Moisant was making a preparatory flight in his attempt to win the 1910 Michelin Cup and its $4,000 prize for the longest sustained flight of the year.
18.
John Moisant fell about 25 feet to the ground and landed on his head, breaking his neck.
19.
Apparently still alive, John Moisant's body was hurriedly placed aboard a nearby railroad car and driven into the city, where he was then pronounced dead.
20.
John Moisant was buried at the Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.
21.
John Moisant's body was later moved to the Portal of Folded Wings Shrine to Aviation, in Los Angeles.
22.
John Moisant was one of the first to advocate for monoplanes with one set of fixed wings.
23.
John Moisant's touring show was among the first in aviation, and one of the first to introduce Americans to airplanes.